Yukon families affected by missing and murdered aboriginal women spent Monday in pre-inquiry conferences with a federal minister at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre.

They unloaded painful and personal stories and gave input on what they would like to see for the impending national inquest.

“It was unprecedented that a minister would spend an entire day listening to people and their input,” Yukon MP Larry Bagnell said in an interview.

“Some people said it was the first time they felt comfortable speaking freely.”

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett arrived in Whitehorse on Sunday evening, with the purpose of holding private meetings with family and loved ones of victims across the country.

Prior to Monday’s gathering, Bennett had already visited Yellowknife and Thunder Bay, Ont.

Taking the time to tour the country and listen to people is part of creating a successful inquiry, according to Bennett.

“I do not think that a report with a few quotes in it is the same as actually hearing these stories,” Bennett told a press conference Monday afternoon.

Success, she said, will be measured once the commission is announced and people believe they had been truly listened to.

What the government needs is for the people, such as those in Whitehorse yesterday, to see their fingerprints on the blueprint of the commission, Bennett said.

Several common themes emerged from the stories heard Monday.

“Everybody wants to seek justice with the victims. This issue of prevention keeps coming back to the forefront,” Bennett explained.

People want their daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters to be able to walk freely in their communities without worry. People want injustice and discrimination in the criminal justice system to cease, she added.

In Whitehorse specifically, some families raised concerns about trafficking and the Sixties Scoop, the practice from the 1960s where aboriginal children were “scooped up” from their families and placed in foster homes or adoption centres.

Other families were concerned about serial killers who only had charges laid on white, non-indigenous victims while indigenous victims where ignored.

“Those are the kinds of things that are about injustice,” Bennett said.

While the morning meetings focused on why the families were participating, the latter part of the day was allocated to answering nine discussion questions about what the form and design of the inquiry should look like.

Examples of the questions, as seen on the federal government website, include who should lead the inquiry, the key issues to be addressed, what supports may be needed during the inquest and how the process should be set up to provide concrete recommendations for action.

Locally, the families spoke about how cultural and ceremonial practices should be incorporated to the inquest – the day began yesterday with a sacred fire and drummers to open the sessions.

“People really appreciated that,” said Bagnell, who was also present at the discussions.

The Yukon MP also expressed how the gathering showed him the large number of Yukon aboriginal people who are directly or indirectly affected by this issue.

“The majority of Yukon aboriginal people know the victims,” he said.

Due to the subject matter, the talks unsurprisingly made for a highly emotional environment.

“Part of my previous job was to hear stories and to take in how much hurt there is,” Bennett said, drawing on her previous experience as a family doctor.

A poignant moment in the meetings for Bennett has been the people who came with the purpose of supporting someone else and ended up telling their own stories.

“It fills us with tremendous emotion of that courage,” she said.

“That they’ve been triggered by the support in the room and the need for them to finally be able to tell their story.”

Summaries of each meeting, including what was heard, will be eventually posted on the federal government’s website.

For Yukoners who were unable to attend Monday, submissions via an online survey, phone and email are being accepted on the web page for the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

With the aim of creating a commission that isn’t one-size-fits-all, Bennett explained that once the meetings conclude, the commission will have an outline based on what was heard during the pre-inquiry sessions.

She also stressed the commission’s separation from government.

“It will be arm’s-length from the government, like any decent national public inquiry,” she said.

“It means people don’t think we’re quietly telling them what they can or cannot do.”

The reason for this, Bennett added, is to ensure that people believe the process is authentic.

“What we’ve heard almost at every place, but at least a couple of times this morning, is that it’s been a long time coming.”