Ceremony held for pregnant woman stabbed in park

Kelly Morrisseau's stabbingin Gatineau Park raises some important issues, a native vigil attended by 200 people heard Saturday night.

A member of the Native Women's Association of Canada, Jolene Saulis, raised some of those issues when she spoke to the gathering in the Gatineau Park parking lot where Morrisseau, 27, was found naked and bleeding just over a week ago.

"We want to bring [to] the public this issue, and understand why these women are being abused and murdered. And we have to ask the authorities to step up to the plate," Saulis said.

Morrisseau, a pregnant mother of three children, died within an hour of being found, and police are still looking for her killer.

A funeral is planned for Monday afternoon in Fort Alexander, a Sagkeeng First Nations community northeast of Winnipeg, where Morrisseau lived before moving to Ottawa.

Among the mourners Saturday were Morrisseau's 12-year-old daughter and her two sons, aged two and four. Their foster mother, Caroline — who did not want to give her last name — spoke at the ceremony.

"I look into those eyes, and I know there was goodness in Kelly. I see the joy. I see the gregariousness, the best side, and the side these children knew," Caroline said.

In a news release, NWAC president Beverley Jacobs said, "I am deeply saddened that another aboriginal woman has been murdered. I am even more disgusted that, in this day and age, in this national capital city, aboriginal women continue to suffer as a result of violent actions such as this."

Late last week, police found evidence in a creek in Gatineau, Que. —evidence they believe is linked to the attack on Morrisseau.

Gatineau police Lieut. Jean-Paul LeMay said investigators seized evidence from the creek near Rue Des Frênes, close to the southwest corner of Gatineau Park.

A canine unit and police divers were sent to search the creek after police received a tip from the public, and a mobile command post was set up near the park.