Walk honours memory of Daleen Bosse

For the sixth year in a row, the family of the late Daleen Bosse walked and ran in her honour across part of Saskatchewan from July 12-14.

Bosse was 25-years-old when she was last seen at a Saskatoon nightclub in May of 2004. At the time, she was an education student and married with a little girl. Her family maintained it wasn’t like her not to come home or be in contact with them and believed her to be missing.
Later that summer, they held a walk from Saskatoon to her home community of Onion Lake Cree Nation to raise awareness about her and other missing Aboriginal women.

It became an annual event and was held for the next three years.

Bosse’s charred remains were found near Martensville in August of 2008, and her family decided to continue the walk in her memory the following summer. This is the second year for the Daleen Bosse Muskego Awareness Walk/Memorial Run.

Bosse’s mother, Pauline Muskego, says more needs to be done, and right away, when an Aboriginal woman goes missing.

“Being a Native woman myself, and living in this society, it just happens that we’re targets for some reason. I wish I knew the answer. That’s why walks like this raise awareness that we all need to be treated equal in this world.”

According to research done by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, there were more than 580 missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada as of the end of March 2010. One of those is Jeannette Chief, who was murdered in Lloydminster in 2008.

Her niece, Cindy Chief, along with other family members, participated in this year’s Daleen Bosse Awareness Walk. Chief says she was invited by Muskego.

“Pauline had asked me because I lost hope, and I said, ‘I don’t think my auntie’s crime will ever be solved.’ And she said, ‘Join us, maybe somebody out there has information.’ So that’s why we’re here, too.”

Chief said Muskego’s encouragement renewed her hope, and she continues to find comfort in prayer as well.
“We want justice. We want my auntie’s murder solved... We want her to rest in peace,” she added.

Muskego says the walk and memorial run helps her family, too.

“This is healing for us. It’s been six years now. Four years of her missing and the second year of doing this memorial, so it’s like our second year only.”

Douglas Hales from White Fox, Saskatchewan was arrested shortly after Bosse’s remains were found. He has been charged with first-degree murder as well as offering an indignity to a human body for allegedly setting Bosse’s remains on fire.

Following a preliminary hearing this past March, he was committed to stand trial on those charges, but no trial date has yet been set. As the memorial run makes its way to Onion Lake, Bosse’s spirit is with her family and supporters.

“Our daughter was a statistic, as you call it. But she wasn’t just a statistic: she was our daughter,” said Muskego. “We think of her, but we also think of the other women that have been murdered.”