Families gather in Regina as Saskatchewan declares 'Missing Persons Week'

Darla Ponace · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 28, 2025 5:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 15 minutes ago

Families and friends of missing loved ones gathered astatine the TC Douglas building in Regina connected Monday arsenic the Saskatchewan authorities declared the week of April 27-May 3 Missing Persons Week.

Tim McLeod, the province's justness curate and attorney general, said the declaration, made successful conjunction with the Saskatchewan Missing Persons Partnership (SMPP) — a collaborative effort among government, constabulary agencies, Indigenous and community-based organizations — is conscionable 1 mode of demonstrating the voices of families of missing loved ones are being heard. 

"Missing Persons Week is an important inaugural that allows america to articulation unneurotic arsenic a state to honour each idiosyncratic who is missing, and supply enactment to their loved ones," helium said. 

"We afloat admit that the families of these missing loved ones are dealing with this symptom and this anguish each day, and each time they are inactive waiting for their loved ones to travel home," helium said. "It's important that we arsenic a assemblage don't ever hide that." 

The announcement was followed by the 3rd yearly Walk to Honour the Missing from Wascana Centre to the missing persons histrion and seat successful Arboretum Park. Families were fixed flowers to spot successful beforehand of the histrion to honour their loved ones, arsenic good arsenic a sign that read: "They volition ne'er beryllium forgotten." 

Events volition beryllium held crossed Saskatchewan passim the week by SMPP subordinate organizations. 

Saskatchewan has much than 140 semipermanent missing persons, according to the government.  

Michele Bear of Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation said the remains of her daughter, Richele, person been missing for much than a decade.

She was murdered by Clayton Bo Eichler, who pleaded blameworthy to second-degree execution successful September 2016, and was sentenced to beingness successful situation with nary eligibility of parole for 20 years.

"My daughter's remains person ne'er been located," Bear told reporters. 

"I was told three years ago by the investigators moving connected her lawsuit that there's a precocious anticipation that she ended up astatine the Regina metropolis landfill."   

She says she was told by the aforesaid investigators it would outgo $400 cardinal to hunt for her daughter's remains. 

"They besides explained to maine what I would find if I were to excavation her up," she said. "They said, 'I'm going to find thing but dust and bones, and I mightiness not adjacent find her astatine all.'" 

Bear says she simply wants to cognize wherefore they didn't hunt for her daughter's assemblage successful 2013, and wherefore it isn't happening present that different provinces and cities person been searching landfills. 

She besides said she wants to bring consciousness of her daughter's story, portion offering anticipation to others with missing emotion ones. 

"To each the different mothers retired determination with missing and murdered household members: Be strong, support looking," she said. "You whitethorn get discouraged, but don't springiness up."