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Five years ago, Deanna Wertz and Ashley Simpson lived a stone's throw from each other on Yankee Flats Road in the community of Salmon Arm in British Columbia. They disappeared within a week of each other, and neither has been found.

And they weren't the only ones who vanished from the picturesque logging and tourism community. Caitlin Potts and Nicole Bell also disappeared that year. Traci Genereaux, 18, was found dead during a police search along the Salmon Road River in 2017. This, in a community of 17,100 residents. 

British Columbia has a terrible track record when it comes to missing and murdered women, particularly Aboriginal women and girls. According to a fact sheet from the Native Women's Association, almost one third of all of the reported cases in their database involved women and girls in British Columbia. To date, the number of cases in BC is substantially higher than any other province or territory in Canada (Alberta follows with 16 percent of the cases).

British Columbia has the highest percentage of suspicious deaths in Canada -- cases that police have declared natural or accidental but the family or community members consider suspicious. Nine percent of cases in B.C. fall into that category compared to 4 percent nationally.

Most of the cases involve young women and girls under 30, (Ashley was 32). 

And almost half the cases remained unsolved.

This is a national disgrace, a smear on the province, a shadow on the country. 

We reflect on this situation as we mark April 27th, the day that Ashley Simpson disappeared five years ago, and as we celebrate her life and mourn her death. At 8 p.m. tomorrow night, Canadians across the country will join us in a virtual vigil to mark this sad occasion. Please join us, and share this post.

Ask yourself the question: what would you do if Ashley was your daughter or sister or friend? 

Here is the link to our vigil. Please visit this site, and share if you care about the women and girls who go missing every year, and for the families who continue to suffer unspeakable loss.