Day and night, volunteers tend to a sacred fire in the Edmonton River Valley while the search continues for Samuel Bird, the 14 -year -old from Paul First Nation who disappeared in West Edmonton in June.
The fire is part of a command post established this month in Dawson Park as a central place to help prepare food for volunteers, collect donations and dispatch people looking for land and water for the missing adolescents.
Many of the volunteers here can personally relate to the pain of Samuel Bird’s disappearance on June 1.
Dominic Bear, who has been in the command post for almost three weeks, said he had felt attracted by the poster of Samuel’s missing person, looking at him every day for weeks on the advertisement board of a local shelter where he worked.
“One thing that stood out with Samuel was how young he was, and remembering that when I was young, my family also got lost posters to me,” said Bear.
Bear said he had fled from home when he was a teenager. After three months, he returned to see the happy tears of his mother and grandmother when they saw him safe and alive.
“At first I thought anyone cared,” he said. “But it really wasn’t everything, I was tarnished by all the things around me.”
Edmonton AM9:32Family and volunteers have created a 24 -hour command post to help Samuel Bird search
Two weeks have passed since Samuel Bird’s family established a command center in Dawson Park. The volunteers are in a camp in the River Valley Park every day to help find it. Paul First Nation’s 14 -year -old boy was last seen in Edmonton in June. People have come to help BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest territories. The producer of Edmonton Am, Ariel Fournier, met with people in the camp and those who perform the search.
Bear was one of the first volunteers who came two weeks ago to help Man The Command Post not long after the fire went on for the first time. His first day, sat alone in the fire for five hours.
“When I got here, I saw that there were no men. It was just Alanna (Samuel’s mother) and the Kokums – The older ladies, moving everything: carrying heavy things, trying to put their boat in the water and try to grow again, “said Bear.
“I was disappointed from myself for not coming before,” he said.
Now people from Manitoba, BC,. Saskatchewan and the Northwest territories have joined the effort.
Starting with just a few people who support the family, now there are more than 100 people who come every day.
The search for a mother
Alanna Bird said she was alone when she started looking for her son when she didn’t get home in June. She has continued looking for every day since then.
“At first I was using Lima Scooters, riding in the city center between areas, looking for it, asking people if they would see it,” he said. “I hoped to see Sam or someone who knew him.”
As summer progressed, the volunteers began to join the search parties to comb through the neighborhoods and parks of Edmonton. When more people began to ask how they could help, the command post was established to coordinate searches and track areas that had been covered.
Police issued a press release from the person missing on July 11, more than a month after Samuel Bird left home.
Police spokeswoman Carolin Maran told CBC investigators that they interviewed numerous witnesses and have made an extensive canvas of CCTV images based on tests obtained. She said the detectives are in daily contact with the bird family.
On September 18, Eps sought in a residence related to the case of Samuel Bird. However, Maran said the police have not completed a specific land search.
In recent weeks, a small organized community search group has grown dramatically in size. They are looking for a 14 -year -old boy, who disappeared without a trace in Edmonton for more than 3 months. Stephanie Cram of CBC has the latest in efforts to find Samuel Bird while her family prepares for an emotional anniversary.
“When you think of the reality of how big Alberta and how big it is, it becomes overwhelming and you lose the hope of a little,” said Alanna Bird.
“That’s when I will have a conversation with Samuel and talk to him as if he were by my side,” he added. “I will say: ‘We will continue looking, we will continue looking, do not worry.”
Volunteers seek hope
On a sunny September day, a group of search volunteers combed a wooded section of the Mackinnon ravine, looking for clues about Samuel’s whereabouts or the evidence of their body.
“This search is very important to me: I can do something to take it home,” said Volunteer Alden Boisis while walking through the forest.
Boisis said he had three Alberta female cousins who were killed.
“I can’t express how frustrating it has been the last 10 years feeling that I can’t look and I can’t do anything and I feel helpless,” said Boisis, who is a network of Deer.
Boisis said he learned about the command post and the need for volunteers on social networks, through accounts who create awareness about missing and murdered indigenous people.
A few days after arriving in Edmonton, he learned of his mother who is related to the birds of the birds, a connection that he had not met.
Looking for Samuel makes him feel that he can help make a difference.
“He is also helping me heal,” said Boisis.
On the back of the command post, on Sunday a sign with “Happy Birthday” was hung on Rainbow lyrics, marking the 15th birthday of Samuel Bird.
The approach to autumn means that the terrain is now covered with leaves, adding another obstacle to the search that until now has been facilitated only by volunteers and private donations.
The Confederation of Treaty No. 6 of the first nations is asking that the case be designated as search and recovery, which means that the search focuses on looking for its remains. That would allow Samuel’s family and other groups to access Federal funds To help search efforts.
Regardless of the result, volunteers say that tents will not fall until Samuel is located.
“While that fire is on, we will be here,” said Bear.
“When we find Samuel, all this will fall and we can let him rest and give Alanna and her family a closure.”
