REGINA — To raise awareness about the issue of missing persons, government is awarding grants to local police services to support community events during Missing Persons Week, which takes place from May 3 to May 9. The week recognizes the importance of supporting families, raising public awareness and honouring missing persons across the province as part of ongoing work to educate the public about this issue.
This year, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General and the Saskatchewan Missing Persons Partnership are taking a renewed, community-based approach by supporting local events through targeted grants. This approach will allow families and communities to participate closer to home. Government will provide $10,000 to each of the Saskatoon Police Service, Regina Police Service and Prince Albert Police Service to support community events during the week, states a release from the ministry.
"Missing Persons Week is about more than awareness, it is about ensuring families know they are not alone," Cameron McBride, chief of the Saskatoon Police Service, said. "It is about communities continuing to remember, to care and to create space for reflection, healing and action in ways that respond to local needs."
These grants, administered through the Saskatchewan Missing Persons Partnership, will give communities the opportunity to support healing events for families of the missing, says the ministry. It will also raise awareness about missing persons and issues facing their loved ones and promote the services and supports available to families of long-term missing persons in Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Missing Persons Partnership was established in 2005 to improve the provincial response to missing persons cases. The partnership brings together government, police agencies, Indigenous organizations and community-based partners to raise awareness, strengthen coordination and support agencies working alongside families of missing persons, states the government release.
