Connie Walker Checks in on the Thirty Year Old Unsolved MMIWG Death of Sonya Cywink.

Top – Sonya Cywink Bottom – Meggie Cywink and Connie Walker

In 1994, 31-year old, pregnant Sonya Cywink from the Whitefish First Nation near Sudbury, was found murdered in a forest near London, Ontario. Thirty-one years later the case remains unsolved. Cywink’s sister Meggie has talken up the search for the truth by herself, in the face of police inaction, and has uncovered leads the OPP overlooked. Working with ex-OPP officer, Chris Gheysen, Meggie is also raising awareness of the tragic reality of Canada’s Missing and Murdered Women and Girls that has claimed hundreds of lives.  MMIWG journalist and podcaster Connie Walker guest hosts CBC’s The Fifth Estate this Friday and joins Meggie’s journey to find her sister’s killer. It’s a heartbreaker. What She Said’ Anne Brodie spoke with Walker.

Connie, you are multiple award-winning journalist, with a Pulitzer and Peabody prize a for your work on MMIWG cases. What it was about Sonya’s case that piqued your interest from the innumerable cases? Why her story in particular?

There are unfortunately, so many missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, but also, so many families out there who are looking for help and looking for support and I think that our story is about Sonya and her murder, but it’s really also about her sister Meggie, and how her sister has been pushing for answers and really going to incredible lengths to try to get police to help find the truth about what happened to Sonya.  And I think Meggie’s advocacy in terms of pushing police to act in Sonya’s case, finding a lawyer to help her advocate for her sister, actually going out and doing an investigation on her own like this is the story of a sister’s promise made.  I think it’s extraordinary what she has been able to do. And every case has an opportunity to tell a bigger story. Meggie is helping to push for answers in her sister’s death, but also to share the story of families, and there are so many families out there who are in a similar situation.

Yes, indeed. And because she’s launched her own investigation, because she’s ruffled feathers in whatever criminal underworld this was, and she is in danger. How does she protect herself?

Meggie is such a strong, strong, incredibly, strong woman, and what she’s been able to do, aside from her own voice and the work that she’s doing, she’s also really skilled at building a team of support around her. Her husband Tom is there every step of the way.  She’s also working with a retired OPP officer who is one of the first investigators in Sonya’s murder. She’s also now working with lawyer Jessica Zita so she’s built a support network.  Meggie is somebody that I heard of when I first started reporting on this issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. That was ten years ago when I first heard of her as one of the leading advocates for families of missing and murdered indigenous, so many girls. She’s been incredibly vocal, trying to raise awareness and help tell Sonya’s story. But she’s also an advocate for other families as well.

What I don’t understand is the police haven’t found answers in all these years but say that the case is ongoing. How do you square that?

It’s really hard for us as journalists, because we asked the Ontario Provincial Police for an interview, and we obviously have information from our reporting. We have information from interviews about their investigation. We have some insight, from the former OPP officer working with Meggie, who we interviewed. We really wanted to talk to the OPP. We really wanted to ask them about their investigation, about the autopsy reports and the reports of the chief pathologists. We have a lot of questions. And this is under the jurisdiction of the OPP.  Unfortunately, they declined our request for an interview and just sent along a statement in which they say that Sonya’s case is active and ongoing. But we’re going to keep looking into it; we’re trying to get as much information as we can. And I think one of the great things about working with The Fifth Estate is they’re obviously such an incredible team of investigative journalists, they really follow stories, and I think that we’re all committed to keep following this story.

In a way its symbolic, it could lead to more investigations.

What Meggie has been able to do over the last several years was conduct interviews with people who were in Sonya’s life at that time, and people who came forward to offer tips about what they claim happened to her. That is absolutely work that she felt like she was doing because the OPP told her that that they needed new leads.  So, she decided that to go out and get them herself. The question was whether or not families should be doing this work themselves. And the former officer that she’s working with, who also spent 30 years with the OPP, told us that he believes that families can’t rely on police, that they should. There are so many other families out there of missing, murdered indigenous women and girls who feel like their loved ones haven’t got enough media attention, so the are searching for the truth and justice, the are in really similar positions to Meggie and feel like they’re not sure what to do. And I think that’s the tragedy of the situation. 

You brought the tragedy of murdered, missing Indigenous women to the world stage via your award-winning podcasts. It must take so much courage and fortitude, and despite not knowing what happened to Sonya, you’re going to stay on it, right?

Absolutely. Every single case that I report on is something that I’m deeply invested in and that I care deeply about, and I definitely want to continue this work for me, the crisis of violence against indigenous women and girls, and the reporting that I’ve been doing about various cases over the last several years has been a way into a bigger world of life for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada.  As a Cree woman who grew up in the Oakland East First Nation, in a family that was incredibly close. My grandparents and my mom, aunts and uncles taught and showed us the importance of family and community and taking care of one another. My work as an extension of those teachings. This is a job, obviously, but it’s much more than that. It’s my way of trying to do my part and to give back for my family and all my First Nations relatives in Canada and in the US.

Tell us about your podcasts.

I did two podcasts, the first was with CBC and was called Missing & Murdered, two seasons that focused on two cases. The first season was about the murder of Alberta Williams, and was called Who Killed Alberta Williams? And the second season was Finding Cleo, about a young Cree girl from Saskatchewan who was lost during the Sixties Scoop.  Then with Gimlet I started Stolen. The first season focuses on the disappearance of Jermaine Charlo from the Flathead Reservation in Montana. The second season of the podcast that we won the Pulitzer and the Peabody Award for was actually a personal story about my father’s experience at a residential school in Saskatchewan is called Surviving St Michael’s. The third podcast was called Trouble in Sweetwater about the crisis of missing people on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. I’ve done five seasons of these kinds of serial narrative podcasts, and they’re available anywhere that you get your podcasts on Apple or Spotify, or anywhere else.

That’s wonderful. Thank you so much, and thank you for your work. I don’t think enough is happening in Canada to address the issue. But you’re making waves and raising awareness. Everyone in Canada should knows about MMIWG.

I remember when I was starting out in  2004 2005 and the Native Women’s Association of Canada released a report that estimated at the time that there were 500 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across the country. And I remember people scoffing at that, people thinking that was overblown and couldn’t be true. And in here we are 20 years later, and I think I’m glad that there is this change for sure, and I hope that it translates into support for family, support for Indigenous women and girls and their families, before they become victims of violence, support for healing in our communities, support for understanding the true legacies of Indian residential schools and the Sixties Scoop and how they’re continuing to impact our families and communities. That’s my hope.

Connie, I really appreciate it. Best of luck in your endeavors. We’ll be watching.

The Fifth Estate Guest Host Connie Walker Presents A Sister’s Promise this Friday at 9pm on CBC and CBC Gem.