A Cape Breton woman whose only sister has been missing for 24-years will tell her family's story at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on the Membertou First Nation.
"I have a voice,” says Agnes Gould. “I want people to know that my sister is missing and my family has gone through a lot."
Gould is best known in her community by her radio host name: Aggie Baby.
She’s done beadwork for most of her life, but now she’s making earrings shaped like little red dresses in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
While tying tiny knots, the task hits homes as Gould remembers when her sister, Virginia Sue Pictou, disappeared without a trace in April, 1993 in Maine.
"I had a dream of two men dragging a young woman and burying her,” recalls Gould. “I woke up in a panic, so I called and when I called, that's when I found out my sister was missing."
Gould says her sister went to a hospital in Bangor, Maine after being brutally beaten by two men, but disappeared from the emergency room.
Virginia was 26-years-old at the time and pregnant with her sixth child.
Back then, Gould made a flyer seeking the public’s help locating her sister and still carries it with her after all those years.
"Our family is still stuck,” she says. “We're still frozen in time.”
Gould says she’s welcoming the chance to tell her family and sister’s story to the community.
The inquiry began with opening ceremonies on Sunday and Gould will tell her story in the coming days at the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre.
"For my family to come together and finally find an answer for my sister, it's going to happen, one way or another."
Vowing her sister will be found one day – dead or alive, Gould hopes to finally bring Virginia home.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
