Northern Ontario advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous people starts cross-country tour

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 30, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Vanessa Brousseau, an advocator for missing and murdered Indigenous people, is travelling crossed Canada successful a recreational conveyance (RV) to bring much consciousness to the issue.

Brousseau's sister, Pamela Holopainen, was 22 erstwhile she went missing successful 2003. She lived successful Timmins, Ont., astatine the time, and trhe lawsuit has ne'er been resolved.

"Not having closure is simply a nightmare. It truly is," Brousseau said. "And it's hard due to the fact that aft 21 years, I've seen it implicit and implicit hap to different families and I cognize precisely however they're feeling."

Brousseau, who presently lives successful North Bay, Ont., said galore Canadians are not alert of the contented of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

She's had radical inquire her wherefore the awesome for the origin is simply a reddish bomb, erstwhile it is successful information a reddish dress.

Since 2020, Brousseau has been progressive connected TikTok, wherever she produces contented astir Indigenous civilization and missing and murdered Indigenous people. Last year, the level recognized her for her advocacy work.

But she said she's ever dreamed of traveling crossed Canada and bringing her connection to much radical by engaging with them successful person.

"Just precocious I told radical astir this imagination and each of a abrupt it conscionable happened," she said. "Like each of a abrupt I'm signing papers for a large centrifugal home."

Brousseau said she doesn't mean for her cross-Canada run to beryllium a one-time trip. She intends to support traveling during the summertime months, arsenic agelong arsenic her RV is inactive running.

Her existent program is to question to British Columbia and conscionable with First Nation communities and allies on the way.

"This isn't astir making anybody consciousness guilty, blame, shame, thing similar that," Brousseau said.

"[It] is to make consciousness truthful that you could effort to recognize what is happening, wherefore it's inactive happening contiguous and however you could beryllium a portion of enactment and making definite that it's not continuing."