For Sharon Johnson, walking past the place she last saw her sister alive is still painful after more than 20 years.
Her sister Sandra, 18, came to Thunder Bay to go to school.
The sisters lived in an apartment near May and Dease Street on Feb. 13, 1992. Sharon saw Sandra walk past what was then 7-11 and never saw her alive again.
She was found later that morning face down in the Neebing McIntyre Floodway.
On Thursday Johnson and around 30 other people walked past the intersection as part of the Valentine’s Day Memorial Walk for Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women.
“The emotions are just raw again it seems like,” Johnson said after the walk, which took them from city hall to the Lakehead Labour Centre. “I think we all go away (from the walk) feeling better because we’re there for each other.”
Johnson’s story is unfortunately a familiar tale in Canada as more than 600 women are estimated to be missing or murdered.
No one knows what happened to her sister.
“There have been no leads, not for a long time, not that I know of. There have been false leads, information that has led to a dead end but as far as I know that’s where it’s at,” Johnson said.
“There were never any answers and for so many other families like mine.”
The walk, now in its fifth year, coincides with similar events to raise awareness that more than 1 billion women in the world will be sexually abused in their lifetime. It’s also part of the Full Moon Memory Walk, which also raises awareness for missing and murdered Aboriginal women in September. It’s part of year-round efforts families and supporters are doing.
“We do what we can to raise awareness,” she said. “Somebody even if it’s just one or two people that might notice us… and know that we are walking for our women.”
