Sister of Sask. MMIWG victim starts 10-month-journey across the country

Lindsey Bishop is getting ready for a ten-month walk across Canada, hoping to raise awareness for her missing sister and all families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Megan Gallagher was last seen in Saskatoon in September 2020.

Since her disappearance, police officers have started investigating the case of the then-30-year-old as a homicide.

Bishop will travel to B.C. this weekend to participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver before starting a 10-month MMIWG walk for hope, healing and awareness in Victoria on Feb. 18, 2022.

"I'm excited to get going," said Bishop on Friday in Saskatoon before her departure to B.C.

"I know it's going to be a hard road, physically, emotionally and spiritually. But I have a good team with me."

Father is proud and concerned, he says

Bishop will join Krista Fox on the trek across the nation.

Fox is the spokesperson for Ashley Morin's family.

Morin was last seen in North Battleford in July 2018.

Fox calls her cross-country journey Krista's Kilometres for MMIW.

While Bishop's and Gallagher's father is proud of his daughter's plan to walk across Canada, he is also concerned for her safety.

"As a father I'm overwhelmed with emotion," said Brian Gallagher.

"I just hope that she is able to survive. And I don't know what I would do if something went wrong."

Brian asked everyone in Canada to walk with, pray and care for Bishop.

He said the importance of bringing awareness to MMIWG can't be overstated.

"Lindsay taking on this challenge, I think, is one of the bravest things that I've seen anybody do," he said.

"She is a strong, compassionate and courageous woman."

Pain never ends for family, says father of missing Métis woman

It has been around 18 months since Megan Gallagher went missing. Yet no day has gone by when her father doesn't think of his daughter.

"The pain is no less," Brian said.

"You get up every day and you do the best you can. You survive the pain, the confusion and the unanswered questions."

Brian Gallagher acknowledged there are many other families like his experiencing the same hurt. 

He and Bishop said their biggest hope for the walk is to raise awareness.

"This is much bigger than just our family," said Brian Gallagher.

"We have so many friends out there, so many people that we've got to meet that are missing loved ones as well."

Bishop hopes to connect with other families of MMIWG and start a nation-wide conversation.

"Generations of trauma … have led to this," she said.

"Our communities, women and girls are marginalized and taken advantage of and they go missing at higher rates."