WALKERS REMEMBER MORIN
Two years since woman disappeared
Neil Sasakamoose hasn’t been able to coach soccer since one of his players, Ashley Morin, disappeared two years ago.
Saskakamoose, the executive director of the Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs, began cycling from Saskatoon to North Battleford on Friday. He is one of more than 50 participants taking part in a walk to raise awareness about Morin’s disappearance. Morin, who is from Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, was 31 years old when she was last seen in North Battleford on July 10, 2018.
The Saskatchewan RCMP announced last year that her disappearance is considered a homicide.
“(Her disappearance) affects me right in my soul, right in my spirit,” Sasakamoose said.
This is the second year Morin’s family and supporters will make the three-day, 140-kilometre journey from the Saskatoon Police Service to North Battleford. They hope to raise awareness about Morin’s disappearance in the hopes that someone who has information will come forward.
Krista Fox, a close family friend who has served as a spokesperson for Morin’s family, says the family is struggling to heal because they don’t know what happened to Morin.
“We’ll never get that chance to be able to start healing until we get our girl home, whatever that may look like,” Fox said.
“Here we are, another year later, and we’re still fighting the same demons, we’re still trying our best to bring her home.”
The Saskatchewan RCMP said Friday that the investigation into Morin’s disappearance is active and ongoing, and that investigators continue to follow up on all new information they receive. Anyone who may have information about the incident — specifically about Morin’s activities or who she may have associated with between July 6 and 10, 2018 — is encouraged to reach out.
Last year, RCMP released a video surveillance image of a two-tone van that was believed to be in the vicinity of an area in North Battleford where Morin was last seen on July 10.
At a ceremony outside the police station before the walk began Eugene Arcand, who served as a member of the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee, presented Fox and Morin’s mother, aunt and grandmother with beaded medallions that had been created by Manitoba artist Mish Daniels. Daniels’ work became well known internationally last year, after television host and actor Whoopi Goldberg wore one of her creations on her talk show, The View.
Arcand’s 78-year-old sister, Sylvia, was among those taking part in the walk. Arcand told those gathered that he feels hurt and wounded, that colonialism has caused society to a patriarchal rather than a matriarchal one and it’s time for men to “smarten up” when it comes to how they treat women.
Fox says Prince Albert Search and Rescue will be conducting searches in the North Battleford area from July 24 to 26.
Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper attended the ceremony outside the police service Friday. While the Saskatoon Police Service is not the police agency of jurisdiction in the investigation, Cooper said it’s not about jurisdiction when there’s a loss in the community.
Some of Morin’s family members live in Saskatoon and Cooper said the police service is there to provide them support, including through its missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls family liaison officer.
“We don’t draw lines around communities when it comes to offering support,” he said.
As most of the participants headed westward on Friday, Kayla Michel, her husband and three children began making their way to Regina in the hopes of bringing awareness of Morin’s disappearance to the provincial and federal governments. She said her family is walking in “opposite directions, in a united cause.”
Michel didn’t know Morin, but said “I know enough that she’s missing and that she’s somebody’s child and that needs to be dealt with.”