'We're still looking': Community barbecue marks 14 years since Tamra Keepness disappeared

A sombre anniversary was marked at a community barbecue Thursday in Regina.

It was on July 5 in 2004 that five-year-old Tamra Keepness was last seen. She vanished without a trace from her home on the 1800 block of Ottawa Street.

As has become tradition, a barbecue was held Thursday, 14 years after Keepness's disappearance, to honour her.

Keepness, originally from Whitebear First Nation, would now be 19 years old.

'Not just Tamra'

Keepness's grandmother Ellen Keewatin said that her family holds on to the hope that she will be found.

"The reason that we hold this picnic is to let people know that we're still looking and that we're still hoping that God will let her come home to us sometime," she said.

Keewatin said events like this lend support to families like theirs and help them to know that they're not alone.

Vernon Bellegarde, one of the organizers, said the event will be held until Keepness is found, but it also signifies more.

"It's really not just Tamra. We think about the other murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls as well."

Regina Treaty and Status Indian Services puts on the annual event.

Regina Police were on hand to serve hotdogs and Bellegarde said it's important they're involved.

"Our people are learning more. I look back on my own life, and I know when the policemen drove onto the reserve, they were the boogeyman.

"Today, my family has a lot of respect, as well as my children and great-grandchildren have a lot of respect, for the police forces. They know they are there to help."

Dean Rae, deputy chief of the Regina Police Service, said that although a number of the people who were originally involved in investigating Tamra's disappearance have retired, the case is still important to the force.

"Each and every one of us want to find resolution. We want to bring closure to the family, so that's the part that's troublesome for us.

"It's not just about giving closure to ourselves, it's about giving closure to the community and the family, and letting them know what happened to their loved one."

Rae also said Keepness's disappearance is an active investigation and that events like the barbecue raise the profile of the case.

Anyone with information about Tamra Keepness's disappearance is asked contact the Regina Police Service at 306-777-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. 

There is a $50,000 reward offered for information that helps police find her.