Missing and Murdered Women

Walkers remember missing women

2008-07-22T07:44:00.001-07:00

Fourth annual trek will be last: organizers

Darren Bernhardt
The StarPhoenix

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The recent discoveries of skeletal remains belonging to two missing Saskatchewan women has put an exclamation point on the 2008 Walk for Missing Sisters.

Three aboriginal women -- Daleen Bosse Muskego, Amber Redman and Melanie Dawn Geddes -- disappeared within 15 months of each other between May 2004 and August 2005. That prompted Muskego's parents to launch a 350-kilometre walk from their home reserve of Onion Lake to Saskatoon.

The intent was to raise public awareness about those women and the estimated 500 other missing or murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

As the fourth annual walk began Monday, there was no longer any mystery around the whereabouts of Redman, 19, and Geddes, 24. But Bosse Muskego, who was last seen on May 18, 2004, has never been found.

Her parents, Herb and Pauline Muskego, have chased tips over the years, criss-crossing the country, to no avail.

"But you have to go because of the what-if, you know?" said Herb, who was in a Lloydminster campground Monday afternoon, resting from the first leg of the Walk for Missing Sisters.

About 40 people took part, but the number is expected to increase substantially as the trek heads out of Lloydminster and passes through Maidstone, Battleford, Radisson, Borden and into Saskatoon.

The plan is to cover about 70 kilometres a day. The group plans to arrive at Saskatoon City Hall for a 1 p.m. event on Thursday. The members of the group will then walk to the University of Saskatchewan for another event at the University Bowl beginning at 2:30 p.m.

"Our morale has been boosted because of the numerous phone calls of support we've received from the families of those other women (Redman and Geddes)," said Herb. "They know what we're going through and it has given us strength to keep looking for Daleen."

The family will keep looking, but they will stop walking. This year's version of the awareness walk will be the last, Herb said.

"According to our cultural protocols, we do things in four," he said. "If we've raised awareness about this issue, which I think we have, then we've accomplished our goal."

Part of it, anyway.

The walk will be done this year, but the mission will remain.

"We will always be optimistic about bringing Daleen home again. We'll always stay that way," Herb said, noting he and Pauline have put up posters across the country and into the United States.

"She's somewhere. We'll never stop looking."

Muskego had just finished her third year of studies in the education program at the University of Saskatchewan when she went missing. She is married and has a seven-year-old daughter.

According to Herb and Pauline, the little girl routinely requests to watch home movies featuring the mother she hasn't seen since she was three.

When she went missing, Muskego had just attended an Assembly of First Nations function and went to Jax nightclub in downtown Saskatoon. About three weeks later, her white 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier was found in Sutherland with its floor mats, seat covers, steering wheel cover, trunk interior and baby car seat missing.

Geddes disappeared on Aug. 13, 2005, in Regina. Her remains were discovered on Dec. 20, 2005 -- but not confirmed by RCMP until Feb. 1, 2006 -- along the banks of the Qu'Appelle River.

Redman disappeared from Fort Qu'Appelle on July 15, 2005. Her remains were found on May 5, 2008, in a clump of trees on the Little Black Bear First Nation. Two residents from the reserve, Albert Patrick Bellegarde, 29, and his cousin, Gilbert Allan Bellegarde, 31, have each been charged with first-degree murder in the case.

dbernhardt@sp.canwest.com

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008

tamara chipman

2008-07-20T23:54:00.001-07:00

Kathy Frank - Highway Of Tears Video

2008-07-20T23:51:00.001-07:00

The

2008-07-20T23:50:00.001-07:00

Walk for Justice

2008-07-20T23:42:00.001-07:00

A Roomful of Missing Women

2008-07-20T23:25:00.001-07:00

Walk4Justice in Edmonton

2008-07-20T23:23:00.001-07:00

Walk honours thousands of missing women

2008-07-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT
Members of the Walk for Justice make their way along the Trans-Canada Highway into Medicine Hat on Saturday afternoon. More than 60 aboriginal people left Vancouver on June 21 to take a message by relay to Ottawa.

Walk honours thousands of missing women

Cars and trucks honk their support as Gladys Radek waves back while she makes her way into Redcliff along the sun-beaten shoulder of the Trans-Canada Saturday as part of the Walk For Justice from Vancouver to Ottawa.

ALEX MCCUAIG
amccuaig@medicinehatnews.com

Cars and trucks honk their support as Gladys Radek waves back while she makes her way into Redcliff along the sun-beaten shoulder of the Trans-Canada Saturday as part of the Walk For Justice from Vancouver to Ottawa.

The purpose of the 60 women walking relay across the country is to raise awareness of the thousands of missing First Nations women, some of whom have fallen prey to men like Robert Pickton or have disappeared along the “Highway of Tears” between Edmonton and Prince George.

“Doing this really makes me realize what a caring society we do have,” said Radek who organized the march.

“And that a lot of people don’t realize what is going on in Canada — which is sad to say.”

Radek said it’s time that attitudes change in regards to violence against women, and the way the court system handles men who perpetrate these crimes and prosecute those responsible for the murders they commit.

The tragic murder and dismembering of Rachel Quinney was one such violent act that needed to see justice done, she said.

Thomas Svekla was charged with that crime. He was acquitted earlier this year but convicted on another murder.

“I think about the family members that we have met throughout this journey where they have been victims of so many injustices after so many years of pain looking for their loved ones,” she said.

