Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

It been 22 years since Lisa Marie Young went missing after a night out with friends – a longer period than the young woman had been living when she was last seen. 

Lisa Young went missing June 30, 2002, following a night out with friends. 

Though family and friends have over the decades continued searching and working to keep Lisa in the public eye, they’ve accepted that sad fact that she is no longer living. They are now looking for information that will allow them to bring her home to her family.

It has been 22 years since Lisa Marie Young went missing from Nanaimo and advocates continue to gather annually to celebrate the memory of the Tla-o-qui-aht woman, raising awareness for her ongoing investigation.

Close to 80 people gathered at Nanaimo’s RCMP detachment on June 30, 2024, marching with posters and banners down to Maffeo Sutton Park to celebrate and remember Young.

On May 31, the notorious serial killer who preyed on the vulnerable women of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES), Robert Pickton, took his last breath.

Convicted of six counts of second-degree murder, he received the maximum sentence under Canadian law.

Pickton murdered Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, and Brenda Wolfe. But the names of his victims were many more than these six. Pickton was charged with 26 counts of murder, while 20 were stayed. 

Maxine Clutesi is 13 going on 14. The young Nuu-chah-nulth teen likes vintage fashion and jokes that the usual bout of coastal rain is flattening her classic 50s big hair.

She speaks the truth like only a teenager can.

On March 19, MP Leah Gazan took to Parliament Hill, on behalf of the House of Commons status of women committee, to announce the beginning of their formal study for the proposed Red Dress Alert System. The system, like Amber Alerts, will notify the public when an Indigenous woman, girl, or two-spirit person goes missing.

“This whole initiative came from the hard efforts of family members and advocates, around the country, who join together to say that, should we go missing, we must be found,” said the NDP Member of Parliament.

For over three decades, Valentine’s Day in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) marks the commemoration of Indigenous women and girls who are missing and murdered. But women and girls have continued to go missing and be murdered, leading family members and advocates say not enough is being done to protect Indigenous people.

It’s been more than 20 years since Robert William “Willie” Pickton was arrested on illegal gun charges at his Port Coquitlam pig farm. Armed with warrants, investigators searching the pig farm property soon found evidence that something more serious had happened. On Feb. 22, 2002 Pickton was charged with two counts of murder, launching an investigation that was dubbed the largest crime scene in Canada’s history.

It’s been 21 years since Lisa Marie Young went missing, precisely the age she was when she was last seen in the early morning of June 30, 2002 in Nanaimo.

Since 2003, Lisa Marie Young’s family, friends, and community members have gathered for an annual walk to honour her memory as they search for answers. On the morning of Sunday, June 25, they gathered, once again, meeting outside of the Nanaimo RCMP detachment.

For many generations Indigenous women and two-spirited people have been the victims of violence in disproportionate numbers across Canada. This fact prompted the federal government to launch a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in December 2018.

The inquiry panel traveled the country taking statements from more than 2,000 people. But their mandate covered more than missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, expanding to encompass sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, bullying and harassment, suicide, and self-harm.  

Port Alberni, BC – It was at 10 a.m. that the color red, along with posters of missing and murdered loved ones, began to fill the parking lot at n̓aasn̓aasʔaqsa totem pole, near the Victoria Quay.

May 5th marks National Red Dress Day, where, in Port Alberni, Nuu-chah-nulth-aht and community members gathered to raise awareness of MMIWG2S+ and remember their missing and murdered loved ones.