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

Canada: “Highway of Tears” - Dispatches PBS

August 18, 2006

By Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Highway sign showing message about the missing women.

A sign along Highway 16 marks the plight of the missing women.

Every spring when the snow melts, Sally Gibson organizes a search team to look for her niece, Lana Derrick, who went missing in October 1995. “It’s a ritual,” she says. Once the weather warms up, Gibson gathers her friends and encourages them to walk the desolate roads behind her house.

She’s not alone. Families all along Canada’s Highway 16 — a 425-mile stretch of road that cuts through pine forests, rivers and remote Indigenous reserves in central British Columbia — are searching for their missing loved ones. There was Delphine Nikals who went missing in 1990; Ramona Wilson who disappeared in 1994; and last year, Tamara Chipman disappeared.

The families have dubbed the road the “Highway of Tears,” and Amnesty International estimates that 32 aboriginal Canadian women have gone missing in the last three decades along the highway, which runs from Prince Rupert to Prince George.
Gibson, whose niece has been missing for 11 years, refuses to accept that Lana is dead. “She is not dead to us, she is just missing.”

Gibson, whose niece has been missing for 11 years, refuses to accept that Lana is dead. “She is not dead to us, she is just missing,” Gibson says. Local police stopped pursuing the case a long time ago.

With eyes filling with tears, Gibson points to the green trailer where Lana grew up. “We all lived on this reserve together,” she says, as it begins to drizzle. She zips up her cotton jacket and offers to give me a tour of her neighborhood.

As we walk around, it becomes clear that the reserve, similar to Indian reservations in the United States, is very different from other parts of Canada. Here, aboriginal Canadians live in stark poverty. A blue Ford pick-up truck with three of its tires missing is parked next to an abandoned tin boat. A stray dog sniffs through piles of garbage that no one comes to collect. A young girl in denim shorts roller blades past a pile of plastic bags and crushed beer cans.
Abandoned cars and debris on the aboriginal reservation.

An abandoned car on the aboriginal reserve.

It’s a side of Canada that many don’t see. The unemployment rate in this part of British Columbia is more than 90 percent. People here are suspicious of outsiders and feel ignored by the Canadian government.

When Lana went missing, her family contacted the Canadian police to file a missing person’s report. “They gave us 72 hours; after that they said we were on our own,” says Gibson. “To us, prejudice is alive and well in Canada, against our people. And every time a young woman goes missing along the highway they ignore it, because it’s not one of theirs — it’s an aboriginal girl,” she says.

In October 2004, Amnesty International released a report titled Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada. The report linked high levels of violence against Indigenous women and girls across Canada to deep-rooted marginalization and discrimination. “Not enough is being done to ensure that police forces consistently respond swiftly and effectively when Indigenous families report a missing sister or daughter,” the report stated. “And not enough is being done to ensure that Indigenous women and girls are not put in situations of extreme vulnerability in the first place.”
“The problem is that aboriginal women are seen as prostitutes, as dispensable women by Caucasian Canadians,” says Lucy Glaim, an aboriginal youth justice advocate.

Driving down the desolate highway, I see posters of the missing girls tacked to utility poles. In gas stations, family members have posted pleas to help them find their lost little girls. At the town of Burns Lake, I see a sign that says, “Highway of Tears: In memory of the missing women.” Every town seems to have been affected.

“The problem is that aboriginal women are seen as prostitutes, as dispensable women by Caucasian Canadians,” says Lucy Glaim, an aboriginal youth justice advocate. Glaim’s sister, Delphine Nikals, went missing in 1995. Her family has not heard of her since.

Glaim acts as a facilitator between young aboriginal offenders, the tribal elders and the Canadian police. She says the police stereotype aboriginal Canadians and look at them as troublemakers. “If the Canadian police see us as disposable people, how are we going to get the respect of the Caucasian community?” asks Glaim.

