Commissions of inquiry do valuable and consequential work, and there is no question they should be meticulously organized and prepared. But there is such a thing as taking too long to get things just right, as the federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is demonstrating.
The inquiry's recent decision to delay until next fall the bulk of the testimony from surviving relatives of roughly 1,200 women and girls who vanished or were killed has angered those relatives.
And no wonder. The goal of the inquiry is to address the powerlessness large numbers of Indigenous people feel in the face of a state that has been historically apathetic, when not outright hostile, to their plight. And now this.
Related: Inquiry into missing and murdered women a failure: Indigenous group
On the surface, the rationale for the delay seems uncontroversial. In many Native communities, summer is hunting and fishing season, and witnesses simply aren't available.
The problem is the commission, which has a budget of $53.8-million, is slated to issue an interim report on Nov. 1, and to conclude by the fall of 2018. Six months into the mandate, Indigenous people worry that those deadlines will not be met.
As one Indigenous woman told The Globe and Mail, it is becoming apparent that the commission is "unravelling, and that it's not functioning all."
It's not terribly difficult to reach the same conclusion, given the inquiry's staff turnover and farcically deficient communications. The chief commissioner, Marion Buller, has so far refused to respond to the public's concerns.
Her silence invites speculation that the pre-inquiry process was bungled, and that the commission has become paralyzed by its desire to be all things to all people.
It's now looking as if the inquiry's two-year mandate, a timeline that happens to fit neatly within Ottawa's electoral calendar, won't be long enough to do the job.
The commission has a choice: Hear families' testimony this summer (lots of Indigenous people live in cities), or stick with the amended schedule and delay the interim and final reports. If that involves pleading for a mandate extension, do it now.
The families of Canada's missing Indigenous women and girls deserve better than this.