Missing and Murdered Women: Danita Big Eagle

By BARB PACHOLIK, Leader-PostFebruary 12, 2010 9:03 PM

Dianne Big Eagle whose daughter Danita Big Eagle (shown in photos) went missing from Regina on Feb. 11, 2007.

Photograph by: Roy Antal, Leader-Post

REGINA — On a day devoted to love, a Regina family will gather to remember a beloved mother, daughter and sister who vanished three years ago and to also pay tribute to other missing women.

When she began planning the Miye Kiksuyapi Round Dance — meaning "Don't forget me" — for Valentine's Day, Dianne Big Eagle couldn't bring herself to host an event that would mark only the disappearance of her daughter Danita.

"I know how everyone else feels," she said of those she's met through Saskatchewan Sisters in Spirit, a group dedicated to missing persons. Among the invited speakers are families who still search and those whose missing relatives have been found dead or slain. Sunday's gathering will be held at Sacred Heart, 1380 Elphinstone St., beginning at 6 p.m., followed by a feast, speakers, and a round dance "for healing, wellness and awareness."

Danita Faith Big Eagle is one of 99 known, long-term missing persons in Saskatchewan, including 11 in Regina.

"Your normal like goes out the door," said Dianne Big Eagle. She lives with the question: "Are they going to find her today?"

Danita, then 22, disappeared from the lives of her family, including two young children, on Feb. 11, 2007. Her mother is now raising Danita's children, age six and three, who find comfort hugging a blanket with their mother's face on it.

"I tell them mom will come home when she's good and ready. In the meantime, grandma's here."

Sadly, Big Eagle knows much about loss — her own mother was murdered when Big Eagle was a child; she lost a child in infancy; and she is a victim of the residential school system. Her grandchildren are what keep her going when she starts to lose heart. She wonders if she hangs on too tightly to them, but she couldn't stand to lose them too.

Danita is the youngest of Big Eagle's five children — "my baby." She's also "a bit wild," added her mother, who worries about the harm that might have come to her. Big Eagle last heard from Danita around 10 p.m. on Feb. 11 three years ago when she phoned to say she was dropping off some money for her mother to hang onto for her. Big Eagle could hear loud music and voices in the background. Danita came by a short time later, then left again. She was last seen in the 800 block of Victoria Avenue.

Big Eagle has searched the streets of Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg, stood on the steps of Parliament to bring attention to missing women, spoken at schools about making good choices, and heard plenty of stories about her daughter's possible fate. Until anything is certain, Big Eagle chooses to live with hope.

She recalls the missing women who have been found dead. "Theirs ended badly — but I still have a 50-50 chance she's still alive." At the same time, she can't ignore the other possibility.

During the recent searches for Carlene Walters, a 52-year-old Regina woman missing since Dec. 30, Big Eagle sympathized with her family. A part of her hoped the searchers might also stumble upon Danita. "There's a dread of the worst," she said.

Moments later, the optimism creeps back into Big Eagle's voice. "You haven't heard anything bad — so hope for the best."

bpacholik@leaderpost.canwest.com

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