In January 2020, Alberta RCMP received a new tip into the disappearance and killing of Amber Tuccaro. However, they also warned in a media advisory: “erroneous information can have negative effects to the investigation and to the well-being of the family."

Amber was a young mother when she disappeared in 2010. She left behind 14-month-old son Jacob. She had checked into a hotel with her son and a female friend. That was the last time she was seen by anyone who knew her. Two years later her skull was found close to Nisku, Alberta.

How does an entire family disappear with no clues whatsoever? A mom, dad, and two children vanished from their home in Prince George, B.C., in 1989.

Ronnie and Doreen Jack were travelling from their home to just outside of the city for work. No one ever saw the young family again. Their disappearance has never been solved.

Annie Pootoogook was an Inuk artist. She was known for her pen and coloured pencil drawing that portrayed her community of Cape Dorset. She came from a long line of artists who have created important work, including Annie herself.

Her body was found in the Rideau River in 2016. Her death remains unsolved. She was only 47 years old.

It’s been five years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report and 92 Calls to Action. Organizations, companies, cities and the federal government made promises to incorporate the Calls to Action to help heal the country and the relationship with the original peoples of this land.

It has been almost nine months since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has been released. Their final report had 231 Calls for Justice.

Can you name any of the 231 Calls for Justice?

John T. Fox is a dad who just wants answers to his daughter’s death. He’s a dad who wants and needs to be heard.

Cheyenne Fox was only 20 years old when she fell to her death on April 25, 2013. She allegedly jumped from the 24th floor of a Toronto Highrise. It is a theory that John Fox rejects. For a while he pursued a lawsuit against the Toronto Police and the Attorney General of Canada but has placed that on hold as it is very expensive to pursue a lawsuit. However, he said he is still going forward with a civil lawsuit against a women’s shelter. It is claimed the shelter did not do enough to protect Cheyenne from an alleged sexual assault while she was a resident there.

 When Cheyenne’s father was unable to register to testify at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, he decided to write a book about his daughter. The Fire Within was written in 30 days. Once John sat down to write, the words poured out of him.

The red dress has become the symbol of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. It was first introduced by Jamie Black, a Métis artist in Winnipeg. It was through her REDress Project where she first gathered red dresses and exhibited them in Winnipeg to represent missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls. The exhibit has travelled all over Canada and in 2019 had its first exhibition in the U.S.

From there, the movement spread to other artists and platforms -- from painters to beaders and to the powwow circle where the Red Dress Special was born.

Indigenous women and girls just don’t go missing from high risk urban neighbourhoods, they can go missing from anywhere at anytime.

Emily Osmond was a 78 year old woman who one day just disappeared from her rural property near Kawacatoose First Nation, Saskatchewan. It was September 2007. Her family believes she was taken because her beloved dogs were abandoned, and personal belongings left behind.

It is stories like Emily’s that are honoured by other Indigenous women who have taken to tying red ribbons on bridges to remind the public of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Six years ago, Taken series co-creator Lisa Meeches called me to discuss a new series she was working on with her partners at Eagle Vision. They were looking for a researcher/writer to develop a first season. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy work. I had written and produced stories about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls before.

When you call a family, and say you are with CBC Radio, the doors open and families will speak with you. However, when you call to say you are working on developing a show, people are less willing to share the stories of their loved ones. I knew this would change after season one, when families would see how carefully their stories were told.

In 1996, a 9 year old girl was kidnapped and murdered in Texas. Her name was Amber Hagerman. This is where the ‘Amber Alert’ comes from. But when best friends from Maisy Odjick from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation and Shannon Alexander from Maniwaki, Quebec, went missing without a trace, no Amber Alert was activated. In fact, the police considered the two young girls runaways.

They have never been found.

The Oodena Celebration Circle sits at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in Winnipeg, Canada -- the heart of Turtle Island. It was a traditional gathering place for thousands of years for the First Nations who call this area home. But in August 2014 there was nothing celebratory about the circle.