The family of Gloria Gladue is preparing for a preliminary hearing of a man charged with second-degree murder and offering indignity to remains in Slave Lake starting Jan. 14, 2019.
Grant Arthur Sneesby had his case adjourned in the Wabasca-Desmarais Provincial Courthouse Sept. 20, according to Alberta Court Checks and is next scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Jan. 14-18. Sneesby has not yet made a plea to his charges.
Family and friends of Gloria Gladue, an Indigenous woman who went missing Oct. 9, 2015, once again marched to the court to sit in for Sneesby’s court appearance. Gladue’s daughter Nicole Gladue-Weesemat said the process has been exhausting.
“We want it to be over but that’s now how it goes. You see that on movies and you think it goes a lot faster, but it doesn’t,” she said. “Slow process and a long process and emotion and tension from our side.”
Sneesby, 68, was charged after the discovery of Gladue’s remains by RCMP in Manitoba June 28. His court case was also adjourned after appearances July 12, Aug. 22 and Sept. 13 in Wabasca with no pleas, all attended by the family of Gladue.
Gladue-Weesemat said it has been difficult for some of her family members to try to attend all of these court appearances. Some family members had planned to attend but found they could not, she added.
“It was just too much, and we all understood that,” she said. “But for me and a couple other family members and siblings, this is what we have to do.”
She said she thinks a plea will be made after the preliminary hearing and fully intends to attend. But the new location will likely mean fewer people can attend Sneesby’s next court appearance, she added.
Gladue-Weesemat said she had hoped proceedings would be kept in Wabasca, but indicated that’s not how the court system works. She added she would like any future trial to be held in Edmonton for easier travel for herself and her family.
“We feel it would be a lot better that way. But it’s not up to us,” she said.
Gladue-Weesemat and her family organized and attended events dedicated to Gloria Gladue and other missing and murdered Indigenous women throughout the three years Gladue’s whereabouts were unknown. She said she is planning a memorial and potluck dinner dedicated to Gladue over the Thanksgiving weekend.
“Something to show for her. Just something nice, despite all the sadness and the darkness of the court processes,” she said.
