The RCMP have launched a 10-day nationwide social media campaign aimed at solving cases involving missing aboriginal women.
From Oct. 5 to Oct. 14, the Mounties will highlight specific cases of missing Aboriginal women and girls across Canada on Facebook and Twitter, asking for the public’s help in locating them.
Each case on the Canada’s Missing website is profiled with a poster that provides information about the missing individual and the circumstances of the case and can be printed for distribution.
“I think that’s wonderful. That’s something that’s good news as a First Nation person myself,” says former RCMP member Joe Michael.
Michael says cases involving missing or murdered aboriginal women hit close to home because his grandmother, grandfather and great aunt were all murdered.
“They never recovered the bodies. They never found out who did it,” he says. “I want to know what happened to my grandmother and my grandfather and their sister.”
The month of October was chosen to coincide with the Sisters in Spirit Vigil held by the Native Women’s Association of Canada.
“It’s to remind us of the ones that are missing and murdered,” says Catherine Martin, who attended Monday’s vigil at the RCMP detachment in Dartmouth.
“It’s horrible when we lose our children or our family or our friends, but when you don’t know, that’s the part that prolongs your mourning and your grieving.”
Michael and Martin agree the new campaign is a step in the right direction to bringing closure to those families.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Matt Woodman
