Volunteers will begin dragging the bottom of Winnipeg's Red River next week for any signs of the region's missing aboriginal women.
The group "Drag the Red" will begin combing the murky waters, in the hopes of turning up anything – from bodies to bones to clothing. They said police have promised to follow-up on any evidence that is found.
On Aug. 18, the body of Tina Fontaine was found wrapped in a plastic bag in the river. The 15-year-old, who was in the care of Child and Family Services, had been reported missing on Aug. 9. Police are treating her case as a homicide.
Her death prompted renewed calls for a national inquiry into the almost 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. It also left other Winnipeg residents wondering if the river held other clues.
Bernadette Smith, the group's organizer, said she'll be searching the waters for her sister, Claudette Osborne, who vanished from Winnipeg's streets in 2008.
"You could pull some clothing from the river that the person was last seen in, and hopefully that gives the police enough evidence to come and do a more thorough search," Smith told CTV Winnipeg.
She said that she knows that there's no guarantee of finding something, but doing nothing doesn't feel right either.
"It's kind of a double-edged sword: you don't want to find anything… but on the other hand you want to bring someone's loved one home," Smith said.
On Sunday, "Drag the Red" will be hosting a potluck feast and will be conducting a pipe ceremony at the Alexander Docks, close to where Fontaine's body was discovered.
Since Fontaine's death, protesters in Winnipeg have staged demonstrations calling for a national inquiry. The #AmINext online campaign, which raises awareness about the issue, is also calling for an inquiry.
But the Harper government has rebuffed the idea, saying it prefers that the issue be addressed in other ways, including through aboriginal justice programs and the establishment of a national missing person's DNA index.
In August, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that cases of missing aboriginal women are crimes that should be investigated by police.
Last May, the RCMP released a breakdown of the 1,181 cases of missing or murdered aboriginal women since 1980. The report said that although aboriginal women make up 4.3 per cent of the Canadian population, they account for 16 per cent of female homicides in Canada and 11.3 per cent of all missing women.
While there are no plans for an inquiry, the RCMP is planning to release a new national missing person's strategy, which will include ideas for more information sharing between police, as well as more communication with families. There are also plans for roundtable discussions on the issue.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg's Bureau Chief Jill Macyshon
