A Comparison of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Missing Persons in British Columbia Where Foul Play has not been Ruled Out

The intent of the current study was to provide a descriptive analysis of uncleared missing person cases in British Columbia where foul play had not been ruled out and to examine differences in these cases between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal subjects. Of the 593 files identified as an uncleared missing person case in which foul play had not been ruled out, the earliest file was from 1949 and the most recent file was from 2007. In slightly more than two-thirds (69.0 per cent) of the files, the missing person was male, and in nearly three-quarters (72.2 per cent), the subject was Caucasian. The mean age of this sample of missing persons where foul play had not been ruled out was 34.6 years old. In this sample, 14.5% of the missing persons were identified as Aboriginal. Aboriginal people were overrepresented in this sample of missing persons where foul play had not been ruled out.

 

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