“We have a high percentage of women who are driven into the streets because they have nowhere else to go.”

Radek said that this country has two sets of laws, the Indian Act and the federal justice system.

“That plays a large part in it and it is time that Canada realizes that First Nations are humans too and we deserve to be treated with respect and honour.”

See Marchers, Page A2

Ross Cross Child, representing the Blood Tribe during the Walk For Justice’s stay in Medicine Hat, says he feels emotional about what the march represents.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day because it was so long in coming. We have lost so many relatives and nobody seems to care and we don’t know where their gravesites are. Nobody is doing anything about it — it’s like they are sweeping it under the carpet,” he said.

“Who is going to do this for us except the First Nations people? They need to come forward and say enough is enough.”

The marchers will arrive in Ottawa on Sept. 15 to address the issue of missing women with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.

Medicine Hat News
http://www.medicinehatnews.com/content/view/35564/65/

WALK4JUSTICE -Looking For Missing Women In Our Community

2008-07-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

SooNews Wire for SooNews.ca
Friday, July 11, 2008, 7:58AM

Womyn 4 Social Justice and the Algoma Council on Domestic Violence are working together to support the Vancouver based group Walk4Justice.

This group left Vancouver on Aboriginal Day (June 21st) and is currently walking to Ottawa to bring awareness to all the missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada over the past four decades.

The group plans to hold a rally Sept. 15th on Parliament Hill to demand a full public inquiry into the "scandal" of missing Canadian women, which they estimate to be about 3,000. This Walk is supported by Amnesty International, B.C. Federation of Labour, BCGEU, ILWU Local 500, United Native Nations, Native Women’s Association of Canada and countless other organizations across Canada.

Walk4Justice will be trekking through Sault Ste. Marie sometime in the third week of August. They are asking for individuals and communities to come forward with the names and information about the missing and murdered women so that their information and picture can be added to the banner and their families can be represented in Ottawa. If you know of any missing men, women or children in our community, please let us know so that we can ensure their names and stories are added to a banner to take to Ottawa by Walk4Justice. If family members of missing women would like to have their stories and voices heard, please contact Bonnie Baranski at Mystic Messages or Lisa Kisch, at Algoma Family Services.

If anyone would like to join the organizing committee working on the welcome for Walk4Justice when they come through the Sault, please contact the above individuals and/or come to our weekly meeting on Tuesdays from 12:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Mystic Messages, 719 Queen East. A fundraiser for Walk4Justice will also be held on August 8, 2008 at Arcadia Coffeehouse.

Copyright © 2008 GoNorOnt Media Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=17991

Georgina Papin represented in the Walk 4 Justice

2008-07-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

July 10, 2008

By ANDREW HANON, SUN MEDIA

Tears streamed down Elana Papin’s face as she heard the news that she and her three teenaged daughters will be able to rejoin the Walk 4 Justice.

“We did it,” was all she could say as she struggled to regain her composure after getting news that an anonymous donor would help them out.

The walk is to draw attention to hundreds of women – the vast majority of whom are aboriginal – who’ve disappeared or been killed across Canada.

Papin’s sister Georgina was one of B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton’s victims, and Elana felt it was imperative that Georgina be represented on the cross-country journey, which will wind up in Ottawa in September.

But things went haywire last week just west of Edmonton when one of the support vehicles for the two-dozen walkers was involved in a collision, sending two participants to hospital. The walk resumed, but with fewer participants.

Meanwhile, Papin and her three daughters – Erica, 15, River, 14, and Summer, 13 – wanted to join in, but didn’t have the cash to cover their food and accommodation expenses for the two-month trek.

But Thursday the donor, who asked to remain anonymous, said those expenses would be covered.

“It’s like Georgina just jumped in me and took off,” said an elated Papin.

Efforts like the Walk 4 Justice are extremely important, said Jessica Daniels, executive director of the Edmonton-based Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women.

“We support any efforts of people trying to take power back,” she said. “The whole reason that these murders were allowed to continue for so long was because of how vulnerable our women are.”

andrew.hanon@sunmedia.ca

Copyright © 2008, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.

Pregnant woman's slaying seen as 'wake up' call to Six Nations

2008-07-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

Tears flow for Tashina

Posted By BY SUSAN GAMBLE, EXPOSITOR STAFF
July 7, 2008

Tears flowed freely during a memorial ceremony Saturday to remember Tashina General, who was found slain after she went missing from Six Nations in January.

Family, friends and supporters came together from four directions in a symbolic gathering in Veteran's Park in Ohsweken to honour General and remember many other victims of violence.

What the Expositor says. See Opinion, Page A8.

"Be aware of what's going on in your own community," Nancy Porter, one of General's good friends, said as the crowd dispersed.

"We're not supposed to go through life fearing things but we do have to be aware."
Porter says the community needs to be aware of the potential for violence against its young women.

"It's cruel, but if this is what it took to wake up the community . . . well, something good's got to come of it."

SHALLOW GRAVE

Four months pregnant, the 21-year-old General was slain and buried in a shallow grave near a busy Six Nations intersection while police and the community spent months looking for her and appealing for her to contact her family.

Two hundred of those at Saturday's ceremony wore General's smiling face on T-shirts designed for the occasion. The shirts were a way of saying thank you to the community that searched for the woman.

In the photo, she is dressed for a Miss Six Nations pageant and the words "Beauty comes from within" is on the shirt, along with "Keep smiling" -- one of General's favourite sayings.

