In light of it being Saskatchewan Missing Persons Week, Project HOME (‘Help Our Missing Emerge’) was created by Saskatchewan RCMP. The project is a province-wide, multi-jurisdictional, digital billboard and social media awareness campaign and was launched to bring awareness to the long-term missing person cases within Saskatchewan. 

Several missing people are in Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction. The cases remain open, with officers continuing to investigate their disappearances, states RCMP. Families continue to await answers about what happened to their missing loved ones. RCMP state the goal of the campaign is to raise awareness and generate new tips that can help Saskatchewan police locate all the missing individuals. 

“How do we draw attention to all those people who remain missing across Saskatchewan to ensure that the public is hearing about them, thinking about them, keeping them top of mind? We, as investigators, are always trying to find new information in regards to each of these individuals; however, we have to rely on the public for information, too. We’re hoping these billboards are the key to bringing in some new tips that might assist us,” says Sergeant Donna Zawislak of the Saskatchewan RCMP Historical Case Unit.

Seven billboards, located in Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton, Prince Albert, and North Battleford will display pictures, names, and brief details about the majority of those who remain missing in the province. RCMP states additional information about long-term missing person cases in the province can be found here. 

“I can’t imagine the anguish the families of those who remain missing must feel every day. We want to remind the public that these missing individuals are loved – their absences have left holes in the hearts of their families and friends. They haven’t been and won’t be forgotten. We are hopeful that displaying the names and faces of the long-term missing people in Saskatchewan on these billboards will help generate new information that can lead to their return and provide answers for the families who are missing their loved ones endlessly,” said Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, Saskatchewan RCMP Commanding Officer and 2nd Vice President of the SACP.

Project HOME was created by two individuals with the Saskatchewan RCMP:  Cst. Brendan Sanford – Saskatchewan RCMP Missing Person Coordinator and Vicki Torresan - Community Program Officer with the Saskatchewan RCMP’s Crime Prevention/Crime Reduction Unit who is actively involved in efforts in support of MMIWG2S.

Both have worked for months to create the program, state RCMP. They have contacted the families of the missing people who are to be featured on the billboards, ensuring the families felt included and informed during the process. 

Project HOME was created in partnership with municipal price agencies in the province (Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert Police Services) state RCMP. The project is supported and funded by the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs and Police, the Civil Forfeiture Fund and the Department of Justice Victims and Survivors of Crime Week Victims’ Fund.

If you know something, say something (even if you think it may be insignificant, any piece of information may be what leads investigators to finding the answers they need to locate someone). You can report information to your local police or the Saskatchewan RCMP Missing Persons Line at 1-833-502-6861. You can also report information anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or by clicking here.