1200
cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls between 1980 and 2012
cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls between 1980 and 2012
GRC report form 2014
Further explanations
Explanation on the facts and statistics
Number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls:Disagreements over the number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls are numerous. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police recognizes, in a 2014 report, 1200 cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls between 1980 and 2012. However, Aboriginal women's groups cite, from documented estimates, a number greater than 4000.
Several factors explain this confusion about the numbers, such as the under-reporting of violence against Aboriginal women and girls, the lack of an effective database and the inability to record such cases according to the victim’s ethnic group.
Source : Radio-canada.ca
To obtain a comprehensive view of the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls, we invite you to consult the summary report of the National Commission of Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Several recommendations and calls to action have been made to the federal and provincial governments for forgiveness and mutual conception of a better future for Aboriginal peoples. You can also consult the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Furthermore, you can follow the progress of the Public Inquiry Commission on Relations between Indigenous Peoples and Certain Public Services in Québec
"CBC News has looked into 34 cases across Canada which involve the death or disappearance of Indigenous women, but which authorities say were not due to foul play.
In every case, families of the women say they do not accept the findings of police. They suggest murder may be involved.
CBC News found evidence in many of the cases that points to suspicious circumstances, unexplained bruises and other factors that suggest further investigation is warranted.
Many advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women say these are exactly the kinds of cases requiring further scrutiny in a national inquiry.
This project is part of CBC's ongoing investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women. We continue to expand our database of all unsolved cases. "
Here we present some of the data collected by CBC News. To search more than 250 of those cases, visit the "Missing & Murdered: The Unsolved Cases of Indigenous Women and Girls" CBC News website.
Joey Tijah Patricia English
Joey Tiiah Patricia English, 25, was a mother of three and a member of the Piikani Nation, a community in the Blackfoot Confederacy of southern Alberta. Her family describes her as compassionate and always laughing.
Reported missing on June 9, 2016, by family, parts of her body were found in a grassy area of Calgary two days later.
The Calgary Police Service told CBC News they believe English's death was not a homicide, but Joshua Jordan Weise, 40, of Calgary, has been charged with offering an indignity to human remains. He was granted bail in early July
Rowena Mae Sharpe
Rowena Mae Sharpe, 38, was from St.Mary's First Nation, a Maliseet community on the north shore of the St. John River at Fredericton, N.B.
She was a mother of three children with many friends who was well-loved by her community. She was killed by her estranged husband in a murder-suicide
in her home on March 20, 2012.
Fredericton police handled Sharpe's case.
Deindre Marie Michelin
Deidre Marie Michelin, 21, was a mother of four from Rigolet, an Inuit community on the north coast of Labrador
She loved to make people around her laugh and she enjoyed cooking and learning traditional crafts. Michelin also loved her children immensely.
On Jan. 20, 1993, she made a distressed call to the Happy Valley-Goose Bay RCMP, 160 kilometres from her home. On that same day, she was shot and killed in a murder-suicide by her then-partner. The Happy Valley-Goose Bay RCMP handled Michelin's case.
Jeanenne Chantel Fontaine
Jeanenne Chantel Fontaine, 29, was a mother of three who lived in Winnipeg but was originally from the Sagkeeng First Nation, north of the city.
People who knew her said she could light up an entire room with her bubbly and lively personality. Her family said Fontaine was in the middle of turning her life around for herself and her children
On March 14, 2017, she was shot and killed inside her home before her house was set on fire. The Winnipeg Police Service is handling Fontaine's case
Marylin Rose Munroe
Marilyn Rose Munroe, 41, Marilyn Rose Munroe, 41, lived in Winnipeg but was originally from Sachigo Lake First Nation in northern Ontario.
She was known as happy, joyful and an overall good person.
She was last reported seen alive on Feb. 12, 2016; her body was found 10 days later in a home in the city's North End. Winnipeg Police Service handled Munroe's case and concluded her death was a homicide.
Alannah Jamima Cardinal
Alannah Jamima Cardinal, 20, had recently received an acceptance letter from Portage College in Alberta when she disappeared on July 16, 2016.
Her body was recovered nine days later near her home community of Goodfish Lake, Alta., a Cree community about 185 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
Cardinal's death was classified a suicide by the coroner, but her family doesn't believe she took her own life. St. Paul RCMP handled her case.
Annie Pootoofook
Annie Pootoogook, 46, was a well-known Inuk artist originally from Cape Dorset, Nunavut, who lived in Ottawa, Ont.
She was known for her contemporary drawings of Inuit culture.
On the morning of Sept. 19, 2016, her body was found in the Rideau River. Ottawa police continue to investigate Pootoogook's case. The force asks anyone with information about what led to Pootoogook's death to contact its major crime section.
Tina Michelle Fontaine
Tina Michelle Fontaine, 15, was a young and carefree girl from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba.