Speakers praised the young woman's work ethic and sunny nature, comforted her family and warned the community about protecting each other and paying attention to local happenings.

Later, as the crowd met at the community hall to share food and presentations, emotion pour out as people greeted and held each other.

"Why is everybody crying?" asked a small girl.

"They're remembering Tashina," explained the girl's mother, General's cousin, Bev Jacobs.

For Jacobs, General's death hits far too close to home.

Jacobs is president of the Native Women's Association of Canada where, for the past six years through the Sisters in Spirit program, she's worked with the families of missing and murdered native women.

When General had been missing for two months, Jacobs helped host a media conference to raise awareness about her disappearance.

But when General's body was discovered, it was like Jacobs's work and family collided.

"This has been very difficult emotionally and it's been hard for me to get back into my work. I couldn't even go to a recent national gathering because this has affected me so personally."

Jacobs's message is that native men need to take back their roles of respon- sibility and once again become the protectors of the community.

Meanwhile, native women need to learn again to respect and honour themselves and each other.

"That's our tradition and culture but people need to know how much violence there is in the community and that it's time to speak up and stop it."
The Six Nations man charged in the second-degree murder of General remains in jail.

EX-BOYFRIEND CHARGED

Kent Owen Hill, 20, a former boyfriend and well-known lacrosse player, has been remanded in court several times.

General was a person of peace and forgiveness, said Porter.

While the community has been rocked by the crime and there's anger, those who loved General try to remember how she would want them to react.

"Tashina would say, 'Do you want to go around being bitter?'" said Porter. "She didn't know how to hate and she couldn't hold a grudge."

At the park, people lined up to greet, hug and comfort General's grandmother, Norma General.

Before her death, General was helping her grandmother raise some of her grandchildren.

"She worked really hard at the pizza shop and had a job with the tourism department," Norma General said. "She learned sign language to help me with one of my grandchildren and often travelled with me when I would go to make presentations in other communities."

Norma General reported her granddaughter missing on Jan. 23 but, when police had reports of the young woman being spotted around the reserve, a full search was never mounted.

Finally, her grandmother insisted something was wrong and police began searching for General toward the end of March.

After several air and ground searches, General's body was found buried on property owned by Kent Owen Hill's father. She had died by strangulation.

General's family helped plan a quiet memorial corner in Veteran's Park where a bench, new trees and ornamental bushes were planted to help remember General.
Pink roses were placed at the base of each of the trees.

Article ID# 1102698
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1102698

NATIVE WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
http://www.nwac-hq.org/

It's time to take notice

July 7, 2008

If there is any good to come from the death of a young woman, it can only be knowledge that will help prevent future tragedies.

Sadly, Canadians and First Nations people cannot deny awareness of the crisis involving missing and murdered aboriginal women, only a shameful lack of interest and action.

Hundreds turned out this weekend to remember Tashina General, 21, whose body was discovered in April in a shallow grave on Six Nations, three months after the pregnant woman went missing. Her former boyfriend, Kent Owen Hill, has been charged with second-degree murder.

The memorial walk was part of the Sisters in Spirit initiative by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), which seeks to address "the impact of racialized, sexualized violence against Aboriginal women often leading to their disappearance and death."

For three agonizing months, General was one of those missing women, though she did not fit the stereotype of the high-risk lifestyle connected with many of the disappearances, especially in Western Canada.

It did, however, hit home with NWAC president Beverley Jacobs, a cousin of General's who spoke to those gathered this weekend.

However, few can deny general awareness of the reality that native women in Canada face a higher risk of violence than the average Canadian woman.

According to the 2004 General Social Survey, which documents self-reported information, aboriginal people were three times more likely to experience violence like assault, sexual assault and robbery.

Violence against aboriginals was more likely to be committed by an acquaintance (56 per cent of the time), than violence against non-aboriginals (41 per cent), according to the same survey.

Over the five years prior to the survey, 21 per cent of aboriginals reported physical or sexual violence by a spouse, compared to six per cent of non-aboriginals. The survey also noted a homicide rate from 1997 to 2000 that was seven times higher for aboriginals.

If people can continue to ignore statistics as stark and obvious as these, maybe they will have a harder time dealing with the shame and sorrow of an individual tragedy like the death of Tashina General.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1102683

NATIVE WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
http://www.nwac-hq.org/

Memorial walk today for slain Six Nations woman

2008-07-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Posted By EXPOSITOR STAFF
July 5, 2008

Friends and family will be walking in memory of Tashina General today to raise awareness of violence against aboriginal women.

The 21-year-old Six Nations woman was found dead in April, after she had been missing for two months. General, who was pregnant at the time of her disappearance, had been strangled.

A former boyfriend, Kent Owen Hill, has been charged with second degree murder. Beverley Jacobs, president

of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), will be participating in the walk, which begins at 10 a. m. Groups will be walking from the north, south, east and west and converging at Veteran's Park in Ohsweken for a tree planting ceremony.

A potluck lunch will follow at the community hall. Speakers will include Elva Jamieson, Louise McDonald and Jake Swamp. Jacobs will also be making a presentation on NWAC's Sisters in Spirit initiative.

Brantford Expositor
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1101333

Impossible to forget

2008-07-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

Four years after her mysterious disappearance, Tamra Keepness holds a special place in the hearts of many people who just want to know what happened to the smiling five-year-old.

