Yukon MP Ryan Leef continues to call for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women, but now takes a more flexible stance on the issue.

The subtle shift in tone nonetheless clashes with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s rejection of the idea last month in Whitehorse.

It comes in the wake of the annual premiers’ conference in Charlottetown last week, where the idea of a national roundtable surfaced as a possible first step.

“If that’s the wish of Yukoners, to have an inquiry, then I’ll continue to communicate that,” Leef told the Star this morning in Whitehorse.

“Of course, we’ve heard the prime minister’s position on it, so ... we may not continue to find agreement on the government level on that.”

Last October, Leef called unequivocally for a national inquiry into the endemic problem of indigenous women and girls murdered or missing since 1980.

Those individuals number nearly 1,200, according to an RCMP report released earlier this year.

Leef made the initial demand — in direct contradiction to his government’s stated position — at the Sisters in Spirit vigil in Whitehorse last October.

Since then, a detailed RCMP report and results from a parliamentary committee on the issue have come out.

“We have an additional vat of information that we didn’t have a year ago, and it’s important for me to make sure that I consult with people to make sure that’s still the track that they want to go on,” Leef said during a media scrum outside the visitor information centre today.

“When we look at a national inquiry and the hundred million dollars it could potentially take and the indeterminate amount of time, there might be an appetite to see that money go in a better direction.

“My commitment to carry Yukon’s message forward is still firm and strong, but I think there might be a different position on it,” he added, moderating his previous position further.

Nearly two weeks ago, Harper ruled out the idea of a national inquiry.

He categorized the slow-motion crisis as a matter of individual “crimes,” and not a “sociological phenomenon.”

Drawing criticism from groups across the country, the remarks came in response to a question from local media in Whitehorse on Aug. 21, and trailed him throughout his annual northern tour and beyond.

Last week, Canada’s premiers and aboriginal leaders called on the federal government to meet with them to discuss the “phenomenon.”

Preliminary discussions have begun for a national roundtable with federal ministers following a meeting of provincial, territorial, and indigenous leaders last Wednesday in Charlottetown.

Leef said he was “intrigued” by the possibility of a roundtable on “best practices” for tackling the tragedy of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls.

That long-smouldering issue flared up again across the country following the discovery of the body of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine in Winnipeg’s Red River on Aug. 17.

On Oct. 4, 2013, Leef joined the Native Women’s Association of Canada in calling for a national inquiry.

“This is not an aboriginal issue,” he said. “This is not a territorial issue. This is a national issue.”

Applause greeted his announcement that day.

“We heard the stats loud and clear. And they are alarming,” he said.

In 2009, aboriginal women were almost three times more likely than non-aboriginal women to report having been a victim of a violent crime, according to Statistics Canada.

The bulk of these incidents occurred among women under 35.

Aboriginal women are also more likely to experience forms of extreme violence or mistreatment, including human trafficking.

Marian Horne, president of the Yukon Aboriginal Women's Council, spoke at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre on that autumn afternoon.

“Today is our day for us to come together ... to heal,” said the former Yukon Party Justice minister.

“It touches my heart to see so many people out.”

Horne held up an anonymous doll before the attendees.

“These faceless dolls are visual representations of the strong, vital, youthful aboriginal women who thought they had a long life ahead of them.

“Instead, their lives were cut short by violence.”

Premier Darrell Pasloski tabled a motion that passed unanimously in the territorial legislature last year calling on Ottawa to instigate a national public inquiry.