Canada’s Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls moves into Montreal on Monday for a week of hearings and among those who will be heard is a father who wants to share his daughter’s story.
Sindy Ruperthouse went missing in April 2014. During the 44-year-old’s last phone call with her parents, her father Johnny Wylde said she asked them for money. When they said no, she said she would call them back, but never did.
“She was crying on the phone, so we told her to go to the women’s shelter anywhere in Val D’Or,” said Wylde. “We didn’t know where she was, so that was the last time we talked to her.”
Wylde said his daughter had been in abusive relationships and was last seen at a Val D’Or hospital, beaten up with multiple broken ribs.
Her father said he believes his daughter was murdered, but until the body has been found, he said he’s not giving up. They still search for her every summer.
Wylde said speaking at the inquiry will help with healing and leading to change.
“It’s important because everybody has to know the real thing that’s going on with these women,” he said. “They have to know that that’s a real thing.”
Since it’s beginning in September, 2016, the inquiry has run into its share of problems. More than 20 commissioners have left, including its second executive director, with some calling the process disorganized and not run with the best interests of the families in mind.
Still, Native Women’s Shelter Director Nakuset said the inquiry does have something to offer.
“I’m hoping that they’re going to have enough proper self-care for those that share,” she said. “That they will be supported and that something can actually be done.”
Last week, the inquiry asked the federal government for a two-year extension and another $50 million to complete its mandate. Thus far, it’s heard from more than 700 people and another 600 have said they want to share their stories.
“It’s one thing that I lost a family member and grieving that whole process,” said Wylde. “But also, the injustices from the police or the RCMP or whoever it is to not support or not help.”
Surete du Quebec officials said they can’t comment on Ruperthouse’s disappearance as the investigation is still ongoing but Wylde said not much progress has been made in the past year.
“They repeat the same thing, ‘We’re still investigating,’” he said. “I know who killed her, somebody killed her… but they’re still investigating.”
