BATTLEFORD — Krista Fox does not mind repeating the same message when it comes to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People, as in the case of Megan Gallagher.
The repetition is to keep their memories alive and continue discussions on what had happened, she says.
Fox was in Battleford last week to take part in the town’s celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day. She returned to Saskatchewan to take a break from her crusade of walking eastward to raise awareness after Lindsey Bishop also came back to Saskatoon to sort out some personal issues.
“I won’t go into details because it is not my story to tell, but we were forced to come back home as two of the other team members had an issue come up that we needed to deal with,” said Fox who stayed in Saskatoon for the weekend and left the city on Monday to Thunder Bay to resume their MMIWG2S awareness walk.
She said that, despite not being a member of the Gallagher family, she has their full support in getting the word out about what happened to Megan, especially Lindsay who made the journey with her.
Megan went missing in September 2020 and three suspects have been arrested in connection to her homicide. Jessica Sutherland, Roderick William Sutherland and Ernest Vernon Whitehad are each charged with the Criminal Code offence of causing an indignity to human remains.
Fox is reminding the public there is still one suspect at large, John Wayne Sanderson of the James Smith First Nation. Sanderson is wanted for the same charges.
“As you're aware, I’m not family but I support them and Meghan's sister in this journey with me. The most important message that I need to get out on that is for the public not to forget that there is still one person out there who needs to be apprehended. We need people out there to help and we need people to keep talking about this case,” said Fox.
She encouraged the public to share any information on the whereabouts of Sanderson by calling authorities like the Saskatoon Police Service at 306-975-8300 or Saskatoon Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
“We need people to call if they have information and get those messages to them [police] so that Megan’s family can start their healing journey. I don't know if people understand or not, but when you're in a situation like the Gallaghers are, we're stuck. We can't even begin to start healing because we don't even know what we're healing from yet,” said Fox.
She said the Gallagher family — especially Brian and Debbie, and Linsey and Derek — is always in her thoughts as she makes her cross-country journey to let the people know about the violence towards Indigenous Peoples and the unsolved cases of MMIWG2S.
“I will always share this message that I love them will all my heart. I will be supporting them and continue talking, not only on Megan’s issue but all missing and murdered Indigenous people until the day I can no longer speak. That is the reason that we're pounding the pavement, to bring their messages and to be the voice for those that have been silenced.”