The Leader-Post

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Four years ago tomorrow, there began one of the most wrenching stories in Regina's history: the hunt for any trace of a five-year-old girl named Tamra Keepness, who was reported missing from her Core-area home on July 6, 2004.

Despite a massive police investigation and civilian searches of areas in and around Regina, plus international media coverage and a $25,000 reward, no trace of her has been found -- so far. The Regina Police Service has calculated that 1,500 tips were received and 1,000 separate tasks were assigned to investigators. Police services as far away as Quebec were asked to check tips, said former Regina police chief Cal Johnston, who at one point remarked, "It could be just one tip that could make the difference."

Tamra's story gripped Regina, indeed all of Saskatchewan, with a rare poignance and intensity.

Quite properly, the story of her disappearance has remained in the public consciousness. The Regina Police Service recently announced it is forming a seven-investigator unit to review the case and to start putting information relating to the investigation into a new computer database that, it is thought, might possibly yield some new insights. Various groups regularly hold public events to remind citizens that Tamra -- along with many other people -- are still missing in this province, and that anybody with information should take it to the police.

Why did Tamra's disappearance so transfix Regina? It's very simple; people of all backgrounds recognize the vulnerability of children and worry about them. In the case of Tamra and her siblings, people also abhorred the conditions in which they had been living.

When a child disappears -- especially for such a long period -- many people fear the worst. One of the few heartening aspects of this sad drama has been the diligence of police in continuing their

investigation and the way in which civilian volunteers have joined the search and the important process of keeping this case imprinted in the public's collective memory.

In addition to Tamra, we should all worry about every single person -- regardless of their background or age -- who is missing from their family and friends. We note with sadness the recent discovery of the remains of Fort Qu'Appelle's Amber Redman, missing for almost three years. Two men have been charged in connection with her death. Powerfully and poignantly, her mother said: "In order for justice to be served, those with information must share it with the police. There has been too much silence from those with knowledge . . ."

Each absence leaves a big hole in somebody's heart. Each missing person deserves the dignity of being remembered and sought; each worried family needs to know their loved one is not forgotten.

As year five of the search for Tamra begins, it is useless for outsiders to speculate on what might have happened to her; far better for people who have information on any missing person to report it to police.

"Too much silence" must end.
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2008

COPY OF RESPONSE TO PETITION FOR ADULTS MISSING by the Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day

2008-07-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

COPY OF RESPONSE TO PETITION FOR ADULTS MISSING by the Minister of Public, Safety Stockwell Day
dated April 30, 2008
Petition No 392-0617
By/ID Ms. Crowder

Public Safety Canada (PS)

The Government of Canada is concerned with addressing the issue of missing persons. A
federal/provincial territorial working group has been mandated to establish best practices in dealing with the
disappearance, homicide, and serial murder of at-risk women. The working group is also considering issues
associated with the effective identification, investigation and prosecution of these cases. The Government looks
forward to receiving the Working Group report so it can address and help combat the problem of missing persons in Canada.

Deputy Ministers Responsible for Justice from across Canada recently considered the "Final Report of the Provincial Partnership Committee on Missing Persons" at their June 2008 meeting, which included a recommendation for the creation of a voluntary national information base or linked information bases on potential missing persons. Deputy Ministers Responsible for Justice have tasked their officials to determine appropriate follow up to this report and the issue of missing persons was requested to be added to the agenda of the Ministers Responsible for Justice meeting in September.

In addition, the National Crime prevention Centre (NCPC) supports crime prevention initiatives that reduce known risk factors in high-crime areas and among vulnerable populations. Recognizing the need for effective interventions, the NCPC has committed to supporting initiatives that address key risk factors among families, children and youth.

The RCMP also works with other Canadian police forces to resolve crimes against missing or murdered women. For example, the RCMP is involved in Project Even-handed with the Vancouver Police Department and project KARE with the Edmonton Police Service. In addition to actively investigating all cases of missing women, these projects are developing "best practices" that can be implemented by similiar initiatives across the country.

The Government of Canada will continue to work closely with provincial and territorial partners on these issues to ensure a national, coordinated appproach that will provide an appropriate response to this complex problem.

* If you would like to leave a comment regarding the above, you can email me at
patc@shaw.ca and/or to Jean Crowder, Member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Cowichan at jean@jeancrowder.ca

** For Your Information, Jean Crowder and her assistant Allistair MacGregor are going to write a reply to the above government's reponse regarding the petition, c/o Hon. Stockwell Day, Justice Dept. Govenment of Canada.

Walk4Justice close to Edmonton

2008-07-02T18:49:00.001-07:00

Group walking from Vancouver to Ottawa to bring attention to murdered and missing women

Jamie Hall
edmontonjournal.com

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

EDMONTON - The stretch of Highway 16 leading into Edmonton proved to be an emotional road today for the 20 or so walkers accompanying a small convoy of slow-moving vehicles overlaid with pictures of dozens of young women.

Like the 70 or so women in Alberta whose files are now with investigators of Project Kare, the ones depicted on the vehicles have been murdered or have disappeared, many of them along a lonely stretch of road in British Columbia which has become known as the Highway of Tears.

"It was particularly emotional for us; we know there have been women in the Edmonton area who have fallen prey to whoever's out there," said Bernie Williams.

"We understand the pain of their friends and families."

Williams and Gladys Radek, whose niece Tamara Lynn Chipman has been missing for almost three years, co-founded the Walk4Justice, a group which set out from Vancouver on a cross-country march to Ottawa on June 21, National Aboriginal Day.

