The death of an Inuit woman who was murdered while writing her thesis on missing and murdered indigenous women grabbed the nation's attention earlier this year and now her sister is completing her life’s work.

Loretta Saunders was three months pregnant when she was murdered in February and her remains were found along a New Brunswick highway.

Two people who were renting her apartment are charged with the crime.

Saunders' younger sister, Delilah, lives in Calgary now and moved here for a new start.

“It was just really hard to be in a city where I had only moved there to be closer to my sister and not being able to come to terms with it, still kind of expecting to see her sometimes and it was really difficult so I decided to come somewhere where I had never been before and just try and start over,” said Delilah.

The 22-year-old hopes to combine Loretta’s work with her own to help with her healing and to inspire others.

“When Loretta was alive she shared a lot of this information with me, the statistics, and the reality of it, but it never hit me. Meeting with other families, of course is very hard, but it also gives me a sense of strength to be able to bond with other families and be able to help make change and try and make an impact,” she said. “With my parent’s permission I will be using her thesis and her research, her research and other academic works in a book that I’m writing that will be based on my experience in losing my best friend and my mentor.”

Idle No More Calgary says the Saunders' story is an example of why a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is needed. 

“Canadians are standing up and saying enough is enough and why can't we bring justice to these women who were murdered and are missing?” said Chantal Chagnon from Idle No More.

“It is a very complex issue. It is extremely complex and I definitely think it is worth looking through the data and looking through the sociological reasons as to why these women are going missing and if there’s anything that we can do,” said Delilah.  

For now, Delilah hopes her words can bring change and support to those who need it.

“I will definitely be finishing her work for her, while she couldn’t,” she said. “I think she would be really proud. She’d be really happy.”

For more information, see Delilah’s blog “A Homicide Survivor's Journey Through Grief“ HERE.

(With files from Bridget Brown)