For two-and-a-half months, Clara Bignell has been relentlessly looking for her 60-year-old mother Dianne, who was last seen in Thompson’s Juniper area on May 17.
While there have been a few developments since then, including the discovery of Dianne’s jacket near the Burntwood River at the end of June, Clara and her family have largely come up empty organizing search parties all by themselves.
This is why the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) put together the largest search effort yet on Aug. 15, in the hopes of providing the family with some degree of closure.
“It took me 89 days to get the help I needed, but I’m actually happy to see everybody out here today to help me and I hope to get answers today,” said Clara. “I want to bring my mom home … no matter how long it takes. Even if they call off the search, for whatever reason, I’m still going to keep going.”
From around 8 a.m. to sundown, members of the RCMP, MKO, Manitoba Hydro and other volunteers took turns dragging the bottom of the Burntwood River with hooks and chains in the hopes of dredging up some evidence of Dianne’s remains.
This group was led by Ivan Hart and Wilson Moore, who are both seasoned experts in search-and-rescue techniques.
Recently elected MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee started off the morning with a prayer.
“We’re hoping that we can have a favourable outcome on behalf of the family,” he said. “Because I believe that they need to have some kind of closure and they need answers as to what happened and hopefully we can get that in a very short period of time.”
As they did before MKO’s July 19 walk for missing loved ones, key organizers of Wednesday’s search effort said that the federal and provincial government need to dedicate more resources toward these kinds of search-and-rescue operations in Northern Manitoba.
“We need a committed, dedicated unit that’s ready to go anytime that someone’s missing, because time is so critical,” said Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls liaison for MKO.
In Anderson-Pyrz’s mind, the ideal unit would involve government officials, local law enforcement and members of remote communities working together to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time.
“So it’s bringing all these different players to the table and collaborating and developing a team from there,” she said.
Moving forward, Anderson-Pyrz encourages anyone who wants to push for a permanent search and rescue unit in Northern Manitoba to contact ministers Carolyn Bennett and Eileen Clarke, who handle Indigenous relations and northern affairs for the federal and provincial governments, respectively.
Otherwise, individuals who would like to volunteer their time or donate items/equipment to help search for Dianne Bignell are asked to contact Anderson-Pyrz at 204-307-5919 or hilda.anderson.pyrz@mkonorth.com.
