Families, friends honour loved ones during 10th annual Missing Persons Week

Carrying banners and signs, families and friends of missing people gathered at Wascana Place in Regina on Monday to honour their loved ones during the 10th anniversary of Missing Persons Week in the province.

The family of Happy Charles was there to honour the woman who went missing from Prince Albert in April 2017.

Charles’ dad, Carson Poitras, described Happy as someone who always makes people laugh and does crazy things. He said it’s been a roller coaster since she went missing.

“(It’s because of) the different tips that we get thinking we’re going to finally bring her home or even bring her home alive sometimes, because some of the tips that we hear are of her in different cities where she’s alive,” Poitras said.

According to Poitras, the family is in contact with the police quite regularly. But he said that was not always the case.

“In the beginning, it was very frustrating and disheartening and maddening at times, but today they make sure that we’re in constant contact with us almost weekly or even biweekly,” Poitras said.

He explained that recently, a body was found by the Saskatchewan RCMP. Before the news release was issued, police phoned Charles’ family to say the remains weren’t hers.

“We’ve had a situation in the past where the RCMP had found a body and we thought for sure it was our daughter,” he said. “But we got the news from Facebook before we got it from the police.”

Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan’s minister of justice and attorney general, was at the event Monday morning. She said the intent of that type of event is to support the families.

She said currently there are more than 130 people in Saskatchewan who have been missing for more than six months.

“(There are) 96 men and boys and 39 women and girls. Roughly half of those are Indigenous,” Eyre said.

“One can only imagine the pain that those families are going through. One can only imagine the pain (and) the horrible uncertainty and I think we can all imagine how desperate one would feel if someone one loved suddenly was reported missing.”

Eyre said people in the province must do everything they can so there aren’t any more people who go missing permanently.

Following the event, there was a walk during which families joined together to honour those who are missing.

Poitras said having events like the one held Monday is important because they get to come together with other families.

“We feel like at times we’re out there all alone like an island and when we hear stories of the other families, it’s all the same,” he said. “We’ve gone through the same thing. We’ve gone through the struggles and frustrations of not being able to get any help.”

He added it’s not just with missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, but it’s also through every missing person in Saskatchewan.

Some of the other names raised during the event include Mekayla Bali, who was last seen in Yorkton in 2016, and Desmond Fisher, who was last seen in 2018 in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Missing Persons Partnership will host events all week to honour those who are missing.