The group plans to hold a rally Sept. 15 on Parliament Hill to demand a full public inquiry into the "scandal" of missing Canadian women, which they estimate to be about 3,000.

"I look at this as Canada's dirty little secret," said Williams of the missing women, many of whom are aboriginal.

The Walk4Justice group will be in Edmonton Thursday night at the Canadian Native Friendship Centre for what organizers are calling "an evening of sharing, solidarity and music."

Williams said their journey so far has been "phenomenal," support for their cause coming from residents of the towns through which they've passed, and motorists drawn to the convoy by the faces depicted on the vehicles.

"When we went through Barriere a woman came up to us and started to cry; she recognized one of the faces on our vehicles as a childhood friend she knew in school," said Williams.

"It was really heart-wrenching."

jhall@thejournal.canwest.com
© Edmonton Journal 2008

Teen lost to the streets

2008-07-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

Mom: 'She can have sex with a 60-year-old man at 14'
By TAMARA CHERRY, SUN MEDIA
July 1, 2008

"We need some dead kids."

-- Det. Wendy Leaver, on what it will take to fix the system
Kay wanted to burn the tiny shorts and sky-high stilettos her 16-year-old daughter unpacked after returning home last Christmas.

Soon after her arrival, Charlie was snorting cocaine in her bedroom and coming home late for her court-imposed curfew. So much for the law.

The morning of Jan. 6, after coming home late, she argued with her mom and left.

Kay got a call from Charlie's friend at an escort agency in a Kitchener house, saying Charlie was there the night before.

"I sat outside and I watched and I watched because that house was the only link I had to my daughter," Kay recalls.

The next month she got a text message from Charlie.

"I'm so sorry. I'm too far gone now. You need to forget about me. Get on with your life," it said. "It's a bad world out there, you don't want to be part of this, mom."

Kay doesn't understand why a habitual runaway who has long showcased the signs of destruction couldn't have been saved before this.

"Maybe I was naive," she says. "I didn't know that these laws weren't here to protect me. I didn't know my daughter could go live wherever she wants when she's 12, that she can have sex with a 60-year-old man at 14 if she wants to. Why is that allowed?"

March 6, Charlie met Kay for coffee.

She sat down and said, "It's all your f----in' fault." She was upset her mom had remarried. She wanted it to be just the two of them.

The teen stormed out; Kay called police.

Within minutes, Charlie was found with five ecstasy pills, seven blocks of crack cocaine and a boyfriend with a record a mile long.

Charlie was held in custody until April 21, during which she called her mother to confess she had a daughter of her own when she was 15 and that the father was taking care of her. She said she had the baby Dec. 18, 2006 -- exactly a year before she was found working at a Toronto strip joint.

To this day, Kay doesn't know if the story is true, false or something in between.
Charlie was released from custody with probation orders but no address to report to.
"Where do you think she's going to go? Right back to the johns," Kay says. "She's dead before she walks out of the courtroom door."

That week, a 60-year-old man paid her $200 for a blow job.

The last time Kay saw her daughter was May 2. She told Charlie she didn't want her at home if she was going to snort cocaine a room away from her 4-year-old son. But she couldn't leave her baby on the street.

"My hands are tied," she told her daughter. "I can't force you into treatment. I can't force you to get medical help. I can't force you to do anything."

"I'm tired of watching you kill yourself," she said. "You've got to choose."

Charlie asked for a ride to the bus stop. She got out, turned around, said, "Thanks for f---in' nothing," slammed the door and left.

So it's back to the hunt. Back to posting pictures around the city. And back to calling the phone numbers written on the four back-to-back pages of paper before her -- numbers Kay's husband got from Charlie's cell phone when she was in custody once.

It's back to heart-breaking notes left by her daughter on Facebook. Like this one:
"Happy Mothers (sic) Day to all the mothers out there who are having a rough life ... time will heal all ... I love you and happy mothers (sic) day."

Kay's husband recently found Charlie on MySpace, where she goes by another name, says she is 19 and born in Kingston, but lives in Toronto. False, false, false, maybe true. Pictures are posted of her in underwear or skimpy lingerie.

"I don't care how old she is; she's my kid," Kay says. "I'll be damned if I'm burying my kid."

She laments the fact that closure may not come in anything but a body bag.
"I don't have an end. And when I close my eyes and see what's happening to her, it's horrible."
- - -
Officers in the Special Victims Section of the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit can't help but point out that many of Robert Pickton's butchered hookers likely started on the streets as young teens.

And yet the question remains: How do you control a teen who can't be called a criminal, even though she may be killing herself?

The Child and Family Services Act only goes so far, leaving much of the decision-making power to the child. So even if parents do care enough to fight for their children, they must fight with their children -- because there are few others with power to help.

"People look at us and gasp, 'What do you mean you can't do anything?' " Det. Wendy Leaver says. "If you can catch that kid at 13 and 14, maybe they won't have a life on the street at 16, 17 and 18 and be crack-addicted. But there's nothing; there's just a big, big gap."

They can't be thrown into jail; the system won't allow it. They can't be forced into a mental hospital unless they're threatening suicide or harm against others. And they can't be locked up for counselling if they don't want to be.

The cracks remain because, these cops say, this is the sex industry. Maybe no one realizes the problem is there; maybe no one cares.

"A missing child who is taken from their home or just disappears off the street is a major interest," Leaver says. "A missing child who is working as a sex worker or working the street doesn't seem to have that reaction."

