It took 10 days for Winnipeggers to help track down Lauren Chopek, a 14-year-old who went missing after school in early October.

And right at the centre of it all was Shelley Cook, whose blog chronicling the plight of missing and murdered women in the province helped bring Chopek home.

“I just want to make sure these women are never forgotten,” said Cook, author of the Missing and Murdered Manitoba Women blog and a recent graduate of Red River College’s Creative Communications program.

Cook’s interest in the issue began in 2003 when two women, Dru Sjodin and Sunshine Woods, went missing.

Sjodin, a 22-year-old college student, vanished from a mall parking lot where she worked. Woods, a 16-year-old aboriginal girl, disappeared from a downtown hotel.

Sjodin’s case seemed to gain more media attention and even had Winnipeggers going across the border to help search for her. Woods’s case, meanwhile, was largely forgotten.

Though she was angered by the disconnect between the two cases, Cook felt powerless to make a difference.

Fast forward to 2008, when Cook was back in school, and three Manitoba women went missing: Jennifer Catcheway, Amber McFarland and Claudette Osborne.

“ I wanted to know who these women were, who their families were. I wanted to tell their stories and show them as the people who loved them knew them.

Shelley Cook

“I remember wanting to read all I could about these cases and I wasn’t satisfied with the stories I was reading,” said Cook, noting that most women were portrayed as victims, judged by their lifestyles or looks and there was no explanation of who they really were.

As part of a school project, Cook launched Missing and Murdered Manitoba Women, a blog dedicated to telling the stories of Manitoba’s missing and murdered women and their families.

“I wanted to know who these women were, who their families were. I wanted to tell their stories and show them as the people who loved them knew them,” said Cook.

Alongside the blog is a Facebook page, which Cook created to raise awareness about the issue. The page has 1,650 likes.

There are more than 70 missing women in Manitoba, though Cook notes there is no official list.

In Canada, the number is estimated around 600 and climbing, she said.

That’s where Cook comes in as an unofficial watchdog, researching progress on the issue and doing her part to hold the government accountable.

In 2009, RCMP stated they would create a task force dedicated to searching for these missing women. As of last year, the task force had yet to be formed, Cook’s research found.

“It falls on the government and other divisions to get together and create a clear agenda. They need to be more transparent also,” she said.

To follow Cook’s blog, visit www.missingmanitobawomen.blogspot.com.

Published in Volume 66, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 2, 2011)