She went missing in late July 2014 and her body was found wrapped in a bag in Winnipeg’s Red River on Aug. 17, 2014.
On Dec. 11, 2015, the Winnipeg Police Service announced that Raymond Joseph Cormier, 53, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Fontaine
He was finally found not guilty in February 2018. The Manitoba government said there would be no public inquiry into Tina's murder.
Gladys Tolley
Gladys Tolley, 61, was struck and killed by a Sûreté du Québec cruiser while crossing Highway 105 near the entrance to the Kitigan Zibi First Nation on Oct. 5, 2001.
The incident was investigated by Montreal police and determined to be an accidental collision.
Her daughter, Bridget Tolley, has lobbied for an independent investigation into her mother’s death. She says police have never spoken to her family.
Kelly Morrisseau
Kelly Morrisseau, 27 was mother to three and seven months pregnant with a fourth child when she was found naked in a pool of blood, clinging to life on the cold morning of Dec. 10, 2006 in western Quebec’s Gatineau Park.
Gatineau police are handling the homicide. Investigators last contacted family around 2013, but had no new information about the case.
Linda Condo
Family remembers Linda Condo as a friendly, happy woman who loved life.
The 37-year-old was seen for the last time in Quebec on Oct. 8, 1988. On Oct. 25, 1988, a hunter found Linda’s body in the woods of Point-de-Miguasha, a sector of the municipality of Nouvelle on the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. She had been shot in the head and left on a trail for 11 days.
The Sûreté du Quebec is investigating the homicide, but Linda’s son has not heard from investigators in more than a
decade
Nellie Anguitiguluk
Nellie Angutiguluk was 29 years old when her body was found inside an apartment in Montreal's Côte-desNeiges neighbourhood on May 19, 2015.
Nellie was originally from Nunavik, the Inuit region of northern Quebec. She was a regular visitor at The Open Door, a drop-in centre in downtown Montreal.
In July 2015, Montreal police charged a man with first-degree murder in Nellie's death
Rose-Ann Blackned
Rose-Ann Blackned, 24, was a mother of two from Nemaska, a Cree community in northern Quebec.
She was the eldest of nine siblings.
Her frozen body was found on Nov. 16, 1991, nine days after she was last seen alive. Her case is being handled by Quebec provincial police. The force recently assigned several detectives to her case and met with the Blackned family
Shannon Alexander
Shannon Alexander, 17 is from Maniwaki, Quebec, and is described as a very outgoing person who loved to stay physically fit and was looking forward to nursing school.
On Sept. 6, 2008, Shannon disappeared from Maniwaki with her friend, Maisy Odjick.
The Sûreté du Quebec handles Shannon’s missing person's case.
Bernadette Ahenakew
Bernadette Ahenakew is remembered as someone who was spontaneous, who loved to cook and help around the house.
The 22-year-old went missing from Edmonton, Alberta in September 1989, and her body was discovered on a rural road near Sherwood Park, Alberta the following month.
The KARE unit, an RCMP entity that investigates files of murdered or missing vulnerable persons throughout the province, is handling the homicide. Family members say investigators no longer contact them.
Therese Labbe
Therese Labbe, 47, was last seen alive on Oct. 6, 1989, at the transit office in Timmins, Ontario, having hitchhiked there from Sudbury, Ont.
Later that day, her body was found in the Mountjoy River, about 38 kilometres south of Timmins. According to the Timmins Daily Press, Labbe had lived alone at the time of her death, she was a university graduate and a mother of two.
The Ontario Provincial Police offered a $50,000 reward for information related to her case in 2005. The case remains unsolved.
Delphine Nikal
Delphine Nikal vanished on June 13, 1990. She was 16 years old, and living in Telkwa, British Columbia.
On the day she went missing, she was going to visit friends in Smithers, British Columbia, about 16 kilometers from her home. She was last seen by two friends hitchhiking east from the town.
Nikal’s case is one of 18 confirmed cases listed under Highway of Tears
Patricia Carpenter
Patricia (Trish) Carpenter, 14, was originally from Ontario’s Alderville First Nation. In July 1992, she had given birth to a baby boy whom she loved immensely.
Just two months later, on Sept. 25, 1992, Trish was found dead in a downtown Toronto construction site.
The Toronto Police Service and Ontario Coroner’s Office investigated the case and the coroner ordered an inquest, which revealed her death was suspicious but there wasn't enough evidence to say it was a homicide.
Ramona Wilson
Ramona Wilson was 16 years old when her family last saw her at home in Smithers, British Columbia, on June 11, 1994.
A missing persons investigation was launched two days later when Ramona’s mother called the Smithers RCMP. On April 9, 1995, a local found the teenager’s body in a wooded area west of the Smithers airport. Ramona’s case is now under Project EPANA, a task force dedicated to unsolved murders with links to Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, otherwise known as The Highway of Tears, in British Columbia
Roxanne Thiara
Roxanne Thiara, 15,was last seen in Prince George, British Columbia in July 1994.
