Photo courtesy of CBC
UWinnipeg’s Val McKinley is among a small group of anthropologists who have volunteered to help “Drag the Red” in their search for missing and murdered Aboriginal women. With the assistance of McKinley, archaeologist Dr. Rachel ten Bruggencate (University of Manitoba) and bioanthropologist Dr. Julia Gamble (University of Manitoba), and forensic anthropologist Dr. Emily Holland (Brandon University) will lead a workshop at UWinnipeg to help volunteers improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their search strategy and identify their findings from the river and shoreline as bone or otherwise. Due to the sensitive nature of this workshop it is not open to the public.
“Empathy and compassion made the decision to help out by providing space and access to our teaching collections for this workshop a very easy one,” said McKinley. “I admire the courage and personal strength it takes for the members of Drag the Red to do the work they are doing, and I respect their desire to do it as effectively as possible,” said McKinley. “My own life has been an easy one, but as a mother and a daughter, a sister and an aunt, a niece and a cousin, and as a fortunate beneficiary of many friendships, I can imagine the desperation and pain that the tragedy of a missing loved one must bring.”
Drag the Red is made up of volunteers who are searching the Red River for remains and potential evidence connected to the disappearance of Aboriginal women. The number of missing Aboriginal women across Canada is estimated to be between 824 and 1,400. There has been a call on the Canadian Government to hold a national inquiry for these missing women by the United Nations, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the citizens of Canada.
*due to the nature and sensitivity of this workshop it is not open to the public.
