Rose's Cantina

The folks running the town of Enderby must have breathed a sigh of relief after I took down part of my blog yesterday, in which I reported that the town was taking down posters promoting a local walk for missing and murdered women. Some of the organizers of the walk had accused the local mayor, and town, of taking down the posters because they were afraid that they were bad for tourism -- that they were a buzzkill. One organizer even said she was hung up on by the mayor. I suggested the story reminded me of the plot of Jaws. Don't tell anybody there's a shark on the loose. And we all know what happened. I took down my post because I received a note from the town's Chief Admin Officer, who said he took a drive around town and noted that all the posters were still up including those which had been placed on city infrastructure spots including kiosks, light standards and more. "They have not been removed since they were posted yesterday," he noted. ...

While many Canadians will be preoccupied with settling into their cottages, or campsites, on this long weekend, others will be lacing up their running shoes to walk in the memory of their loves ones -- women who have gone missing and are presumed murdered. Members of my immediate family will be participating in walks from coast to coast. Some will be walking in St. Catharines/Niagara to remember my cousin Ashley Simpson who disappeared a year ago from her home in Salmon Arm. She is one of three women missing from the B.C. Interior towns of Salmon Arm and Enderby. Deanna Wertz and Caitlin Potts are also missing. Her father, John Simpson, will join in the B.C. walk . The organizers of walk have put the emphasis on aboriginal women because the majority of the missing come from the First Nations communities. But they have also taken John into their fold. Grief has no ethnicity, after all. The walk will cap off a frustrating time for John who dr...