George and Melinda Wood sat around a table holding hands and talking to supporters at a restaurant in Winnipeg Wednesday night. The gathering was there to strategize and help the Woods locate their missing daughter Christine. The 21-year-old woman from Oxford House First Nation in northern Manitoba has been missing for almost three weeks. She was last seen in downtown Winnipeg on Aug. 19.
One of the women at the table knows firsthand the pain the Woods are going through. Marilyn Courchene’s daughter went missing 11 years ago. The mother from Sagkeeng First Nation said she didn’t wait for the police to find her daughter. Courchene hired a private investigator and camped out in front of a Winnipeg shopping centre. Seven days later, she found her daughter in a gang member’s home.
Courchene went to the strategy session to share her experience with the Woods in an effort to help them in their search for Christine.
“Every hour matters, every day matters, every evening matters,” she told CTV Winnipeg. “You need to start talking to people on the street.”
According to her parents, Christine was familiar with downtown Winnipeg. She had lived in the city for more than two years while she was in school as a business administration student at the University of Winnipeg. Christine had arrived in Winnipeg two weeks earlier than her parents and had been staying with a boyfriend.
On Aug. 19, the day she disappeared, Christine and her mother spent a nice day shopping together downtown. Later that day, the Woods watched Christine get ready for a night out in the city while they stayed at a Days Inn hotel. George and Melinda haven’t seen or heard from their daughter since that night.
“We miss her. We need her. We need to know she’s safe,” Melinda said, her voice cracking.
At an earlier press conference, the Woods said at an earlier press conference that this is the longest they have gone without speaking to Christine and that it’s out of character for her. They describe Christine as a sweet, shy woman who loved to smile.
“She’s our child. We miss her a lot,” George said. “It’s pretty difficult. You don’t know who to turn to in the city.”
Still, supporters have shown the Woods that they're not alone in the city. Volunteers are hanging posters and sharing Christine’s story in the hopes that someone with information related to the case will come forward.
Const. Jason Michalyshen with the Winnipeg Police Service said they have been receiving a lot of credible tips from the public.
“Investigators are moving forward with those tips,” he said. “They've been helpful, but the bottom line is we have not been able to reunite Christine with her family.”
Christine is described as five-foot-six with an average build and shoulder-length, dark-brown hair. She might also be carrying a white purse.
