MMIW Inquiry hears that RCMP kept information from family for decades | Warrior Publications

29.9.17

MMIW Inquiry hears that RCMP kept information from family for decades | Warrior Publications: by John Murray, APTN National News, September 28, 2017

Roddy Sampare stood before the commissioners at the national inquiry hearings in Smithers, B.C. and told the story of his family’s tragedy like he had told it a thousand times before.

“The pain doesn’t go away,” he said. “You know, I was sitting in the other room listening to the people who lost their loved ones through murder. At least some of them had the chance to bury their loved one.

“We didn’t get that chance. It really hurts inside.”

His sister, Virginia Sampare, from the Gitsegukla First Nation, an hour by car from Smithers, vanished on Oct. 14, 1971.

At some point around 1995, the RCMP closed her file and didn’t reopen it until the Pickton investigation.