In Saskatchewan, there are 126 long term missing persons, including men, women and children.

The Government of Saskatchewan has proclaimed the week of April 29th to May 5th Missing Persons Week.

Attorney General and Justice Minister for the Province of Saskatchewan, Don Morgan, said in a statement that the week is important and that sharing information will hopefully one day lessen the amount of people who are considered missing. “These seven days are an opportunity to raise awareness and focus on what needs to be done to help prevent people from going missing."

Events have been held all week long throughout the province as a way to shine a light on this situation, hoping that it will result in more solved cases.

Della Ferguson is a local Grief Support Professional with W.J. Jones and Son Funeral Home, and she had this to say on the mourning process:

"One of the first mourning needs is to acknowledge the reality of the loss, and so for the person who has a missing loved one, there is an unfinished-ness, and so you can't acknowledge the reality and start grieving without having any answers."

Ferguson notes that the search can lead to some extremely difficult emotions during that time.

"There is that unfinished-ness of not knowing, and so there is a searching - so important that we honour the fact that [it] is a never ending experience for that person until there is some type of finding, whatever that might involve."

Sometimes you are actually able to help just by asking questions, says Ferguson.

"So the story you're telling yourself is that you will bring people down, where in fact if you were to talk to any bereaved parent, they would say, 'please say my child's name, please ask me about them' and then just be quiet, just be present to them."

The theme for this year's Missing Persons Week was "We All Have A Role."