NDP forces Commons debate on murdered, missing indigenous women

The growing call for a full federal inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women got an unexpected boost after the New Democrats took advantage of the typically sparse end-of-week turnout in the House to seize control of the parliamentary agenda.

The partywas able to force the chamber to hold an impromptu debate onthe reportfrom thespecial House committee thatlooked intothe issue earlier this year.

The Conservative-controlled committeeultimatelychose not to recommend a full inquiry,butboth theNew Democrats and the Liberalssubmitted minority reports in support of a national public commission of inquiry.

New Democrat MPRomeo Saganash led off the debate withan emotional and deeply personal pleafor afederal investigation.

• WATCH: Saganash's emotional plea for an inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women
• Government now open to roundtable on missing and murdered aboriginal women
• Premiers, aboriginal leaders propose roundtable as first step
• Aboriginal girls, women targets for human trafficking says new report

Saganash told the Commons about his own family's painful experience of not knowing what happened to his missing brother until they were finally able to see where he was buried, decades later. He said learning the truth offered his family closure, and that's what the families of missing women need too.

The NDP has promised to hold an inquiry should it form government after the next election. So far, the Conservative government has not been willing to call an inquiry. However, it is open to a compromise proposal originating from the provincial premiers meeting last month to createa nationalroundtable to tackle the issue.

After just over an hour, the debate was suspended to allow the House to move on to private members' business. The remaining time must be scheduled within the next 10 sitting days, after which MPs will be able to vote on whether to adopt the report.

Tactics in the House

So, how exactly did the New Democrats manage to manoeuvre the Commons into hosting an impromptu hour-long debate on their chosen topic?

As is ultimately always the case in the House of Commons, it came down to the numbers and specifically, an NDP gamble that the government simply wouldn't be able to muster a sufficient contingent of Conservative MPs to override the combined oppositionforces in a rare Friday vote.

Shortly after question period wrapped up, New Democrat MP Yvon Godin segued from introduction of a private member'sbill to propose that the House move to the next stage of routine proceedings in this case, first reading of Senate public bills.

It was an ironic choice for a party long opposed to the very existence of the Upper House but an effective one, strategically, as itcould have servedas a test to seejust how manyConservative MPs the governmentcould get to the House on short notice.

The answer: not enough, which is why the Conservativesended upvotingin favour of the NDP motion, and didn't take the usual steps to shut down the concurrence debate before the allotted time ran out.

The government'sdecision tobackdown from a votethat wouldalmost certainly have resulted inan unprecedented defeat on the Commons floor didn't deterNew Democratsfrom publicly celebrating their victory.

'Asleep at the switch'

NDPLeader Tom Mulcair, who is currently on tour in New Brunswick, took to Twitter to proclaimthat he was "beaming with pride."

BritishColumbiaMP Jinny Sims tweeted that it was "such a privilege to be in the House proud of caucus."

The party also sent out an email to supporters under NDPwhip Nycole Turmel's name.

"You're probably not watching House of Commons proceedings this Friday afternoon, so I wanted to fill you in on what just happened," the note began.

"Moments ago, we caught the Conservative government asleep at the switch. When they didnt show up for work today, our NDP team won a vote to take control of the House agenda."

Notably, theemail didn'tinclude a pitch fordonations.

Instead, it invited supporters to signthe party's petition calling for a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

For their part, the Conservatives downplayed the significance of the move, and pointed out that the party didn't actually have to force the vote to trigger debate on the vote.

"As you know, the NDP can move concurrence any time during Routine Proceedings," Government House Leader Peter Van Loan told CBC News in a written statement.

"The NDP could have moved this motion on Monday, Tuesday or yesterday but did not."

The government "had no reason to block debate," he said, and bothEnvironment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Status of Women parliamentary secretary Susan Truppe"actively participated" in the discussion.