Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould outlined the first phase of a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.

"It is a national tragedy that requires urgent national response," Wilson-Raybould said. "We share the conviction that reconciliation cannot be achieved without addressing the gap

between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. As a country, we can and must do better."

"Addressing violence against Indigenous women and girls is a priority for this government," said Status of Women Minister Patricia Hajdu. "Indigenous women are four per cent of

the population, and 16 per cent of homicides."

Currently, the federal government is in the design phase of the inquiry, and the actual inquiry will take place in 2016.

The announcement marks a strong contrast from the previous Conservative government, during which then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper repeatedly rejected the idea of an

inquiry for missing and murdered Indigenous women, saying it was "not high on our radar."

Between the years 1980-2012, nearly 1,200 Aboriginal women went missing or were murdered—164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims, according to an RCMP report.

Aboriginal women are statistically nearly three times more likely to be killed by a stranger than non-Aboriginal women.

Almost exactly one year ago today, Rinelle Harper, a 16-year-old Aborignal teen who was brutally attacked and left for dead by the Assiniboine River near Winnipeg,

called on federal government to launch a federal inquiry into the issue.

Earlier that year, another 15-year-old Aboriginal teen was found murdered in Manitoba, and a Conservative staff member was fired for writing a blog post strongly

supporting an inquiry.

Statistics show that Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by violent crime, despite the fact that Indigenous people only comprise 4.3 per cent of Canada's population.

In 2014, 65 per cent of homicide victims in Manitoba and 50 per cent of victims in Saskatchewan were Indigenous.