Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women - Action News
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Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women
Missing & Murdered: The Unsolved Cases of Indigenous Women and Girls
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It was Oct. 18, 1995, a Wednesday, and 19­-year-­old Evaline Cameron’s mom knew something was wrong.

Her daughter hadn’t come home the night before, and that wasn’t like her. As the day stretched on, she became more worried.

“My mom was scared, and she kept phoning me, and she said, ‘Yes, but she’s not here yet!’” said Dora Cameron, Evaline’s sister.

“I told [my mom], ‘After supper, I’m going to look for [Evaline].’”

Dora called police, who told her to wait 24 hours before filing a missing persons report. She got in her car and started searching on her own, but it was dark and rainy.

That night, Dora went home and told her partner she wanted him to search in the morning. She had to go to work at a childcare centre.

He started searching at 8 a.m. On her breaks at work, Dora drove around asking people about her sister.

She found out Evaline had been at a party on the east side of their First Nation, Wabaseemoong in Ontario. Dora and Evaline are Ojibwe.

Dora told her partner to check the house where the party had been, as well as the surrounding area. A short time later, he found Evaline dead in the woods behind the home.

“I just wish sometimes I can find out what really happened to her. Like, who did this? That's what I think about all the time,” said Dora.

“I don’t know how she ended up [at that party]. She doesn’t even talk to [the host]. I don’t know who took her there ... I would never go there.”

Dora said she feared the people living there, and it wasn’t like her sister to be out with that crowd.

Evaline worked hard in school, got good grades and had a job at the local childcare centre with Dora.

“She was young and starting her life, and she was a good student at the school,” said Dora.

“She used to tell funny jokes because she was smart, and she loved kids, too. She liked playing with kids.”

Evaline was studying to get her driver’s licence at the time. Dora said she was extremely excited.

She couldn’t wait to drive their mom around.

“Our mom, she didn’t even know how to drive,” said Dora.

“[Evaline] loved my mom very much. She used to hang around with my mom because we lost our dad a long time ago when she was just a little girl.”

Now, nearly 20 years later, Dora and Evaline’s mom lives in a retirement home, and Dora is still looking for answers.

Dora said the last time she communicated with the Ontario Provincial Police about her sister’s case was when they found Evaline’s body.

Since then, she hasn’t heard anything about what happened to her sister except rumours from community members.

The OPP believe Evaline was killed. There have been no charges laid in her homicide, and the case remains open and under investigation.

“I just hope the investigators would give us some, ­­tell us where this case is leading to, if they have anything,” she said.

“We need some answers.”

Dora wants to see a national inquiry into murdered and missing aboriginal women and hopes it would have an impact against violence against aboriginal women.