Missing and Murdered Women: Annie Linteau

Wednesday, February 10

Federal Liberals call for Highway of Tears national investigation

Published: February 09, 2010 11:00 PM

The federal Liberal Party is calling for a national inquiry into the missing and murdered women along Highway 16, also referred to as the Highway of Tears.

Anita Neville, the Liberals’ critic on the status of women, was in Prince George Friday to meet with groups and families of victims regarding the murders and disappearances.

“My leader, Michael Ignatieff, has made it clear when we’re elected we would make a call for a national investigation,” Neville said. “The Native Women’s Association of Canada has identified 520 aboriginal women who are missing or murdered (since 1970). If a planeload of 520 people went down, you could be sure there would be a national investigation.”

Currently the provincial E-PANA police task force is investigating 18 women and girls missing or murdered along B.C.’s highways. Of those 10 cases are from the stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

“Certainly the provincial governments are responding, and that is good, but everyone is responding in a different way,” Neville said. “It’s a national tragedy. It’s a national stain. (But) there is not a comprehensive, coordinated strategy... led by the federal government.”

There are multiple models a national investigation could be based on, such as the investigation in the Air India bombing, which could be drawn on, she added.

“I don’t know exactly what that looks like,” Neville said. “(But) I think what would be required is to meet with a whole range of stakeholders.”

Neville said she has raised the issue several times with the Department of Justice, but receive little response.

Project E-PANA spokeswoman Corp. Annie Linteau said it’s difficult to say if a national investigation or inquiry would be beneficial to the investigation.

“The RCMP is always supportive of any public forum. (But) an inquiry would not be helpful at this time,” Linteau said. “We’re conducting an active investigation... and we are not in a position to disclose our evidence in a public forum.”

Currently 69 officers and civilian staff are dedicated to Project E-PANA.

Additional resources are dedicated to cases of missing and murdered women through Project Evenhanded in Vancouver, Project KARE in and around Edmonton and Manitoba’s missing person/cold case project, Linteau said.

Linteau said without knowing the details of what a national investigation would look like, it’s hard to determine if it would benefit the investigations.

Cariboo-Prince George MP Dick Harris said he is confident in the current police investigations into the cases.

“We have a coordinated investigation between four provinces now, all along Highway 16 from Manitoba to Prince Rupert,” Harris said. “A national investigation has a good sound to it, but what would it achieve?”

Harris said he believes the call for a national investigation is about politics, not solving cases.

“This is a tragedy. This is not something to politicize,” he said. “If she’s using this issue for political reasons, I’m saddened by that.”

http://bit.ly/bLgKyF

Highway of Tears

http://www.highwayoftears.ca/

Monday, February 1

Police seeking two men in teen girl’s murder

RCMP Corp. Annie Linteau holds up two photos of 14-year-old

Aielah Saric-Auger at the last place she was seen alive: the

2100 block of Quince Street.

Arthur WILLIAMS/Free Press

By Arthur Williams - Prince George Free Press

Published: February 01, 2010 3:00 PM
Updated: February 01, 2010 3:38 PM

On Wednesday it will have been four years since the last known sighting of 14-year-old Aielah Saric-Auger while she was alive.

Project E-PANA, a special police task force investigating cases of missing and murdered women along Highway 16, is appealing to the public for any information about two males who were seen talking to Aielah the night she disappeared.

On Feb. 2, 2006 Aielah left her family home to go and visit friends, Cpl. Annie Linteau said. On Feb. 10, her body was found in a ditch next to Highway 16 near the Tabor Mountain turnoff, 22 km east of Prince George.

The last known sighting of Aielah was between 12:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Feb. 3, in the 2100 block of Quince Street.

"She was seen walking northbound. A witness saw that two males attempted to engage her in conversation," Linteau said. "We invite these males to come and talk to us. We'd like to find out what the conversation was about; if they have any information. Did she give any indication where she was going?"

Aielah was wearing a miniskirt and dark jacket at the time of her disappearance. No description of the males is available, Linteau said.

The investigation team has received 1,300 tips and interviewed 400 people in B.C. and Alberta regarding the case, RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Annie Linteau said. However, police have not been able to identify the two males who spoke to Aielah that night.

Police believe all three were walking at the time of the incident. RCMP do not know what Aielah was walking alone in that neighbourhood at that time of night, Linteau said.

"We have no indication that Aielah was involved in high-risk activity," Linteau said.

Anyone with any information which could lead to the identification of these two males, or about the whereabouts of Aielah after Feb. 2, is urged to call the B.C. Unsolved Homicide hotline at 1-877-543-4822 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-222-TIPS(8477).

"We're talking about the murder of a 14-year-old girl," Linteau said. "No tip is to small."

Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/83295522.html