One year later
On September 6, 2008, Maisy Odjick, then 16, and her friend, Shannon Alexander, then 17, disappeared from the town of Maniwaki, Quebec without a trace.
It’s been one year now and, according to Maisy’s mother, Laurie Odjick, nothing has changed. Another September has rolled around and her daughter will not be going back to school.
“It’s just more frustrating actually because I still feel as though nothing has been done. There are no updates, there is nothing. And, it’s just really upsetting because my feelings have always been that more could have been done for them and I am still fighting for that,” said Odjick.
When the girls disappeared the local police force automatically declared them as runaways and no search party was sent out for them, despite their parents pleas since they believed that the girls had no reason to run away. The girls disappeared without any identification, personal effects or even cash on them.
After nine months of their parents pleading, professional search team, Search and Rescue Global 1, traveled to the community in April and conducted a professional search party with the aid of a few hundred volunteers. Their search came up empty.
Unfortunately, April was the last time Odjick heard from her local police force in Kitigan Zibi. She is angered and frustrated by this, but she will not let her anger take over. She just wants her child home.
Despite the fact that Odjick has toured with the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s Sisters in Spirit Initiative, she has not heard much of them in recent months either for as much as she was grateful for their participation in the April search. Though she attends vigils for other missing girls when her employers give her the time off work, Odjick has not been feeling very much support from any organizations in recent months.
“I can usually only make one because I can’t afford to take time off. We need income here and I need money to keep pushing for Maisy. I don’t want to pick and choose but I like to go to events where there is media because it can get the girls some attention,” Odjick said.
Odjick also has three other children at home who she and her husband need to support at the same time as trying to raise funds to continue the search for Maisy and Shannon.
What frustrates her more than anything is that despite the fact that there are so many organizations, both local and national, that seek to help families with missing children, Odjick has had to seek out their help. Gaining the help of these organizations is not as easy as it appears.
Odjick went to Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu’s organization, the Murdered or Missing Persons’ Families’ Association (MMPFA), but all she was told was to fill out a series of forms to become a member of the organization.
What Odjick would really like help with at this time is obtaining some kind of legal aid to help her in her search and fight the injustice that has surrounded her daughter’s case. Odjick believes that her daughter’s rights were violated as the search for both girls has insufficient and flawed.
“I am trying to get a hold of a lawyer to help with my fight but it’s as though nobody wants to help me and that is what is really frustrating. I cannot afford a big pricey lawyer. What angers me is that we have to go searching for help. We are the ones who are knocking on their doors instead of them coming to us,” said Odjick.
What she would really like to see in the future is a set up where frontline workers go to the families of missing children to show them what services and support are available to them in such cases.
On September 6, Odjick will be putting on a vigil and a walk for the missing girls in Kitigan Zibi. The event will not only serve to remember those missing but also to attempt to get some more media attention for the girls. She is also hoping that the event draws in some much needed funding.
At the moment Odjick is presently trying to raise money to place a billboard outside of her community with the girls’ missing poster. Odjick has struggled tremendously to find donations for the Find Maisy and Shannon fund. Former National Grand Chief Phil Fontaine even reneged on a $2000 donation he had pledged on behalf of the Assembly of First Nations.
“They think these girls are runaways and you know what, I hope they are frigging right because at least they would be alive somewhere out there. It’s always a mother’s worst fear, what if they are not? What if something else bad happened? There is child slavery and child prostitution out there,” said Odjick
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