VICTORIANEWS Long walk
Former Victoria resident walks across Canada Page A14
LET US SHOW YOU HOW TO INCREASE YOUR USEABLE SPACE...
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Friday, October 30, 2015
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Where’s Emma? Emma Fillipoff still missing after three years Pamela Roth Victoria News
Don Denton/Victoria News
Witching hour An inflatable witch is anchored in mid-flight around the old city clock tower on Douglas Street for the Halloween season. This weekend is daylight savings so clocks will roll back one hour.
Whale watching community in shock Kendra Wong Victoria News
Victoria’s whale watching community is shocked and saddened after a whale watching vessel capsized near Tofino, killing five people last week. On Sunday, the MV Leviathan II, operated by Jamie’s Whaling Station, was on a whale watching expedition when it sank west of Vargas Island. Twenty-one people were sent to
hospital and one person is still missing. According to the B.C. Coroner’s Service, Katie Taylor, 29, who lived in Whistler, Jack Slater, 76, who lived in Toronto, Nigel Francis Hooker, David Wyndham Thomas and his 18-yearold son Stephen David Thomas from England were killed in the accident. The tragedy has left Victoria’s tight-knit whale watching community saddened. “Devastated, dumbfounded, shocked.
All of the above, any adjective you can come up with to describe ‘did that really just happen’?” said Brett Soberg, co-owner and operator of Eagle Wing Tours, who heard about the incident on social media. “We offer our condolences to the staff at Jamie’s and the families that are going through this tragedy.” PLEASE SEE: Freak accident, Page A3
For the last three years, Shelley Fillipoff has often found herself feeling sick and distraught. The items that belong to her daughter Emma are packed in boxes and stored at her Perth, Ontario home. They’re a constant reminder that Emma has now been missing for three years. Consisting of books, clothing, shells, rocks, art work, several pieces of writing and a journal that paints a picture of a mentally distraught young woman, Shelley hasn’t gone through the boxes since they were packed and moved from Victoria to Ontario in the summer of 2013. Eight months prior, she was supposed to be moving Emma back home, but she’s still nowhere to be found. “I felt that having her things close to me would make me feel better and it actually has made me feel worse,” said Shelley with a shaky
voice. “When I look at the boxes I think to myself, this is what remains of Emma?” Described as a free spirited intelligent woman with a love for life, Emma left Ontario in the fall of 2011 and headed for Victoria to experience life on the West Coast. She was 25 at the time and had no home or job lined up prior. Her plan was to figure things out when she arrived. The five-foot-five Emma with long brown hair was a private person who shared little about her new life with her family back home. Her main communication was through emails with the odd phone call in between. “Everything was always wonderful and beautiful, life couldn’t be better,” said Shelley, noting Emma was a master at hiding any problems. “I know she was couch surfing and did all kinds of different jobs. She really wanted to pursue her art and her writing, even though she had worked as a chef. I think the plan was to make enough money to live on for a while, pursue her passions and go back to work when she needed to.” PLEASE SEE: Mom won’t give up, Page A3
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