Missing Quebec girls sought in Ontario

The investigation into the disappearance of two teenage girls from Maniwaki, Que., a year ago is now focused inOntario, police say.

That's because most of the possible sightings of Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander in the past year have been in Ontario, reported the Ontario Provincial Police, the Quebec provincial police and the Kitigan Zibi police at a joint news conference Thursday in Ottawa.

Odjick was 16 and Alexander was 17 when they were last seen at a bus stop in Maniwaki, about 145 kilometres north of Ottawa, on Sept. 6, 2008. Odjick lived on the Kitigan Zibi Anishnibeg First Nation reserve, while Alexander lived in Maniwaki, just off the reserve.

In the past year, the OPP have followed up on tips and possible sightings from Ottawa to Saugeen Shores on Lake Huron in Western Ontario, saidDet.-Insp. Chris Gilipin. She added that the OPP have added the two girls to their provincial missing persons web page.

Capt. Jacques Pich of the Sret du Qubec said police are investigating under the assumption that the girls are still alive.

"We're hoping that they're still alive, we have no information otherwise," he said.

On Thursday, police reported that most tips about the girls came in during the first three months after their disappearance in 2008.

"One of my biggest goals by being here today is to ensure that these girls' faces get back into the public view and the public eye," said Kitigan Zibi chief of police Gordon MacGregor. "Maybe we can incite some sort of information flow again as we did earlier."

Families not told of conference

Laurie Odjick, mother of Maisy Odjick, said police had not told the girls' families about the news conference, but she attended after hearing about it from a CBC reporter.

"Of course, I want their [the girls'] pictures all over," she told reporters afterwards, but she added that she hadn't heard from investigators for around eight months. "So for them, saying they've been collaborating with the families they haven't been talking to me."

Odjick did not appear to have much faith that the possible sightings of the girls would help find them.

"When I come to Ottawa myself, I see Maisy on every corner," she said. "I think I see her. I do a double take."

She urged members of the public to follow anyone who looks like Maisy or Shannonand give the police a specific location.

"If it was your child, I would think you'd want that to happen also."

Odjick has long expressed frustration with the way the investigation has been handled by police.

At the news conference, Odjick asked MacGregor why the girls' files were originally separated, one with the Kitigan Zibi police and the other with the Quebec provincial police. MacGregor said that was just to get the ball rolling and did not affect work on the case, which investigators realized overtime was "a bigger situation" than they thought.

Odjick said she thinks she knows why the investigation was slower and less thorough than she expected.

"I think it was because they were labelled as runaways from the beginning that a lot of things didn't go right."

But she added that shortly after Maisy and Shannon disappeared, Brandon Crisp, 15,ran away near Barrie, Ont. He was found dead three weeks later after a massive search and widespread media attention that Odjick feels contrasted with Maisy and Shannon's case.

"You just see the amount of support that family got and you know what? We didn't get none of that."