Family of missing Indigenous woman hopeful new billboard, reward could provide answers
CBC
The family of a missing Indigenous woman is hoping a new RCMP billboard campaign in northwestern Alberta and a $10,000 reward will generate leads in a case that stretches back nearly six years.
Shae-Lynn McAllister, a member of Horse Lake First Nation, was 20 years old when she disappeared from the Shell gas station in Fairview, Alta., on the night of July 7, 2019. She had just finished work at the local A&W.
Fairview is about 550 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
RCMP originally treated the disappearance as a missing persons case, but a social media post Monday said that "as a result of our investigation, police believe she is unlikely to be found alive."
"I've cried, I've prayed and I've prayed," said Shae-Lynn's mother, Trudy McAllister, from her home on Duncan's First Nation, about 40 kilometres east of Fairview.
"[I'm] hoping one day she might just come walking through this door. Anything. I'm hoping someone will come forward and say something.
"I wouldn't wish this on anyone."
The mother of two is described by family as a friendly, happy person with a smile that could light up the room.
She loved being a mother and she adored her two young children, eight-year-old Tyson and seven-year-old Serenity.
Family said she also struggled with addiction and substance use in the years leading up to her disappearance, but was working to try to get clean and enrol in treatment.
The children are being raised by their paternal grandparents Sherry Schischikowsky and Rory Obrigewitch in nearby Hines Creek, about 30 kilometres north of Fairview.
Obrigewitch said the children were too young to really remember their mother, but every now and again they will remember little things.
"And it's heartbreaking, that part of things," Obrigewitch said.
"We always just tell [them] that she's [their] guardian angel. That we're not going to give up looking for her," said Schischikowsky.
Police services across northern Ontario say most illicit drugs circulating in their communities are being transported from southern parts of the province, while prescription drugs diverted into the illegal market continue to pose a serious and ongoing threat.
The case of a child who was killed by his mother shortly after being returned from foster care has shed a rare and needed spotlight on the child welfare system, say experts in the field.
G.E. Barbour may be best known for its King Cole tea, but the Sussex company’s peanut butter is apparently what everyone wants overseas.
Seven years into an early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Sandra Demontigny's home is full of reminders.
A blizzard gusting across southern Manitoba is leaving a long list of highway and school closures.
While a blizzard threatened outside, Saskatoon city council endured an icy blast inside city hall from a Riversdale business leader over its homeless initiatives.
This is a story about fire, faith and marshmallows.
Alberta’s population bucked the trend that almost every other Canadian province and territory experienced last quarter, Statistics Canada population estimates suggest.
A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan from enforcing a 2020 order to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline running beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, ruling that pipeline safety is a federal responsibility.
When retired RCMP constable Jason Hydamacka heard the news that the insurance money for his amputated leg was coming, he sat in his truck and cried.
As Neskantaga First Nation’s youngest band councillor, Lashaunda Waswa says she wants to inspire the next generation to protect the community’s land, water and wildlife.
Toronto has seen a drop in crime rates across the city, but its police chief says youth crime rates continue to be a cause for concern.
Cambridge council has voted to request a pedestrian safety review of Cedar Street from the region after two back-to-back collisions last week, one of which killed a three-year-old girl.