Unable to fathom legislation that could save a teen before she's too far gone, these cops say the solution must come as a collaborative effort: Cops, judges, children's aid societies and parents working together, not separately, to save one child.

What will it take to make this happen?

"We need some dead kids. That's what we need. That's what works in this country," Leaver says.

"A judge's dead kid," Det.-Const. Leanne Marchen adds.

Until that happens -- and it very well could happen soon -- Det.-Const. Eduardo Dizon has this advice for parents like Kay:

"Maintain the lines of communication, as frustrating, disappointing, disturbing as it all is," he says.

"Just be there in every way, shape or form, because hopefully one day she will call and say, 'I want help.' "

Severed digit may finger killer

2008-06-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Court documents link Nina murderer to disappearance of prostitute two days earlier

Steve Lillebuen
The Edmonton Journal

Thursday, June 26, 2008

A woman's frozen, severed finger was a souvenir of a past slaying committed by one of Nina Courtepatte's killers, a 19-year-old woman told police during their investigation into a murdered prostitute.

When "Buffy," the nickname of a teen now on trial for Nina's murder, was told by police that they were investigating the killing of Ellie May Meyer, she asked if her body was found missing a finger, court documents say.

The Edmonton sex-trader worker disappeared two days before Nina, 13, was killed.

Convicted killer Joseph Laboucan had shown Buffy a pinky finger that he kept wrapped in a paper towel in a freezer, she told police during the 2007 interview, entered as evidence in her own murder trial.

"He said prior to killing Nina that he always takes a souvenir, and he didn't take one from Nina, though," she said. "He showed me that in the morning and it just, it just made my stomach turn really bad."

Police had told Buffy that she was a suspect in Meyer's death, as was Laboucan, whose DNA was found on her body.

Laboucan, now 22, had bragged about being a serial killer, witnesses testified in other court cases related to the slaying of Nina Courtepatte. He told some people that had killed as many as 189 people.

But he had warned Buffy not to say anything about him to police, she told officers investigating his possible involvement in Meyer's death, the court documents say.
Police wouldn't say Wednesday if they ever found a severed finger.

Project Kare, a police task force trying to solve the murders and disappearances of many sex-trade workers and high-risk individuals, is leading the investigation into Meyer's killing.

The 33-year-old was found in a field on May 6, 2005, near the intersection of Highway 21 and Township Road 540, near Sherwood Park. She was last seen on April 1, 2005. The woman, who had dreams of becoming a nurse to help the elderly, ended up working the streets for seven years.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Don Campbell said Wednesday that detectives are looking at individuals who they feel may be part of Meyer's death, but he couldn't comment further because of ongoing court proceedings.

"We believe there are some similarities between the files (of Nina Courtepatte and Meyer) and we are exploring those to see what they are," he said.

During voir dire testimony at Thomas Svekla's murder trial, RCMP Staff Sgt. Kevin Simmil testified police are investigating other possible serial offenders.

Buffy told police that Laboucan had admitted to killing someone other than Nina, with Stephanie Bird and Michael Briscoe present. He told her it was like an "addiction," Buffy said in an interview with RCMP Const. Rob Kropp.

She had been standing outside a car the day before Nina was killed when he made the comment, she said, the court documents say. Bird was there, too, and told Buffy that they dumped the body in the North Saskatchewan River.

Bird was convicted of manslaughter in connection to Nina's death earlier this year. Briscoe was acquitted of all charges during his 2007 trial, when court heard he had driven the group to the golf course on April 3, 2005, where Nina was raped and murdered. The Crown is appealing.

In one interview, police also asked Buffy if she had any dealings with men who went by the names Ace, Toothless Jay, Tran and Lorenzo. She said she may have met Ace and used to be friends with a man known as Toothless Jay.

Laboucan had once mentioned people with those same names in a 2005 police interview as men who attacked a prostitute.

Buffy said she was co-operating with police when they asked her questions about Meyer because she wanted to help.

"I really, like, feel bad that two died," she said. "'Cause Iike I want to be able to help. I had nothing to do with that, but I don't see why I shouldn't help."

slillebuen@thejournal.canwest.com

© The Edmonton Journal 2008

http://hazel8500.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/courtepatte-verdict-one-teen-guilty-one-not/

Haunting art exhibit makes impression

2008-06-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

CREDIT: John Lucas/Edmonton Journal
Kathy King stands in Roomful of Missing
Women art exhibit

Alexandra Zabjek
edmontonjournal.com

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

EDMONTON - Fifty pairs of eyes focus on the centre of a room where dozens of black shrouded figures are clustered.

It's a haunting image. It focuses attention on a haunting topic.

The portraits and figures are part of a Works art exhibit called "A Roomful of Missing Women," featuring paintings of 50 women from Vancouver's downtown eastside who are missing or have been murdered. The multimedia show by Betty Kovacic is on display at the Stanley Milner Library until July 2.

"I thought it was important that people in Edmonton have opportunities to understand the impact of having missing and murdered women," said Kathy King, from the Prostitution Awareness Action Foundation of Edmonton, which helped bring the exhibit to this city.

"There are so many missing and murdered women in Edmonton, it seems that what's happening in Edmonton was a repeat of what was happening in Vancouver."

King's own daughter, Caralyn, was found dead in a canola field in Sherwood Park more than 10 years ago. The exhibit's black shrouded figures, which are draped in sashes that describe childhood dreams, struck a particular chord with King.

