As the long-awaited MMIW inquiry begins, another young woman goes missing

A Manitoba mother has begun the agonizing search for her missing 21-year-old daughter, a heartbreaking process that has become all-too familiar for more than 1,200 families of Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women.

Melinda Wood and her daughter Christine travelled to Winnipeg from their home in Oxford House Reserve in northern Manitoba last month. On August 19, Christine left their hotel room and never came back.

“Please Christine, if you hear this, please, come. Call me, tell me where you are. Just come home,” her mother told CTV News through sobs.

Posters of Christine have been put up across Winnipeg, and Melinda says she refuses to return home until she finds her daughter.

She said she reported Christine missing to police.

“Nothing much they can do, they said, because she's an adult, 21-years-old,” she said.

Christine Wood’s disappearance comes at a critical moment in the fight for justice for Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women.

The federal government officially launched its long-awaited inquiry into the systemic problem on Thursday -- more than 12 years after the first call for an inquiry was issued by First Nations communities.

It is expected to take the inquiry’s five commissioners more than two years to make their formal recommendations. The commission is expected to cost about $54 million.

First Nations advocates said it’s important for the government to pull back the curtains and reveal the problem’s root causes and lay out firm steps to curtail the crisis.

“(I’m) hoping that these commissioners can rise to the challenge and really get at the root of what's wrong and not do a broad sociological overview of what we already know,” said Pam Palmater, chair of indigenous governance at Ryerson University.

For the president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, one more missing indigenous woman is too many.

“We hear every week yet another young indigenous woman, yet another mother or sister has gone missing or been assaulted,” said Dawn Lavell-Harvard.

With a report from CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier

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  Christine Wood, seen here, travelled to Winnipeg with her mother from their home in northern Manitoba. On Aug. 19, she left their hotel and never came back.

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  Melinda Wood said she reported her daughter missing to police in August.