REGINA — Sunday, to coincide with the beginning of Saskatchewan Missing Persons Week, Project HOME (‘Help Our Missing Emerge’) – a province‐wide, multi-jurisdictional, digital billboard and social media awareness campaign – was launched to bring attention to the long-term missing persons cases in Saskatchewan.
A number of these people are missing in Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction. Their cases remain open and officers continue to investigate their disappearances. Their families continue to wait for answers about what happened to their missing loved ones. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness and generate new tips that can assist Saskatchewan police agencies in helping locate all of these missing individuals.
“How do we draw attention to all those people who remain missing across Saskatchewan to ensure that the public is hearing about them, thinking about them, keeping them top of mind? We, as investigators, are always trying to find new information in regards to each of these individuals; however, we have to rely on the public for information, too. We’re hoping these billboards are the key to bringing in some new tips that might assist us,” says Sergeant Donna Zawislak of the Saskatchewan RCMP Historical Case Unit.
The seven billboards — located in Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton, Prince Albert and North Battleford — will display the pictures, names and some brief details about the majority of those who remain missing in our province. Additional information about the long-term missing persons cases across Saskatchewan can be found on the SACP website: https://www.sacp.ca/missing-persons.html
“I can’t imagine the anguish the families of those who remain missing must feel every day. We want to remind the public that these missing individuals are loved – their absences have left holes in the hearts of their families and friends. They haven’t been and won’t be forgotten. We are hopeful that displaying the names and faces of the long-term missing people in Saskatchewan on these billboards will help generate new information that can lead to their return and provide answers for the families who are missing their loved ones endlessly,” said Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, Saskatchewan RCMP commanding officer and second vice president of the SACP.
Project HOME was initiated by two individuals with the Saskatchewan RCMP: Cst. Brendan Sanford, Saskatchewan RCMP missing person co-ordinator ,and Vicki Torresan, community program officer with the Saskatchewan RCMP’s Crime Prevention/Crime Reduction Unit who is actively involved in efforts in support of MMIWG2S.
Both Sanford and Torresan have worked diligently for months to launch this project. They have been in contact with the families whose missing loved ones will be featured on the billboards, ensuring that the families have felt included and informed during this process.
Project HOME was created in partnership with municipal police agencies in the province (Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert Police Services). The project is supported and funded by the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police, the Civil Forfeiture Fund and the Department of Justice Victims and Survivors of Crime Week Victims’ Fund. The RCMP Heritage Centre has also generously provided the use of its billboard on Dewdney Avenue in Regina.
What can you do to help bring these missing people home and provide their loved ones with answers?
Find out more information about long-term missing persons cases across Saskatchewan by visiting the SACP’s website.
If you know something, say something (even if you think it may be insignificant, any piece of information may be what leads investigators to finding the answers they need to locate someone). You can report information to your local police or to the Saskatchewan RCMP Missing Persons Line at 1-833-502-6861. You can also report information anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
