Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
National

'She's Our Child:' Family's Tearful Plea For Help To Find Missing Manitoba Woman

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 06 Sep, 2016 01:05 PM
  • 'She's Our Child:' Family's Tearful Plea For Help To Find Missing Manitoba Woman
WINNIPEG — The parents of a missing woman from northern Manitoba are begging for help to find their daughter who has disappeared without a trace.
 
Christine Wood, who is 21, was with her mother and father in Winnipeg on Aug. 19 to accompany a relative to a medical appointment.
 
The family from Oxford House First Nation was staying at a hotel when Wood left for the evening.
 
She hasn't been seen or heard from since; calls and texts to her cellphone have gone unanswered. 
 
George and Melinda Wood say that's very unlike their daughter.
 
They are asking for help from anyone who may know where she is.
 
"We need her home," a tearful George Wood told a news conference Tuesday. "She's our child. It doesn't matter how old she may be. She's still our child.
 
"We need your help to find her and make sure she's safe, so anybody who has any information, who knows whereabouts she is, or any little thing, please help us."
 
Wood's mother could say little through her sobs.
 
"Christine, if you see me, if you can hear me, please come home. Come home please. We love you very much. We're waiting for you."
 
Sheila North Wilson, grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak which represents northern First Nations, said she knows the couple from the Bunibonibee Cree reserve.
 
"(They are) very lovely people who care about their family," she said. "They raised their family with love and they raised their family to be the best the can be, and now this happens to them."
 
 
She said Wood's disappearance underlines the urgent need to address the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women just as a federal inquiry is starting.
 
"We can't wait for the results. We have to do something now as a community ... to stop what's happening and find our girls and bring them home to their families," North Wilson said.
 
She called on all levels of government and society as a whole to address a problem that "just keeps persisting."
 
"It's upon all of us. We can't ignore this."
 
Wood, a former University of Winnipeg student, is described as being five-foot-six with an average build and shoulder-length, dark-brown hair. She is believed to have been carrying a white purse.
 
Christy Dzikowicz, with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, described Wood as someone "who has a family and a future."
 
"There's not one person who should have to face the horror of not knowing where their child is," she said. 

MORE National ARTICLES

Elusive Snake Finally Coaxed Out Of Drain Pipe Under Victoria Street

Elusive Snake Finally Coaxed Out Of Drain Pipe Under Victoria Street
VICTORIA — A reclusive reptile that has been living in a storm drain below the streets of Victoria now has a new home.

Elusive Snake Finally Coaxed Out Of Drain Pipe Under Victoria Street

'I Want Answers So Bad:' Manitoba First Nations Men Angry Over Birth Mix-up

'I Want Answers So Bad:' Manitoba First Nations Men Angry Over Birth Mix-up
"I want answers so bad," David Tait Jr. told a news conference Friday about what appears to be a second birth mix-up at the same federally run hospital during the mid-1970s.

'I Want Answers So Bad:' Manitoba First Nations Men Angry Over Birth Mix-up

Winnipeg Mom Wants Changes To Mental Health Policies After Son Found Dead

Winnipeg Mom Wants Changes To Mental Health Policies After Son Found Dead
Bonnie Bricker's son, Reid, was discharged from three Winnipeg hospitals after three suicide attempts in ten days in October 2015.

Winnipeg Mom Wants Changes To Mental Health Policies After Son Found Dead

Most Of Remaining Fort McMurray Evacuees Allowed To Go Home Wednesday

EDMONTON — Some of the last evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfire are being allowed to return home after Alberta's top health officer approved the cleanup of their neighbourhoods.

Most Of Remaining Fort McMurray Evacuees Allowed To Go Home Wednesday

Early Morning Fire Damages Vancouver's Ross Street Gurdwara

Early Morning Fire Damages Vancouver's Ross Street Gurdwara
The Blaze Was Discovered When People Showed Up For Early Morning Prayers Around 2:30 A.m. Friday.

Early Morning Fire Damages Vancouver's Ross Street Gurdwara

Halifax Police Say Infant's Death Considered Suspicious, More Tests Needed

Const. Dianne Woodworth said officers were called to an apartment on Windmill Road in Dartmouth last Friday around 9:15 p.m.

Halifax Police Say Infant's Death Considered Suspicious, More Tests Needed