Kawartha Promoter - July 12, 2018

Summary

Kawartha Promoter: Thu July 12, 2018 (Glenna Burns) "On a healing journey"

source: https://issuu.com/thepromoter/docs/kawartha_promoter_july_12_2018/9

clip: https://lisamarieyoung.ca/n/kp20180712

[Reproduced under Copyright Act (Canada) s.29.2 — Fair Dealing for the purpose of news reporting]

On a healing journey

The group Fenelon Falls for First People's is on a journey of healing. Their reconciliation action takes the form of giving, but the heart of their journey began many years ago and is reflected in the feather symbol depicted on their written materials. It's that story I'd like to tell now.

Terry Lowe is an EMS paramedic for the City of Kawartha Lakes. Back in 2002, Terry had a relationship developing with a crow that was hanging around the EMS base where he was working. Late in June 2002, that bird dropped a feather which Terry picked up and took home. On that same day in Nanaimo, B.C., Terry's great-niece Lisa Marie Young went missing. Lisa became one of 1,181 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

Since then, Terry and his wife Jane and their family have been trying to find Lisa and keep her story alive.

According to witnesses, on June 30, 2002, 21-year-old Lisa Marie Young went out with friends in Nanaimo. In the parking lot of a local hot spot, they met a man driving a red Jaguar.

This man allegedly invited the group to a few after-hours parties, so they piled into his car and carried on with their festivities. Around 3am, Lisa was hungry and the Jaguar driver offered to take her to get pizza while the others stayed behind. At about 4:30am, one of her friends received a text message from Lisa, "Come get me, they won't let me leave." That was the last time anyone heard from Lisa.

This outgoing, athletic and vibrant young woman disappeared that night and, according to Terry and Jane, the main suspect (the Jaguar driver) was never arrested, even though the police at one time had him in for questioning.

So when you see the feather logo being used by the Fenelon Falls for First People's group think of Lisa Marie Young and others who have never come home, and those families still seeking justice and closure.