Family of missing Indigenous woman hopeful new billboard, reward could provide answers

The family of a missing Indigenous woman is hoping a new RCMP billboard campaign in northwestern Alberta and a $10,000 reward will generate leads in a case that stretches back nearly six years.

Shae-Lynn McAllister, of Horse Lake First Nation, was 20 years old when she disappeared from the Shell gas station in Fairview, Alta., on the night of July 7, 2019. She had just finished work at the local A&W.

Fairview is about 550 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

RCMP originally treated the disappearance as a missing persons case, but a social media post Monday said that "as a result of our investigation, police believe she is unlikely to be found alive." 

"I've cried, I've prayed and I've prayed," said Shae-Lynn's mother, Trudy McAllister, from her home on Duncan's First Nation, about 40 kilometres east of Fairview.   

"[I'm] hoping one day she might just come walking through this door. Anything. I'm hoping someone will come forward and say something.

"I wouldn't wish this on anyone."

'Guardian angel'

The mother of two is described by family as a friendly, happy person with a smile that could light up the room. 

She loved being a mother and she adored her two young children, eight-year-old Tyson and seven-year-old Serenity. 

Family said she also struggled with addiction and substance use in the years leading up to her disappearance, but was working to try to get clean and enrol in treatment. 

The children are being raised by their paternal grandparents Sherry Schischikowsky and Rory Obrigewitch in nearby Hines Creek, about 30 kilometres north of Fairview. 

Obrigewitch said the children were too young to really remember their mother, but every now and again they will remember little things. 

"And it's heartbreaking, that part of things," Obrigewitch said.

"We always just tell [them] that she's [their] guardian angel. That we're not going to give up looking for her," said Schischikowsky. 

The couple have a keepsake chest for the children. It's full of family photos and items to help remind the children of their mother. 

"We try to keep her memory alive. We try to tell them how proud she'd be of them when they do great," said Obrigewitch.

"If there's ever any way to find out what happened or recover her body so we could have somewhere where these two little ones can go and visit and say 'this is my mom.' 

"We don't have that."

Billboards new in northern Alberta

Cpl. Matthew Howell said that RCMP believe there may be local involvement in McAllister's disappearance, and that there are people residing in Fairview who know what happened but have not spoken to police. 

Howell said they hope the sign and reward will elicit new leads. 

Advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in northern Alberta wonder why the billboard was put up so long after McAllister went missing. 

"[These billboards], for northern Alberta, absolutely it's something new," said Wendy Goulet, a grassroots organizer who lives in Peace River.

"I'm hopeful we will see more of this, with the RCMP doing this for this file, maybe this will happen for other ones in the community."

Goulet became involved in advocacy after her cousin Krystle Knott went missing from West Edmonton Mall in 2005. Her skull was found near Grande Prairie, Alta., in 2011.

Goulet's niece, Lorraine Maltais-Chonkolay, disappeared last June and remains missing. 

'A picture is worth a thousand words'

The signs are more common in northern B.C. says another advocate in that region. 

More than 40 women, mainly Indigenous, have gone missing or been murdered along British Columbia's Highway 16, dubbed the Highway of Tears, since 1969.

Gladys Radek made her own travelling billboard by putting pictures of missing women from her region on her car and driving across the country to raise awareness for the cases. 

One of them is her niece, Tamara Lynn Chipman, who disappeared in 2005. 

"It generated questions, people would tell me their stories," said Radek, from her home in Terrace, B.C.

"If we could have billboards with pictures of every [person] missing from a community around that community, that's how you raise awareness. A picture is worth a thousand words."

Crisis support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people through a national 24-hour hotline at 1-844-413-6649. 

Health support services such as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers are available through the government of Canada. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.