Que. police search river for teens 9 years later
New tip prompts officials to scour waterways around First Nation community
It has been almost nine years since Laurie Odjick last saw her 16-yearold daughter Maisy and it is with “mixed emotions” that she waits for news as Quebec police divers search the waterways in and around her community.
Sûreté du Québec officers arrived in Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation on Tuesday, an Algonquin community about two hours outside of Ottawa, after they received a tip on the disappearance of Maisy Odjick and her friend Shannon Alexander, 17. The girls vanished on Sept. 8, 2008, leaving their clothes, purses and all their personal belongings behind at Alexander’s father’s Maniwaki apartment. The girls had gotten together for a sleepover.
“I have mixed emotions. I can’t describe it, really,” Laurie Odjick said on Wednesday. Kitigan Zibi, a community of nearly 2,300 people, is adjacent to Maniwaki, Que.
“The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) got a tip and they are here searching the waters. I have no idea what the tip is. It is better for me not to know sometimes. It must be credible because they are here,” said Odjick, who was a key voice in the calls to create a national inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls. “But why now?” she said.
The police are expected to be in the area until Thursday.
The inquiry was launched one year ago after families across Canada demanded one be held because for too long, they felt their loved ones cases weren’t being investigated properly and that not enough was being done to help vulnerable Indigenous women. The RCMP wrote a report in 2014 that said there are 1,181 murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada, but many feel that number could be as high as 4,000.
The SQ divers were searching the Pitobig Creek area for the girls. Kitigan Zibi is surrounded by freshwater lakes, streams and rivers including the Gatineau, Eagle and Desert rivers. “There are so many lakes in this community and all over. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Odjick said.
She implored those living in the area to come forward if they know something.
“I believe that someone does know something, either here in the community or in the town of Maniwaki itself. Two girls just don’t disappear without a trace,” Odjick said.
“I am a mother looking for answers and hopefully, one day, closure for our family,” she added.
When the teens disappeared, Odjick felt the cases were mishandled from the beginning. Odjick’s case was originally investigated by Indigenous police from the reserve and Alexander’s by the SQ, as she lived off-reserve.
Odjick said the families were not listened to by police, who she said originally dismissed their concerns and even suggested the girls ran away.
As a result, there was no immediate search for the best friends.
“Nobody went looking for them, I did that. The first search was done by my family and friends. The second search was done by the reserve,” Odjick previously told the Star.