When Tamara went missing, volunteers from Moricetown First Nation —­ Tamara's home community —­ organized a search for her.

“She was last seen hitchhiking at Industrial Park just outside of Prince Rupert, B.C.,” said Gladys Radek, Tamara’s aunt.

“They sent a search party in between Terrace and Prince Rupert.”

Radek doesn't know if police conducted any searches of their own.

Little is known about her disappearance other than she disappeared in 2005 along Highway 16,
commonly referred as The Highway of Tears.

In 2015, nearly a decade after Tamara was last seen, Radek says family has given up going to
authorities for answers.

• Gladys Radek of Orillia among loved ones marking Valentine's with calls for justice for aboriginal women

Radek dislikes what she calls dismissive labels that have been applied to her niece, who was a member of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and grew up in Terrace, British Columbia.

Those labels, Radek says, include 'someone who was involved in risky behavior' and 'sex-trade worker. '

“There was a lot of stuff I’ve seen online, such derogatory stuff…,” she said.

According to Radek, there was one officer that spent a lot of time with Tamara’s family shortly after she disappeared.

That officer has since been transferred to other detachments not once, but twice, she says.

“They’ve had so many changes of guards since she’s gone missing.”

Despite the family designating Radek as their spokesperson, she says authorities don't communicate with her.

"I’m not treated as a family member either because I’m just her auntie,” she said.

Project E-­PANA, the RCMP task force investigating unsolved murders and disappearances linked with Highway 16, has never contacted Radek.

She says the last time the RCMP contacted the family was around 2013, and she’s
unaware of any recent developments in the case.

“Its not high on their priority list,” she said.

“They could be doing their own search parties.”

The family feels they’ve exhausted all options.

“There’s no support out there for my family," Radek said.

“She [Tamara] was the humour, the laughter, behind all of us when we were all at home for family gatherings.”

Cute as a button when she was a baby, Tamara grew up with an appreciation for life on the
water.

“She loved her fast boats and fast cars. Her father’s a fisherman. She spent a lot of her life on a
fishing boat.”

At the time of Tamara’s disappearance, her son was two and a half years old.

Since then, Radek co-­founded Walk4Justice, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

As part of its mandate, the grass­roots organization is asking for a national public inquiry.