Missing Person Awareness Day hosted by First Nation, OPP, Treaty 3 Police

Breaking down the barriers that may prevent people from contacting police when a loved one goesmissing is the goal of a special workshop Tuesday in Wabaseemong Independent First Nation, about 450 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

The community, Ontario Provincial Police and the Treaty 3 Police Service are joining forces to host a missing person awareness day.

"It provides an opportunity for the community and police services to work together to remove the barriers around reporting a missing person," said Sgt. Cheryl Gervais of the Treaty 3 police.

Officers will be explaining the work they do after receiving a report of a missing person.

All information aboutmissing person is crucial

They'll also be stressing that any, and all information is crucial during the search, said Gervais.

"If there's a missing person case that's already been reported, whether it be 10, 20 years ago, a person may have a small piece of information that they don't feel is important, but that may be the one piece of information that we need," she said.

As well, officers will also tackle several long-held misconceptions, which often delay the filing of missing person reports.

Many people believe a missing person report can only be filed by a relative.

Not so, said Gervais, explaining that anyone who is concerned about the welfare of someone else can contact police and file the report.

Don't wait 24 hrs to file report

She said people also commonly think you have to wait until the person has been gone 24 hours before calling police.

"With missing persons cases, they're very time sensitive. So, it's important to let us know sooner, rather than later, so we can start looking for that person," said Gervais.

There is also no time limit on the investigation, since missing persons cases remain open until they are resolved.

Gervais noted that there will be community elders and mental health workers on hand Tuesday toprovide support during the event.

"I think it's important it's important in our First Nations communities to balance the cultural piece and also the police work that goes alongside it," she said.

Akey feature of the workshop is that it also gives people the chance to provide information on missing persons, whose cases have not yet been reported to police.

Along with that, there will be an opportunity to collect DNA samples from family members of missing persons for identification purposes, if required.

The all-day event will be held at the Mizhakiiwetung Memorial School starting at9 a.m.

Shoal Lake 39 First Nation hosted the missing person awareness day as a pilot project in 2016.