Walkers push for MMIWG hearing in the north
Family of murdered woman travel from Saskatoon to Prince Albert on foot
We encourage (the commissioners) to go north because many families are still affected … and haven’t been heard.
As family members of Monica Burns began a frigid three-day walk from Saskatoon to Prince Albert Friday, their main concern was drawing attention to northern families of murdered and missing Indigenous woman who haven’t been heard by the National Inquiry.
Pernell Ballantyne said telling the story of his sister’s murder to the National Inquiry when it came to Saskatoon in November was important to his family ’s healing and he wants others to have the opportunity too.
“We encourage (the commissioners) to go north because many families are still affected up north and haven’t been heard,” said Conrad Burns, a relative of Ballantyne’s, beside the monument to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls outside the Saskatoon Police station.
Monica Burns was 28 on Jan. 15, 2015, when she was murdered and her body was left wrapped in two carpets beside a snowmobile trail in the bush north of Prince Albert. Todd Daniel McKeaveney, 38, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and offering an indignity to human remains and was sentenced to 13 years in Nov. 2016.
Ballantyne said his sister was a loving, caring person who left a daughter behind.
“She makes that warm feeling, there’s no care in the world, nobody’s going to bother us ... She was like another mother,” he said.
Burns, Ballantyne and their supporters are disappointed additional hearing dates announced by the National Inquiry do not include a return to Saskatchewan. They’re irked poor organization at the National Inquiry, including the loss of the Saskatchewan liaison just days before the hearings, left people without time to arrange travel.
“This information has to be out months in advance so the families can get registered and participate,” Burns said.
Among a small gathering of supporters was Faith Bosse, whose mother Daleen Bosse was missing for four years before her killer led police to her remains north of Saskatoon in 2008. Douglas Hales was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
“I think it’s important just to be here to show that there are more people who’ve been affected. Even if there’s 10 people here, that’s a sign it is a problem and there are people who need to be heard,” Bosse said.
The walkers expect to reach the north end of Prince Albert’s Diefenbaker Bridge by Sunday evening, a location chosen to symbolize the needed journey into northern Saskatchewan.
The walkers invite anyone who wants to join them for any length of time on the meditative walk in honour of the lost ones.