"(My daughter's) dreams were so simple and so profound at the same time," King said. "She didn't want much from life but even what little she wanted, she wasn't able to achieve because of what her addictions did to her."

Kovacic will be at the exhibit on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday afternoons. An artist's reception will take place on Friday night at the library and is open to the public.

For more details on this story, see tomorrow's Journal.

azabjek@thejournal.canwest.com

© Edmonton Journal 2008

Maze of Injustice

2008-06-21T23:12:00.001-07:00

WHERE HAVE MY SISTERS GONE?
http://hazel8500.wordpress.com/fight-the-fading-of-the-light/

more about "Maze of Injustice", posted with vodpod

Stop the Traffik - Promo

2008-06-21T23:06:00.001-07:00

From Hazel

more about "Stop the Traffik - Promo", posted with vodpod

Exhibit like a beauty pageant for missing women

2008-06-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

By GLENN KAUTH, SUN MEDIA

June 21, 2008

Charlene Etzerza remembered the dreams her own sister had as she perused an Edmonton exhibit on 50 missing women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside today.

While her sister, Connie, died of a suspicious drug overdose more than a decade ago, Etzerza says Connie never sought out the high-risk lifestyle that ultimately killed her.

“My sister, she didn’t want to get hooked on drugs. She wanted to get married, to go to church,” said Etzerza.

So, too, did many of the women whose portraits are on display at the Stanley Milner Library as part of the Works Art and Design Festival downtown. The exhibit’s called A Roomful of Missing Women.

Many of them were involved in the sex trade, but as the exhibit points out, that wasn’t necessarily the life they wanted.

“As a child, I dreamed of being a zookeeper,” reads a sash placed on one of the 50 blow-up dolls shrouded in black at the centre of the exhibition room. The dolls represent each of the missing women, some of whom were victims of convicted serial killer Robert Pickton.

For Danielle Boudreau, the display, while haunting, is like the beauty pageant the women never had. The painter, B.C. artist Betty Kovacic, specifically wanted to create portraits of the women, something Boudreau noted usually only wealthy people get to experience.

“She wanted to bridge the gap between the women of the street and portray them as someone of stature,” said Boudreau, who helped organize the exhibit in Edmononton. “That’s why each of these women has their own picture with their own frames.”
The display includes Alberta victims Georgina Papin and Mona Wilson, and Boudreau said that while the women appear dignified in their portraits, the exhibit is also a reminder of the suffering prostitutes everywhere live through. The tragedies, she noted, include not only the murdered sex-trade workers discovered in rural areas but also many more cases of women who commit suicide, die of drug overdoses or suffer diseases such as AIDS.

“Nobody is counting,” said Boudreau. “Since 2002, 84 soldiers have passed away (in Afghanistan). Since 2002, hundreds of women have passed away on the streets.”

For Etzerza, while her sister Connie wasn’t involved in the sex trade, the exhibit was nevertheless very meaningful for her. “Going through this, it is a healing process,” she said. “It’s been so long since I’ve been with anyone who’s lost someone.”

For Sherwood Park resident Sandy Champagne, meanwhile, the display brought her to tears. “I’ve never been impacted by anything quite so much — the reality of it, the realization that that’s not what they planned,” she said.

The exhibit, called A Roomful of Missing Women, also includes a display on Edmonton’s sex trade. It runs until July 2 at the library’s Edmonton Room.

glenn.kauth@sunmedia.ca

EDMONTON SUN
www.edmontonsun.com

Women's march heads to Ottawa

2008-06-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

By Carlito Pablo
June 19, 2008
As the country marks National Aboriginal Day on Saturday (June 21), a group of Native activists and supporters led by a grandmother of five will begin a historic march from Vancouver to Ottawa to call for immediate action on the issue of missing women.
March organizer Gladys Radek, a member of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, noted that across Canada 3,000 women, mostly aboriginal, have disappeared without a trace.
“We want to call for a public inquiry into why these women have gone missing,” Radek told the Straight.
One of the missing women is Radek's niece Tamara Chipman, who was 22 years old when she was last seen hitchhiking east of Prince Rupert in September 2005.
The march, according to Radek, will cover roughly 4,400 kilometres. It will start from Trout Lake in East Vancouver and make its first stop at the Port Coquitlam farm of serial killer Robert Pickton.
Last December, Pickton was sentenced to life in jail by a B.C. court for the deaths of six women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The women included Mona Wilson, whose brother, First Nations activist Jason Fleury, is joining the march.
“We're seeking closure and justice,” Fleury told the Straight when asked what the march means to participants.
The march will be a relay. Participants are scheduled to reach Edmonton on July 3, Regina on July 26, and Toronto on August 29.
“We should be arriving in Ottawa on September 12, and hold a rally at Parliament Hill on September 15,” Radek said, adding that marchers will attempt to collect thousands of signatures backing their call for a public inquiry.
Radek said they don't know whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper will grant them an audience.
http://www.straight.com/article-150276/womens-march-heads-ottawa

DEEP THOUGHTS - On looking and looking away

2008-06-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

Dec 13, 2007 04:30 AM

Shauna Rempel
Toronto Star

Name: Janis Cole

Age: 53

Program: Master of fine arts in documentary media at Ryerson University

Project: Visibility and Invisibility in the Margins of Disappearance

Background: Janis Cole has been making films for 30 years and her work focuses on marginalized and overlooked members of society, such as inmates in the (now closed) Prison for Women in Kingston.

