Daleen Kay Bosse
Daleen Kay Bosse
Update: 29 September 2009
Daleen Kay Bosse (Muskego) was a 27-year-old university student and mother from the Onion Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan near the border with the province of Alberta. In May 2004 Daleen was living in Saskatoon with her husband and three year old daughter. She had just finished a practicum as part of the education program at the University of Saskatchewan. On May 18th, Daleen went out for the evening to attend an Assembly of First Nations function and then to socialize with family and friends at nightclubs in Saskatoon. Her family never saw her again.
On August 8, 2008 Daleen’s remains were found in an isolated clearing north of the city. Soon after, the Saskatoon Police Service charged a 30-year-old man who had been employed as a bouncer in the nightclub where Daleen was last seen. The preliminary hearing is expected to proceed in the fall of 2009.
Daleen’s mother and father – Pauline and Herb Muskego – took action as soon as they realized their daughter might be missing. They went to a Saskatoon Police station to file a missing person’s report on May 19th. However, they recall being told that they should wait 48 hours in case Daleen returned home. As a consequence they did not file a report until May 21st. The Saskatoon police have told Amnesty International that they do not in fact have a policy of requiring a 24 hour or 48 hour delay in the filing of missing person’s reports.
A neighbour found Daleen’s car on June 4th. The police did an initial search of the vehicle - and identified that several items such as the seat covers were missing - and then returned it to Daleen’s husband. Pauline and Herb were told that police did not consider it necessary to conduct a full forensic search of the car because police believed that Daleen may have voluntarily broken off contact with her family.
When Daleen did not return home, family members continued to contact the police to inquire about the investigation. According to Pauline and Herb, police continually reassured them that most people who go missing want to disappear for a while and are almost always found in a couple of months. Police did alert the media and placed posters around Saskatoon. However, no search was carried out in 2004.
In June 2004 Pauline and Herb contracted a private investigator to carry out an independent investigation. The Muskego’s also enlisted the help of the Federation of Indian First Nations and the chief from Onion Lake First Nation to attend meetings with the police with them as they felt that they received more cooperation and information from the police when they had this support.
In January 2005, after Daleen did not resume contact with the family over Christmas, the Saskatoon Police Force transferred the case from general investigations to the major crimes unit. It was now almost eight months since Daleen’s disappearance. Police carried out a forensic examination of Daleen’s car. Because of weather conditions, a search of the area where the car was found was not carried out until April 2005. Because of the ongoing criminal investigation, police have not revealed whether or not either of these efforts have yielded any new information about what happened to Daleen.
Pauline and Herb remain frustrated that despite all their efforts, a full investigation of Daleen’s disappearance was delayed by almost eight months by the police assumption that Daleen had disappeared voluntarily. They feel that more needs to be done to ensure that families’ concerns are heard and taken seriously by police.
As time continued to pass, Pauline and Herb were determined to do everything in their power to find their daughter. They continued to initiate meetings with the Saskatoon Police and have appeared before the Saskatoon Police Services Board to tell their daughter’s story. They have also traveled across Canada to meet with the families of other missing Indigenous women. In their search for their missing daughter, Pauline and Herb Muskego have emerged as powerful voices for justice for Aboriginal women.
Pauline says, “It is not acceptable that we don’t know what has been or is being done to find our daughter. We need to know; to help us and others find her. Daleen is not just a number; she is a daughter, wife and mother.”