Renewed calls for MMIW inquiry to include missing men, 7 months after B.C. boy vanishes
'How did a 14 year-old-boy just vanish?'
An advocate for B.C.'s missing women is renewing his calls for Canada's national public inquiry to investigate the mysterious deaths and disappearances of Indigenous boys and men, as well as women.
Ernie Crey pushed for the creation of a national inquiry for years, after his sister Dawn's DNA was found on the farm of serial killer Robert Pickton.
'They vanish and there's no answers'
Now, Crey, chief of B.C.'s Cheam First Nation, wants the inquiry to expand its probe.
"I've had family after family of Aboriginal folks from one end of the country to another [contacting me] and saying, 'Sorry to hear about the loss of your sister, but we've lost a husband, a son, an uncle, a brother,'" said Crey. "
They vanish and there's no answers about what has become of them."
Like the case of Denny Poole.
Denny Poole, 14, disappeared months ago
The 14-year- old disappeared seven months ago from a highway in northeastern B.C.
Poole was last seen March 12, after spending all night trying to "jog" the 75 kilometres between Dawson Creek and Fort St. John with his best friend, to rendezvous with a girl they met on Facebook.
The boys got turned around, lost, and frustrated and split up after an argument.
His friend came home — but Poole hasn't been seen since.
Extensive searches and a reward for information have turned up no trace of the boy who struggled with Grade 9 but loved hockey and speed-skating with his support worker.
'How did a 14-year-old boy just vanish?'
"The only thing that goes through my mind on a day to day basis, is how did a 14-year-old boy just vanish?" asked Alisha Poole, his older sister.
"If he's out there, where is he?" wondered longtime family friend Sharla Bruun.
"Will he survive? Did he get picked up? Did they keep him alive this long?"
Bruun says there's frequent talk about missing women and girls in the North.
"But they don't often bring up the young men who have gone missing and that's the part that mystifies us," he said.
Call to include men in MMIW inquiry
"Somebody has to know [what happened]," said Bruun. "The same with the missing women, the missing boys, somebody has to know."
It's the kind of plea that tugs at Crey's heart.
"We can't ignore these cries from the families," said Crey.
"This is not about detracting from the inquiry we fought so long for," he said.
"There won't be another national public inquiry of this magnitude for a generation or more. If there was ever a time to look into the issue of murdered and missing Aboriginal boys, this would be the time."
With files from George Baker
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