Group plans to drag Winnipeg's Red River for bodies

Some families of missing women in Manitoba are planning to drag the bottom of Winnipeg's Red River for bodies.

“We don't know possibly if there are bodies in there [but] we need to do something. We're tired of just sitting in our houses and waiting for somebody else to find them," said Bernadette Smith, whose sister Claudette Osborne disappeared in 2008 and hasn't been seen since.

“The water washes away evidence, so that would be a good place to start looking, searching.”

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• Tina Fontaine, 15, found in bag in Red River
• Tina Fontaine death renews calls for inquiry into missing women
• Family marks sad anniversary of missing Winnipeg woman

Smith said when the body of Tina Fontaine was found in the the river last month, it made her wonder how many others could be down there. So she created a group called Drag the Red.

"Finding a 15-year-old in a garbage bag thrown in the river certainly brings a call to action for our community," she said.

The Drag the Red group will attach dragging poles to boats to rake the bottom of the Red.

On Sunday, a feast and pipe ceremony will be held at the Alexander Docks, where Fontaine's body was recovered.

Then the search begins next week.