REGINA - Activities have commenced this week to remember and to keep searching for those who have gone missing in the province.
In collaboration with the Saskatchewan Missing Persons Partnership, April 27 to May 3 has been declared Missing Persons Week by the province.
On Monday, those impacted by the loss of their loved ones joined cabinet ministers Tim McLeod and Alana Ross, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore and members of the law enforcement community in a ceremony commemorating those individuals. Pictures of the over 140 individuals who have been missing for six months or more were shown. Of those, 107 of those are men and boys, and 39 of those are women and girls.
That event was followed by the third annual "Walk to Honour the Missing" in Wascana Centre. This took place through Wascana Centre, wrapping up at the Missing Persons Tree and Bench.
McLeod told reporters the day’s events were “really an opportunity for families of missing and murdered folks who are able to gather and collectively join to honour the missing loved ones, together with representatives from the government and community agencies who are partners in the search for missing loved ones.”
He pointed to the efforts ongoing to address the issue, including “a variety of programs and partnerships together with community organizations who really work on prevention, work on supports, work on bringing awareness and particularly helping families who have missing loved ones navigate the situation and get them the information that's available as and when it's ready.”
Assistant Commissioner Blackmore spoke of some of the tools the RCMP have at their disposal to find missing persons. She said they look at "using familial DNA so that we can determine remains, who they are, when we locate them."
“In the last year, we've located three unidentified human remains and we're able to use DNA to identify those individuals and bring closure to those families. When we look at how our world works now, two of those three individuals weren't from the province of Saskatchewan. So we brought closure to individuals from outside the province, but people travel a lot. We're not restricted to geographical boundaries and so you never know where those individuals may be or where we'll find those answers.”
In terms of the amount of people who have gone missing from the province, Blackmore said it was “an incredibly concerning number. “ She pointed to 2,700 missing person complaints last year. While the majority of cases are resolved quickly within a couple of days, the work goes on for the cases that are not resolved.
“It's an incredibly satisfying day for the police when we can help bring someone home. That is just joy that's hard to describe,” Blackmore said.
“But when we can't do that, we have to keep looking. We have to be committed to that. We have to use every resource possible.”
Those include efforts by their historical case unit, Blackmore said. “People sometimes call those cold cases. We hate that term. That's a terrible term because none of these cases are cold. They're worked on all the time, consistently, and we have to follow up every lead. It's not an easy task to do. Some of these files are very dated, but we have to continue to look for new evidence, look for new technology.”
Emotions run high for families
For family members of individuals who have gone missing, the pain runs deep.
“It's incredible anguish,” said Blackmore. “It's unimaginable unless you're living it, unless you've gone through that. It is every day, you know, for someone to see these pictures or read the names, that's a moment in time for them. But our family members, the loved ones, friends of these individuals, they live with that every day until their loved one is returned home or until they have answers to their questions. “
During the media scrum with reporters, emotions boiled over from family members. A couple of them interjected and accused McLeod and the government of not doing enough on the issue, including not providing enough money to pay for bulletin boards to raise awareness of those missing persons.
“If you really do care, then how come you're not walking with us? How come you're not crying with us?” said a family member of Timothy Charlette, who had gone missing in Prince Albert in 2014.
McLeod responded by offering his condolences and said “of course we want to bring awareness and help bring your loved ones home. That's the idea here.”
Michele Bear, mother of Richele Bear who went missing in 2013, vocally made it known to McLeod she wanted answers as to why nothing was being done to search the Regina landfill for her remains.
“Regina Police Service told me my daughter is buried in the landfill. But they don't want to dig her up. Why? How come they don't want to dig up my daughter?”
Bear also said she was told it would cost $400 million to dig the landfill up. She told reporters after her exchange with McLeod that she wanted to raise awareness of the issue.
“Other cities are digging up landfills. Why isn't Regina doing that? It just seems like Regina doesn't care. And that's what I see right now, that they don't care about the murdered and missing women until it happens to them, and then they'll care.”
Bear urged other family members of other missing persons to not give up.
“I would just like to say to all the mothers out there with the murdered and missing family members, be strong, don't give up, keep looking and attend gatherings like this… You may get discouraged, you may get a little upset. Don't give up. Don't give up. It's been 10 years, going on 11 years for me now. And I'm not giving up. There's no giving up in my vocabulary for me.”
Paula Bali, mother of Mekalya Bali who went missing in Yorkton on April 12, 2016, also is not giving up. She is urging anyone with any information to come forward to police or Crime Stoppers.
“Not a single day goes by that I don't think of her and that I don't pray for her safe return,” she said.
“Nine years is an eternity. It's nine years of birthdays missed, of milestones unreached, of a constant gnawing emptiness in my family…this Missing Persons Week, I'm asking you, the public, to please remember Mikayla. Remember her face. Remember her story.”