She was found dead off Burns Lake along The Highway of Tears one month after she disappeared. "Roxanne had been missing for over a month before we were even notified that she was missing," her aunt, Carla Bruyere said. "I wasn't notified until they actually found her [body]."
The case is being investigated by Project E-PANA, a task force dedicated to unsolved murders with links to Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, otherwise known as The Highway of Tears, in British Columbia
Savannah Hall
It was January 2001 when three-year-old Savannah Hall was taken to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia
The toddler, who was living in foster care, was in a coma and had massive brain swelling, hypothermia and multiple bruises.
She died two days later. In 2007, a coroner’s inquest concluded that Savannah’s death was a homicide, but no charges have been laid.
Angela Williams
Angela Williams, mother to three daughters, was reported missing on Boxing Day in 2001. She was living in Vancouver at the time and had recently told family she was worried something might happen to her.
Her body was found nearly two weeks prior to the missing persons report being filed — a Jane Doe dumped in a ditch along a rural road in Surrey, British Columbia.
Angela’s family says her case is held by the Surrey RCMP Serious Crimes Unit. No one has been charged in her death.
Tamra Jewel Keepness
Tamra Jewel Keepness, a five-year-old girl originally from Whitebear First Nation in Saskatchewan, once had a favourite pine tree at the end her block that she liked to climb.
On the evening of July 5, 2004, Tamra would be last seen from her home in Regina, Saskatchewan.
On the evening of July 5, 2004, Tamra would be last seen from her home in Regina, Saskatchewan. Tamra Keepness’s case is assigned to the Regina Police Service's Cold Case Unit, where the investigation into the disappearance of Tamra continues.
Melissa Chaboyer
A single mother to one and a foster parent to several others, Melissa Chaboyer, 35, worked multiple jobs to afford Christmas gifts for her family.
On Nov. 26, 2005 Chaboyer was stabbed to death in the taxi she drove, and her body was found on the pavement of a parking lot in Thompson, Manitoba.
Chaboyer's homicide is being reviewed by the fourth investigator to work on the case, which is mostly handled by the Winnipeg RCMP detachment, 700 miles
south of Thompson.
Delores Dawn Brower
Delores Dawn Brower was a 32-year-old Metis woman who was reported missing in June 2005. An investigation revealed she was last seen hitch hiking in the early hours of May 12, 2004.
JoAnn McCartney, a former police officer who now runs a program that helps women leave the sex trade in Edmonton described Brower as a tiny, quiet
woman who was often depressed. When McCartney last saw her in 2003, Brower was trying to leave the sex trade.
The Edmonton police task force have always suspected foul play in her case. Their suspicions came true on April 19, 2015. Nearly 10 years after she was reported missing, Brower's remains were discovered on a rural property near Rolleyview, Alberta -- east of Leduc and south of Edmonton. The KARE unit, an RCMP entity that investigates and reviews files of murdered or missing vulnerable persons throughout Alberta, is handling the homicide
Aielah Saric-Auger
Aielah Saric-Auger was 14 when she disappeared on Feb. 2, 2006.
Family members said the Leidli T'enneh First Nations teen had spent the night at a friends house. She was last spotted near a downtown bar in Prince George, British Columbia.
Her family plastered “missing” posters all over downtown Prince George but a week after she went missing a passing motorist travelling east to Prince George on Highway 16 found her body lying at the base of the highway embankment.
Her case is being investigated by Project E-PANA, a task force dedicated to unsolved murders with links to Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, otherwise known as The Highway of Tears.
Marie Lynn Lasas
Marie Lynn Lasas was 19 years old when she went missing
On the night of September 21, 2006, the mother of two was walking home from a friend’s place. Saskatoon police say she stopped at her uncle’s briefly and continued on her way. After that, she disappeared. Nine months later her body was discovered behind an abandoned house on the west side of the city.
Saskatoon police say they are no longer actively investigating Lasas’ death, but the file remains open.
Emily Osmond
Emily Osmond disappeared in 2007 when she was 78 years old.
RCMP say she lived a reclusive lifestyle on a small acreage on the Kawacatoose First Nation, Saskatchewan. She didn’t have much contact with family or friends. The last time they saw her was Aug. 29, 2007. A man who helped her chop wood lastsaw her on Sept. 9, 2007.
RCMP said her disappearance was unusual since her vehicle, personal belongings, medication and her dogs were still there. RCMP said there were nothing to indicate foul play. She lived happily in a shack without running water or electricity.
Extensive searches were conducted in a 25-kilometre radius around her property, with no luck.
Maisy Marie Odjick
Maisy Marie Odjick of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Nation in Quebec was 16 years old when she disappeared, along with Shannon Alexander, on Sept. 6, 2008.
The girls were initially listed as runaways-- something her mother, Laurie Odjick, believes had stalled the investigation.
In 2009, the Sûreté du Quebec took over Maisy’s case.
