Photo courtesy of Manfred Joehnck
There are more than a hundred heartbreaking stories of loved ones gone missing in Saskatchewan, with a disproportionate number of them being Aboriginal.
Today, Colleen Whitedeer of Prince Albert shared her story during a ceremony in Regina, proclaiming this, “Missing Persons Week in Saskatchewan.”
For Colleen and her family, the pain has not diminished, even though it has been more than two and a half years since she has seen her brother, 27-year-old Timothy Charlette.
He was last seen in October of 2014 in Prince Albert. A woman he was with was found drowned in the North Saskatchewan River, but there has never been a trace of Timothy.
Colleen says the pain runs deep for the entire family.
“I am the mother of two boys, and I just pray that my sons don’t get caught in that kind of lifestyle,” she said. “But even if they do, I want their lives to matter, I want someone to care about them.”
RCMP Superintendent, Jennifer Ebert, has dealt with dozens of similar cases. She says some of them go back decades. Ebert says it is never easy trying to bring comfort to a family when there is no closure.
“Because it eats your insides,” she said. “So, that’s the kind of experience that each of these families is having, so how could I not be touched by these families?”
There are 125 active missing persons cases in Saskatchewan.
An empty chair, covered in white with a small ribbon on it was displayed to represent each person who is still unaccounted for.