SASKATOON – Women Walking Together marked its 10th anniversary with a feast and round dance at the White Buffalo Youth Lodge. And after finding out about the discovery of the remains of Karina Wolfe, it was a difficult time.
“Any time they find remains it’s always like is it Cody? It is aunt Emily? Is it people that we know? Any of the families that we might be working with,” said Myrna LaPlante, Women Walking Together co-chair.
READ MORE: Human remains identified as missing Saskatoon woman, man charged
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The volunteer group provides moral support to the families of missing aboriginal women and works to bring attention and awareness to their cause. LaPlante has been in contact with Wolfe’s family and says she will be providing support throughout the court process.
“We’ve been calling for a national inquiry for years … we’ve been calling, we’ve been pressing, we’ve been wanting answers, we’ve been wanting for families to be able to tell their stories and we want the public to listen.”
A recent Statistics Canada report shows aboriginal women are 5.6 times more likely to be killed than non-aboriginal women and three times more likely to be raped.
“We as a society need to respond to that and we need to put into place some plans and how to respond to those numbers as a community,” says LaPlante.
There is positive movement nationally, Carolyn Bennett has indicated preliminary work into an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women will begin within a few weeks. For LaPlante and many other families, it’s a step in the right direction and a chance to have some unanswered questions resolved.
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