"She Never Came Back"

A woman speaks out, takes on the state, meets a tragic end

“You’re going to protect me, right?”

Adrienne Anichinapéo’s voice trembled as she recounted Cynthia’s plea. Their friendship went back 40 years, to a time when they’d chase each other around the schoolyard and “raise hell” in the woods.

It wasn’t easy growing up in Kitcisakik, a settlement of cabins carved into the boreal forest. Back then, they lived off…