The Comox Valley Transition Society is sponsoring a vigil for Angeline Pete, a young aboriginal woman who has been missing from her home in North Vancouver since last May.
Family members say that Angeline was beaten and “had her lip split open” the night before she went missing.
Police have turned the case over to the serious crime unit. There is grave concern about her well-being as she has not contacted family and friends and there has been no activity in her bank account.
Angeline grew up in Quatsino and has family and friends in the Comox Valley.
When Angeline’s cousin, Tracy Glover, approached the Transition Society recently to ask for help with a vigil, “We knew right away this was something we wanted to support her with,” said Anne Davis, program co-ordinator at the Transition Society. “Our agency works every day with women who have been assaulted, and with their families. We know that aboriginal women are at a particularly high risk.
"Over 500 Canadian aboriginal women are missing and/or have been murdered over the last couple of decades.”
Last month, Angeline’s family held a press conference in front of the building where the Missing Women’s Commission of Inquiry is reviewing the police investigation into the disappearance of scores of women from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Angeline’s aunt said that she was a free spirit, but “never a druggie” and always stayed in contact with her family.
There has been recent information that she may have hitchhiked north through B.C. along Highway 16, the Highway of Tears where many aboriginal women have disappeared over the past few decades.
As her cousin Tracy said, “We all miss her and want to bring her home safe and sound. She has a seven-year-old son who misses her a great deal and doesn’t understand why his mom isn’t around.”
The vigil will be held on the lawn of the courthouse at 5 p.m. on Nov. 23. Everyone is welcome to join Angeline’s family and supporters.
— Comox Valley Transition Society