CANOE LAKE: Following a vigorous week-long search spearheaded by the Cape Breton Mi’kmaq community itself, the missing Indigenous teen who disappeared from her foster home has been located by police and is safe.
At approximately 11:30 p.m. on August 21, the RCMP Air Services reported a fire in an isolated location in the Canoe Lake area.
RCMP officers on the ground made their way to the area, and at 1 a.m., they located the missing girl and the man she was believed to be with.
Both were taken into police custody without incident and transported out of the wooded area. The youth was released, while the man remains in custody and the investigation is ongoing.
Community members, including the family of the 14-year-old girl who had been missing for nine-days, the chief of We’koqma’q First Nation and the president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada had all criticized the RCMP for failing to issue an Amber Alert.
RCMP issued a localized emergency alert on August 20 for Mary (Molly) Martin, a member of the We’koqma’q Fist Nation, who disappeared from her foster home in Eskasoni at around 4 p.m. on August 13.
Seven-days after going missing, the alert notified residents of the communities east of the Mira River to be on the lookout for the 14-year-old who was believed to be with 47-year-old Darcy Doyle, of Mira Gut, who used to be her foster father.
RCMP said on the afternoon of August 20, aerial and ground searches combed the Canoe Lake area after finding a campsite and a green ATV belonging to Martin and Doyle, and suggested the two were believed to be travelling on foot in the dense and heavily wooded area.
Advising they received new information that Martin and Doyle were in the Canoe Lake area in southeast Cape Breton, 53-kilometres from Eskasoni, at around 7 p.m. on August 19—RCMP issued the localized alert.
Martin’s family described Doyle as a white man who “can survive in the woods,” and someone who the band councillors in We’koqma’q expelled from the community because he posed a threat to their safety and security.
The pair were identified on video surveillance at a service station in Catalone, both on August 13 and 14, and they also were sighted in the Forchu area of eastern Richmond County.
“Her community is distraught and confused by the apparent lack of concern on the part of the RCMP,” Lorraine Whitman, president of the Native Women’s Association, said in a statement. “It is time for the police to do everything in their power to find this girl and bring her to safety.”
RCMP claim the criteria for an Amber Alert wasn’t met in this particular case as they’re only issued when they believe a person under the age of 18, or someone with a mental disability, has been abducted and is at serious risk of being harmed or is dead.
However, the RCMP has faced backlash on not acting with enough urgency, and their statement that they believe Martin, a 14-year-old girl went willingly, and was not abducted by a 47-year-old man, has been met with criticism and objection.
Directly after cabinet on August 20, Premier Stephen McNeil told reporters as a father, he has major concerns with not considering it an abduction.
“There’s no question, law enforcement and interaction with minorities in our province has been challenging,” he said.
“We’re working through that, ensuring all voices are being heard and that people are feeling confidence in the police agency that is actually serving them.”
McNeil highlighted there are racism-related systemic issues in institutions, including government, which need to be addressed.
In Martin’s home community of We’koqma’q, the chief and council offered a $5,000 reward for information bringing the teenager home—as part of their own search efforts—which consisted of upwards of 40 volunteer searchers, including assistance from the We’koqma’q Wild Hogs ATV Club, the Eskasoni ATV Club and an individual from Guysborough County.
The Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry assisted the RCMP with aerial searches by helicopter and the Cape Breton Regional Police Dog Services were also involved in the search.
An on-line petition calling for an Amber Alert into Martin’s disappearance was created on Change.org and had over 16,000 signatures at the time the RCMP located her.
On August 22, a charge abduction of a person under the age of 16 was laid against Doyle. He was remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in Sydney Provincial Court on August 26.