A local First Nation Chief says they knew they had to do something when they learned a 14-year-old from the community had gone missing.
We’koqma’q Chief Rod Googoo says they expected an amber alert for the girl. When one didn’t come, band council offered a $5000 reward for information leading to her discovery.
Googoo tells The Hawk the community mobilized, about 75 people, including residents of We’koqma’q and Eskasoni, were looking for the girl, and 47-year-old Darcy Doyle, each day in the heavily wooded area near Canoe Lake.
“Even though we’re not professional searchers,” he says. “If we hadn’t done what we did, the outcome could have been a lot different.”
The girl and Doyle were found Saturday.
Despite the RCMP never issuing an emergency alert, Doyle was charged with Abduction of a Person Under the Age of 16 on Aug 22.
Googoo says he’s glad the girl is safe, but they shouldn’t have had to do so much of the searching themselves.
He says missing Indigenous women and girls aren’t taken seriously.
“The stats show the outcome is never good because nobody seems to really be concerned because they’re labeled as runaways,” he says. “In our case we didn’t want her to be another stat.”
Googoo says it was searchers from Eskasoni who discovered Doyle’s ATV hidden off a trail.
He says no one has claimed the $5000 reward, but they are looking at rewarding some of the people most involved in the search.
Doyle remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in Sydney Provincial Court Wednesday.