The inspiration: The dozens of sex-trade workers who have gone missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside got Cole thinking about issues of invisibility in society. B.C. pig farmer Robert Pickton was this week sentenced to 25 years without parole for the murders of six of those women. "What interests me is the 65 women going missing in Vancouver before police called it a missing persons case," says Cole. There are still 39 women missing from Vancouver, according to a task force set up to look into the disappearances. Meanwhile, as the trial was going on, Cole says Pickton, not the missing women, became the focus of the story. "In situations such as these, the strongest person we visualize is the killer."

The subjects: For Cole's film-based project, she is focusing on those who are homeless, as well as prostitutes, and the crossover that occurs when sex-trade workers live on the streets. To do this she has spent time with Toronto's homeless – one recent Saturday morning was spent with three elderly men who live on a sidewalk heating grate. "I'm trying to get the heart of this to see why people make the choices they make," says Cole. She also wants to find out "why we can't see the missing when they're gone."

One argument is that sex-trade workers and the homeless are often transient and therefore difficult to track. Cole thinks there is more to it that just that.

The themes: Cole is exploring three themes in both her film project and an accompanying paper:

1. The power structure in society;

2. The media's portrayal of the homeless and those working in the sex trade;

3. The way society responds – either with or without compassion to the marginalized in society.

"It's not a film about prostitution, and it's not a film about homelessness," she stresses. "It's a film that deals with looking and looking away."

To address those themes and find some concrete solutions to the problem, Cole's supervisors, Blake Fitzpatrick and Edward Slopek, are providing background data on theories of invisibility and power structures in society, respectively.

The future: Cole hopes the finished film-based project, which may incorporate photography and new media, will be shown to the public through film festivals, galleries or other venues, while the paper will be presented to conferences and add to the growing research on society's marginalized people.

Deep Thoughts looks at interesting research taking place across the GTA. Email living@thestar.ca

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/284921

© Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2007

Documenary New Media
http://del.icio.us/documentarynewmedia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26535911@N08
http://documentarynewmedia.vodpod.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/documentarynewmedia
http://janiscole.listal.com/view/books
http://spectrumtoronto.com/bios/janis.html

(ī'rĭs) Stevie Ryan

2008-06-11T22:30:00.001-07:00

Words in the video since you cant read them on here:
Letting go is hard.
Even in your darkest times, you will find light.
The past is dead, the future hasn't arrived.
This moment is all you have.
HOPE is your soul awake.

Stevie Ryan

'Why the silence?'

2008-06-09T20:54:00.001-07:00

Gwenda Yuzicappi issues statement through RCMP about need for public to speak to RCMP about daughter's murder

Veronica Rhodes

Leader-Post

Monday, June 09, 2008

CREDIT: Troy Fleece, Leader-Post

Amber Redman's mother Gwenda Yuzicappi at one of a number of searches for her daughter.

REGINA -- A message from Amber Redman's mother released through the RCMP on Monday pleads for the public's help in investigating her daughter's murder.

In an e-mail sent out to the media, the RCMP Regina historical unit shared the letter prepared by Gwenda Yuzicappi, stating she is concerned that people with knowledge that would aid the investigation have not shared it with police.

"We have every confidence in the justice system and we trust in the efforts of the investigators. However, in order for justice to be served, those with information must share it with the police. There has been too much silence from those with knowledge already," reads Yuzicappi's statement.

"Every day we struggle with the frustration that has kept our minds questioning -- why the silence? Silence which for three years hindered our ability to ease our hearts and minds in knowing the whereabouts of my daughter. While this tragedy has made our family and community stronger we are dealing with tremendous hurt and anger. We are appealing to the general public to share any information they may have in order to ease our minds and help prevent future violence."

Yuzicappi's statement concludes by thanking the media for its "assistance, patience and respect over the past three years."

Redman vanished from outside a Fort Qu'Appelle bar on July 15, 2005. Albert Patrick Bellegarde and Gilbert Allan Bellegarde were arrested and charged with Redman's murder last month, when the 19-year-old's remains were found on the Little Black Bear First Nation.

She is alleged to have died on the reserve the day she disappeared. Yuzicappi hasn't spoken to the media since her daughter was found.

RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Carole Raymond said that while investigators have a "very strong case" with plenty of information to support the charges that have been laid, it remains imperative that all information comes forward.

"At this time, I won't confirm or deny that we're looking at anyone else," said Raymond.

A day after Redman's remains were found, several people in the area told theLeader-Post that they had heard rumours of where the teenager was and who was involved in her death since shortly following her disappearance -- rumours that appeared to be reality after the teenaged girl was found.

Raymond explained that Yuzicappi had planned to release the statement right after her daughter was found, but the elders in her community felt she should wait. The RCMP agreed to accommodate Yuzicappi's personal request for information by facilitating the statement's release.

"There has been so much information that has been in the community for three years. There are still rumours that we're hearing. So if anyone has any solid information that is of value to this investigation, it would be very, very good if it comes to our attention ... This is her plea to break that silence," said Raymond.

"I guess really what (she is asking) is making sure whatever is available, whatever happened to her daughter, it comes out, as to why it happened and when it happened and who was involved. Those are fair questions."

Anyone with information about this case are asked to contact the Regina historical crimes unit at 780-5582 or Saskatchewan Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

vrhodes@leaderpost.canwest.com