UPDATE: 'A history of trauma': Families of 2 missing women from Ontario First Nation address Thunder Bay MMIWG hearing

Melissa Skunk only met her aunt once.

It was around Christmas time in the late ‘70s when she and Sarah Skunk went for a walk in the Mishkeegogamang First Nation, seven hours north of Thunder Bay, Ont.

Both girls called this place home, but Sarah hadn’t lived there since the early ‘60s.

“That’s the first time I met her and that was the only time I’d ever seen her,” said Melissa, who was only about seven­ years ­old then.

As Melissa recounts her lone memory of her aunt, you can tell it’s replayed countless times in her mind.

What she remembers most are Sarah’s stories of her own daughter, and how she insisted that Melissa was just like her.

Melissa is now a mother herself.

Despite the nearly four­ decade gap between that brief moment and the memory it’s become, she says Sarah is impossible to forget.

“I don’t know why that one walk with her made such a big impact in my life,” she said.

“This person really enjoyed holding my hand, walking with me. I think that’s what it was for me as a kid growing up.”

Based on what Melissa has heard from family stories, Sarah did not have an easy childhood.

She was the fourth oldest of 11 kids and grew up in a dysfunctional family.

After getting into trouble in the community she lived in, she was taken away from the reserve to attend training school in Toronto in the late ‘60s.

Maryanne Skunk, Sarah’s sister, remembers that day well.

“I remember crying because they were taking her away,” she said, recalling that last time Sarah ever lived at home.

“I think it was just the damage that was done to her... the way we were raised. I think that’s why she never wanted to come home.”

The family last saw Sarah when she returned home for a visit in the mid­ 1980s. The last place she was reportedly sighted was in Thunder Bay, Ont. in 1995.

A friend of the family who had seen her told the Skunks that Sarah was bound for the West Coast.

The family, along with two investigators from the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, have followed up on leads that have surfaced over the years of mystery, but Sarah has yet to be found.

The Skunks say it’s been a painful rollercoaster ride; one that they’d like officers to be more sensitive of, particularly when it comes to communication about investigative updates.

“Because we always have that hope,­ maybe she’s out there somewhere,” Maryanne said.

“We never really think about death, but we know that could be possible, too.”

There have been two instances where police have taken DNA from Sarah’s mother after bodies were discovered in places relative to Sarah’s reported route. The last sample was taken in September 2014 to check for a match to a body found on the West Coast of the United States.

Maryanne says her family needs police to follow up with them, even if the match is negative.

“I did raise it up with the sergeant...” she said.

“I told him, you know, at least tell us if that’s her or not... That does a lot to the family.”

When asked if she would support a federal inquiry, Melissa says yes.

She believes there needs to be more attention given to families who don’t know where their loved ones are.

“Anybody that’s going through this... you have to understand the inner turmoil that’s going on,” she said. 

“It affects everything that you do. And it is important that... money be put aside to look further into stuff like this. Not only my family, but also the other families that are going through this.”

For the Skunks, like many of the families Melissa speaks about, that inner turmoil is felt across generations.

Sarah’s mother is 90­ years ­old. She can’t walk anymore, and Maryanne says she often speaks about how her time to go is coming.

But still, the mother waits, keeping an eye open for her child.

“A few times I’ve seen her sitting by the window looking out, and that’s what she brings up,” Melissa said.

“Sometimes I actually really believe that’s something that’s keeping her... that in itself is really heartbreaking to see.”