60 years after Innu trapper's disappearance, family members seek closure

Two sisters stood before a packed room in the Innu community of Mani-Utenam, Que., Tuesday on the second day of the hearings into missing and murdered Indigenous women to share the story of their mother, Anne-Marie Jourdain, who went missing in 1957.

Denise Fontaine moved to the Innu community of Pessamit, Que., in 1985 when she married.

She said she noticed the woman who lived two doors down from her new homea tall, strong woman with a sharp tonguelooked just like her mother.

It's only then the neighbours realized they were sisters, adopted into different families after their mother, Anne-Marie Jourdain, disappeared in the autumn of 1957.

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"Now I know who I am:I'm Jeanne-d'Arc Jourdain," said Fontaine's younger sister, who now goes by the name Jeanne-d'Arc Vollant.

Fontaine described theirmother as a tall, strong woman who grew up in the bush, learning how to trap from her father.

She and her sistertold commissioners they believe their mother was murdered at the end of November1957, whileshe was outtrapping in the woods north of Port-Cartier, about 60 kilometres southwest ofSept-les, Que.

Neither Jourdain nor the 12-year-old boy who was with her ever returned to their camp.

The boy was later found frozen under a tree, wearing Jourdain's clothes, said Fontaine.

"I am convinced she was assassinated," she said.

'They had the feeling she was hidden'

Fontaine said police never carried out an official search for her mother.

She said family members scoured the woods where Jourdain and the boy were last seen, finding footprintsthat led to a horse trail used by loggers. There, the footprintsdisappeared.

Fontaine said white men ina nearbycabin refused to allowthe Innusearchersinside.

"They had the feeling she was hidden," she said of the search team.She still wonders about the cabin's occupants.

"Did they burn her to erase the evidence?"

She said her mother's rifle was also never found.

'When I look in the mirror, I see her'

"I searched for her so much, and when I look in the mirror, I see her. It's her," said Vollant, reading a poem she wrote about the emptiness she has felt since the loss of her mother.

Vollant and her sister describethemselves as militants andfeminists strengths they saythey inherited from Jourdain.

"We were always told that she was special," Vollant said asphotos of a young Jourdain were projected ontoscreens behind the sharing circle in the community centre.

Fontainetold commissioners it was important that Canadians hear their story.

"Let it be known across Canada, what we experienced as Innu.Regardless of the nation, each community has its own stories, some still hidden," she said.

Mani-Utenam, one of two small communities of theInnu Takuaikan Uashat makMani-Utenam, is nearSept-les,900 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Initially, the hearings inMani-Utenamwere slated to be the only Quebec stop for the national inquiry. On Monday, commissioners announced another set of hearings will be held in Montreal, although a date has not yet been set.

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