Road to racism - Prince George Citizen

October 11, 2006

Northern B.C. has a long way to go before it can call itself squeaky clean when it comes to racism.

That revelation might not surprise many people, particularly those belonging to visible minorities, but the evidence put forth by a documentary filmmaker visiting the region is startling and paints a less-than-flattering portrait.

Filmmaker/reporter Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy of Toronto has completed a documentary on the murders and disappearances of mostly aboriginal women along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert — the so-called Highway of Tears. Chinoy has borrowed the name for the title of her 21-minute film, which is scheduled for broadcast on TV in Europe and on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera International TV service. Screenings are also scheduled in Vancouver, Toronto and Smithers, but not yet in Prince George.

Discussing the production of the film with reporter Frank Peebles in Tuesday’s Citizen, Chinoy was struck by the overt bigotry she encountered in the region.

Chinoy said she was asked more than once why she would bother to film a documentary on the murdered and missing women when most of them were native prostitutes or drug addicts out hitchhiking, as if they were asking to die a violent death.

“Would they say the same thing if 10 or 12 local white girls were raped or murdered or disappeared on the same road?” asked Chinoy

The question hangs heavy, and the answer is obvious.

Chinoy enjoys a detachment from “white” Canada. She is Pakistani-Canadian and only moved to Toronto from New York last year. She was also surprised no other documentary on the Highway 16 murders was in the works.

The sad fact is, the prejudice Chinoy encountered along Highway 16 is no different than what she would have found almost anywhere in Canada.

Chinoy’s film will, it is hoped, change the narrow, callous mindset of those who questioned her reasons for creating it and the relevance it would have.

To that end, Chinoy focused not on the murders and disappearances and who is responsible, but on the women and their families left behind.

Her aim is to present people who laugh, who cry, who ache and who love their children as much as anyone loves theirs.

“I wanted to bring these girls back to life, to some extent, and portray the feelings of the families who have to wonder every day, ‘Is my child right there in that ditch?’ and everyone they pass on the street: ‘Is this the person who murdered my little girl?’” said Chinoy, whose reporting has earned her awards around the world.

The filmmaker attempts to show us that these women were not disposable objects.

We can only hope the film is screened throughout northern B.C. and wipes out destructive, preconceived ideas. One problem, however, is that those who cultivate those notions may be the least likely to see it.

But if it leads to a better understanding and greater empathy in this region for the plight of those left behind, it will have achieved more than perhaps even the filmmaker imagined.

– Editor Dave Paulson