It has been exactly three years since Autumn Shaganash, an Indigenous woman from Barrie, went missing, and her family is still searching for answers. Three years on, family and community members continue to hold out hope that she will be found, while authorities have renewed their plea for any information that could help solve the case. For the people closest to her, the passage of time has done nothing to dim their determination to learn what happened.
The last confirmed sighting of Shaganash came at Sunnidale Park in Barrie, where she was captured on surveillance video. In the footage she is seen walking with a friend. According to the account given to investigators, that friend briefly walked ahead of her, and when he turned around she had vanished, with no trace of where she had gone. That sudden, unexplained disappearance has remained at the centre of the case ever since.
For her family, the days surrounding her disappearance are painful to revisit. Her sister was with her the day before she went missing. Before Shaganash left home, she hugged her sister and told her that she loved her, hugged her nieces and said goodnight. Her sister has spoken of wishing she could go back to that day, a small farewell that has since taken on enormous weight.
In the years since, the family has thrown itself into the search. They have worked closely with Barrie police, tirelessly trying to find her, and have taped posters all over the city. They have also organised ground searches in the hope of turning up any clue, refusing to let the case fade quietly into the background as time passed.
Authorities have used a range of tools in the effort to locate her. Police deployed canines and drones in their searches and offered a reward for information on her whereabouts. This week, the push for new leads entered a new phase, as the family launched a digital billboard campaign in an effort to reach anyone who might know something about what happened to her.
Despite these efforts, the family says progress has repeatedly stalled. They explain that they have received leads in the past, but to no success. People come forward with information, and for a moment it feels as though an answer is close, only for the trail to go stale again. The family believes that somebody knows something, and that someone may be too scared to come forward and say what happened.
The case also reflects a wider and troubling pattern. According to Statistics Canada's latest data, the rate of homicide for Indigenous women and girls is six times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous women, and First Nations women continue to represent a high number of those classified as missing and murdered. The family says it receives very little support from the government, but insists it will never give up until Autumn Shaganash is found, describing her as a daughter, a sister and an aunt who did not deserve what happened to her.