Monday, June 19th will be the 9th anniversary of Jennifer Catcheway's disappearance and her family continues to look for answers.

Bernice and Wilfred Catcheway held their annual fundraiser for Jennifer Saturday with proceeds from the day going to help fund their search. An Australian news crew is documenting the problem of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Manitoba and they stopped by Saturday to learn more about Jennifer's case, as Australia is starting to see the same kind of issue.

"Our program was very interested in coming and doing this story because we have a lot of similar issues in Australia," says Laura Murphy-Oates, a journalist with SPS Dateline in Australia. "Definitely not on the scale or with as much attention as the Canadian murdered and missing women issue has gotten, but looking deeper, we're massively over-represented as indigenous people in homicide figures, women are massively represented in violence and hospitalizations too, and there's not that much public awareness in Australia."

Murphy-Oates goes on to say there is a lot that can be learned from Manitoba including things like the Bear Clan in Winnipeg. Indigenous-led community patrol trying to keep women safe. Some special police task forces, and a few other initiatives that could be beneficial in Australia.

Some of the items up for silent auction at the fundraiser for Jennifer Catcheway. (Photo by Aaron Wilgosh)

"We're very excited about the crew from Australia taking notice of Jennifer's story," says Bernice Catcheway. "They got interested in Jennifer's story about three months ago and asked if they could do a story. I was more than happy about the idea. I really look forward to spreading the news that it's not only about Jennifer. She's just one of thousands that have gone missing. Also, there are other families that are hurting the same way we're hurting and there are some here even. I really wanted to get as many other people suffering like us out to help tell the story to this crew from Australia."

"I think part of what is so interesting about Jennifer's story is that Bernice and Wilfred have just not given up every year," explains Murphy-Oates. "That kind of passion and dedication from her parents is really a fascinating and heartbreaking story. The fact that they're still searching every year is something I think will translate to anyone watching in Australia, and around the world, that these parents just want to find their daughter."

Catcheway adds their search has never stopped, and they don't see it stopping unless they bring their daughter home.

"It's caused a lot of pain and anguish on our part, our home, our family. Our children have sort of stepped back from it all because they can't go another year like this. They asked us to stop and move on, and how can we? Our daughter is out there, so it's caused a lot of division in the home but you just can't stop. As long as we have breath, as long as we're able, my husband and I will keep going."

Wilfred Catcheway adds all of this is the reason they pushed for the public inquiry, and they're glad it's here, but they're still disappointed with the process.