Many of the small towns that dot the highway have their own theories about the missing women. Some say a serial killer is on the loose. Others think it’s one of their own, a person who knows the community and the women well. Since the Canadian police routinely have no suspects and make no arrests in connection with the disappearances, the rumors continue to thrive.
Mother holds up picture of missing daughter.

Correy Millwater, Tamara’s mother, holds an early photograph of her daughter who disappeared in 2005.

“I don’t think a serial killer is on the loose,” says Glaim. “It’s easier for our society to lay the blame on one person, but I believe that there are multiple murderers out there who are racist and are targeting aboriginal women.”

Further down the highway, in the fishing town of Terrace, known for its salmon, Tom Chipman is putting up posters of his 22-year-old daughter Tamara, who went missing in September 2005. Tamara’s two-year-old son Jaden walks around with his mother’s photograph tucked under his arm. Tamara’s mother spent days in the hospital after her daughter’s disappearance.

“I just couldn’t look for my baby daughter in ditches and side roads,” she tells me. “How can a mother bring herself to do that?”

Once the posters are up, the Chipmans gather around a makeshift outdoor campfire to discuss their next strategy and to reminisce.

“Tamara was a headstrong girl, she knew how to defend herself. So whoever took her was strong and knew what he was doing,” says Tom Chipman.

One of Tamara’s aunts points out that the Greyhound bus, the only public transportation from Prince Rupert to Prince George, is cutting back on services. “Unemployment is high in aboriginal communities, there is a lack of public transportation, and now they are cutting back on the Greyhound bus service. How do they expect people to travel? Not everyone has cars,” she says.
Father pins missing person poster on a gas station window.

Tom Chipman puts up a missing persons poster of his daughter Tamara at a local gas station.

Another aunt reveals a secret she has kept hidden from her family. Many years ago, while hitchhiking, she was picked up by a local truck driver who tried to rape her. “He put his hand on my thigh and tried to rip my clothes off,” she says. “But I bit his hand and opened the car door and ran as fast as I could. I never reported it because I didn’t think the police would do anything about it,” she tells the group.

When I speak with Staff Sgt. John Ford, who handles media relations for the Royal Canadian Police, he tells me relations are good between the aboriginal community and the police.

“The message we are getting from the families is that they are satisfied with our investigation,” he says. “They know we are doing our job to the best we can.”

Ford denies this is a race issue but more the logistics of patrolling such a desolate area. “The area we are talking about is vast, it’s rugged; witnesses are non-existent. It’s as if these women have vanished into thin air,” he says.
Reporter talks with the police spokesperson.

Reporter Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy talks to Staff Sgt. John Ford.

While the police make little headway, local private investigator Ray Michalko, a former police officer with the Canadian mounted police, has started his own investigation. He has spent time with the families retracing the last steps of many of the victims. Now, he routinely gets tips from locals who would rather talk to him than go to the police.

Michalko has driven the stretch of Highway 16 and the numerous back roads that lead into the woods from the highway. “The terrain is difficult; the bodies could be dumped anywhere,” he says. “But that’s no excuse for not finding out who is behind these murders.”

Despite his ex-cop status, Michalko says the police aren’t doing enough. “It takes most people a lot of thought and internalizing to get up the courage to call their local police with a tip,” he says. “When they finally do make the call, they need to be made to feel that their call was appreciated and that they are making a difference by calling the police.”

While many families still search for their missing daughters, Matilda Wilson, who lives in the town of Smithers, visits the grave of her daughter Ramona, whose body was found along the highway sexually assaulted and strangled more than 12 years ago. Ramona was 14 when she went missing.
Mathilda Wilson at her child’s grave.

Matilda Wilson at the graveside of her 14-year-old daughter Ramona.

“They took the light of my life away from me,” Wilson says. “Ramona was a bundle of joy, she made us all laugh, she was so young. Why her?”

On April 9, 1995, Wilson received a call from the local police. They wanted her to identify her daughter’s belongings. The 10-month search had come to an end.

“Someone asked me that if my daughter had blonde hair and blue eyes, would her killers be found?” says Wilson. “I think they would. Smithers is a small town and the police have to only ask questions and do a little investigation and they will come up with clues.”

