‘We stand in solidarity’: Métis society on 15th anniversary of local woman’s disappearance

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — It has been 15 years since the disappearance of a local Indigenous woman – but still no answers as to how and why she vanished.

Métis woman Abigail Andrews was last seen on April 7th, 2010.

The then 28-year-old was pregnant with her first child, had talked to her mother around 7 p.m. that April evening and informed neighbours she was going to visit a male friend, according to a neighbour’s account.

Then she disappeared without a trace.

In a statement recently issued to Energeticcity.ca, the Fort St. John Métis Society described the Andrews story as a “deeply sensitive situation.”

“The fact that a local Indigenous woman went missing is deeply troubling to us,” wrote the society in an e-mail. “It speaks to larger systemic issues that continue to impact Indigenous communities across Canada.

“We stand in solidarity with all families who are seeking justice and answers for their loved ones.”

The Fort St. John Métis Society, in collaboration with the Fort St. John Friendship Society, has organized a Red Dress Day gathering at Festival Plaza on Monday, May 5th.

First beginning in 2010, Red Dress Day honours the memory of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and their families nationwide in an attempt to bring the topic to the forefront of non-Indigenous communities.

Data from Statistics Canada state 490 Indigenous women were murdered between 2009 and 2021, more than six times the rate of non-Indigenous women.

A Facebook group, Remembering Abigail Andrews, was launched in 2015.  It describes the missing woman as one who loved “nature, poetry, mythology and everything beautiful.”

“Abigail was a beautiful person, always seeing the best in people,” reads one post from 2019. “We remember her with fondness, sadness and yearning.”

A Facebook post from Cold Case BC claims a police reenactment from 2013 had identified a suspect and officers were appealing to the public for information.

Andrews was described as six feet tall and weighing 200 pounds. She had long dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a tribal tattoo on her lower back.

Energeticcity.ca reached out to the RCMP for further information and will update this story if it becomes available.

Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Abigail Andrews is asked to contact RCMP Serious Crime Unit at 778-3900 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.