'This is a community issue': Saskatoon parents call for support 2 years after daughter's disappearance

Monday morning marked Brian and Debbie Gallagher's 35th trip to court, as one of the four people charged in the presumed death of their daughter Megan made an appearance.

“It's exhausting … it's numbing,” Brian said.

John Wayne Sanderson, Ernest Whitehead, Roderick William Sutherland and Jessica Sutherland all face the charge of indignity to human remains, but so far no homicide charges have been laid and Megan’s body has still not been found.

Sanderson appeared by video Monday. He is the only one of the four currently in custody.

His next court appearance is Sept. 27, while Ernest Whitehead is set to appear in court on Sept. 19.

“We attend endlessly it seems, with little or no movement, and it just keeps dragging on and on and on,” Brian said.

He says it hits differently as the two-year anniversary of Megan’s disappearance on Sept. 20, 2020, approaches.

“We've been through the first anniversary of that and it was challenging. It's not something I've ever thought that I’d have to experience, and I'm sure it's similar for so many other people here,” he said.

Police began treating Megan’s disappearance as a homicide in January 2021.

“These four that are accused in this case have carried these secrets for two years, and that's the silence that kills us, and that's the silence that perpetuates this, and that's the silence that lets this continue to happen," Brian said.

Among those outside the courthouse was Megan’s sister Lindsay Bishop, who put a pause on her cross-country walk to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

“There's a lot of solidarity. It's painfully beautiful to see the strength and resilience in the community,” she said of meeting families experiencing similar losses.

“The stories that we hear are heartbreaking at times, but they also fill your heart because you see the strength of the people you see, through all of the hardships and the hurt that they're going through with their missing loved ones, how they come together and they support each other.”

Bishop started her walk on Feb. 18 in Victoria, B.C. and made it as far as Perth, Ont. just outside Ottawa before coming back to Saskatoon.

She says on average she’s been walking more than eight hours a day, six days a week towards her goal of reaching to St. John’s, N.L.

“We want to make it from coast to coast and try to connect with as many people along the way, families, friends,” she said.

“Just keep making noise, keep people talking, tell our story hear stories. Like my dad said, the silence is killing us. If we let ourselves be silenced then who is going to speak for us? How are we going to ever change this? How are we going to move forward?”

The Gallaghers are planning a second annual walk for Megan on Sunday, starting at Joe Gallagher Field in Saskatoon at 9:30 a.m.

“Last year we were overwhelmed — when we first started talking about a walk we had hoped to get 200 people. Close to 500 people showed up, so that was very helpful, that was uplifting and it gave us a lot of strength,” Brian said.

“My wife's beautiful idea this year is if you came last year, come and bring a friend and we'll build some more community. Bring two friends, because this is a community issue.”