Chantelle Alice Rose Bushie
Alias: Kim Star
Case reference: 2012020028
Missing since: December 1, 2007
Missing from: Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Date of Birth: April 2, 1991
Age at disappearance: 16 years
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Indigenous
Eye Color: Brown
Hair: Black, Short
Height: 165cm / 5ft 5in
Weight: 54kg / 119lb
Physical Build: Medium
Complexion: Dark
Notable: Chantelle has a tattoo of “V T” on left hand (her parent’s initials).
Details about Chantelle and her case: Chantelle Alice Rose Bushie was born on April 2, 1991 in Grande Prairie, Alberta, just north of Edmonton. She’s from the Dene Tha’ First Nation to the north, her childhood spent in a number of northern Alberta places, including Meander River, one of three Dene Tha’ communities.
Chantelle was the second of four kids born to Vivian, a single mother. She gave her first child up for adoption, then came Chantelle. In quick succession, she was followed by her brother and sister.
Chantelle did not have an easy childhood. She was sexually assaulted as a teenager. When she was 11 years old, her youngest sister Summer died in a horrible accident. Summer was on a wagon ride. She fell from the wagon and landed under the wheel. Sadly, Chantelle and her brother both saw it happen. Within a year, her mother Vivian moved the family to Grand Prairie. By the time Chantelle was 14, her relationship with her mother had fallen apart. She fell in with a bad crowd and started acting out, disappearing – sometimes for two or more days at a time. Chantelle had become pregnant at the age of 15. And when her baby girl was just two weeks old, in April 2007, Vivian remembers a support worker from Child Protective Services helping Vivian file for custody. By Christmas, Chantelle was gone at only 16 years old.
There’s a limit to what the police can do when they get calls from parents like Vivian. According to RCMP inspector Gibson Glavin, if a kid gets caught up in the wrong crowd, officers will “try and locate the person,” and they’ll try to “assess what their needs are.” The officer can provide advice—and can, if the person is under 18, as Chantelle was, decide whether to involve social services or another “supporting agency.”
Her mother had reported her as missing many times. The police would catch her, find her and bring her back home. Vivian remembers that whenever the police would pick up Chantelle and bring her home, it was inevitable that she would take off again.
Chantelle was not a criminal. When she was on the street she sometimes went by the name ‘Kim Star’. She was known to police because she would hang around with sex workers and drug dealers. Chantelle was neither. When Chantelle went missing, she was ‘known to be homeless’. The police said that she was known to lead a high risk lifestyle as well. That was simply the classification they gave her because of the people she kept company with.
If you have information on Chantelle’s case, please contact any of the following:
Grande Prairie RCMP: 780-830-5700
Reference Case#: 20091101748
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477)
Online at: https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tip
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Sources:
Canada’s Missing
CBC – Missing & Murdered: The Unsolved Cases of Indigenous Women and Girls
Doe Network
Vice
International Missing Persons Wiki
Someone Saw Something 
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