Keeping attention on the disappearances, the Chipman family organized a walk from Prince Rupert to Prince George earlier this year to honor all the missing women along the highway. They walked the 425 miles through rain and snow. Family members of other missing women joined in. They walked for 20 days, urging each other to cover 20 miles a day. In every town people cheered them on. They arrived in Prince George on March 30, where a symposium was organized to discuss what families and the police could do to make the highway safer.

In Smithers, local artists have also put together an art show to commemorate the missing women. Alongside a painted facemask of one of the young women, someone had scribbled:

I dreamt I held you in my arms, safe and warm
I woke to tears falling silently.
My heart is heavy and burdened
smothered with grief so hard to bear.
Please return to me and let me gently touch your cheek
if only in my dreams.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a regular contributor to FRONTLINE/World. Click on the links to watch her Rough Cut report about the devastating earthquake in Pakistan last year, and her 2004 broadcast “Pakistan: On A Razor’s Edge” about the country’s 50-year dispute with India over Kashmir.
share your reactions

REACTIONS

(anonymous)
My hope is to see these families find peace one day. I drive highway 16 often. I know girls hitch-hike often. I only ask:”Where are the girls, oh highway?
Where did they go?
Why oh highway, do I depend on you to bring me home?”

Helen Neilson - Mobile, Alabama
Very informative and heart wrenching article.I will keep all the missing in my prayers.

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Now, as a white woman, I find some of your remarks rather nasty. This has nothing to race, or maybe everything do to do with race. I am not a racist woman and I have friends from all races because I don’t believe that one person is better than or a group of people is better than the other. Remember please, Nicole Hoar is not of aboriginal decent, but yet she is missing too. I know, I know: one Caucasian, out of what, 17 aboriginal women - big whoop, right? What are 14 and 15 year olds doing out on the highway anyway? Women go missing in Saskatchewan all the time too (Cree, Lakota, Dakota, Dene); it is just more apparent I suppose on good ol’ Highway 16. Better yet, look around the world; it happens everywhere. Like one woman said, why are kids not taught about the dangers of hitchhiking? And yes, it is unfortunate about all of these young girls/women that have gone missing. I know it seems like I don’t have a heart, but there is only so much one person can do, and so many do try. I am glad someone threw a rock in the water; if only someone would keep throwing them in or the ripples will cease and all those people who have invested time into making us aware of what is happening will have been started for what? A pat on the back and verbal, you tried? I don’t think that is good enough. If the government will not do anything, what the hell are we sitting on our butts for? We should be adding stones to the water.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
These missing girls were not women (yet)! No girl, whether she is a child, youth or an adult, should ever have to be eliminated from reality because of the colour of her skin, her race or the fact that she is female. Where is our humanity when we don’t realize that every missing child/youth is our responsibility? As citizens of this great country, we owe it to each other to look out for the safety of all our children/youth, not just some! Thank you for your expertly written article. My heart and prayers go out to the families who are missing their loved ones.

(anonymous)
Hi, Sharmeen, I met you with Gladys Radek. I am truly touched by your article. You are the first journalist who has touched on our truth as First Nations Peoples, when it comes to the injustice of how we have been treated for the last 500 years. The missing and murdered women of Canada is only one small indication of how we are totally disregarded and looked at as displaced people in our own land. I’m bringing this back to a kidnapping that happened a few months ago here in Vancouver. This young man who came from a very wealthy family was kidnapped and I tell you I have never seen so much mayhem in my life. There were 200 police officers involved. But when it came to our murdered, missing women of the downtown eastside of Vancouver, especially when the families tried to report them missing, they were totally disregarded because of their life style. To me it shouldn’t matter. They are someone’s child. I have been working in the downtown eastside as a front line worker for about 22 years…I believe the police should be held accountable for their lack of response…I would like to send my prayers to all of our missing women’s families. You are also in our prayers.Bernie (Skundaal ) Williams

Denis Simpson - Oakland, CA
It is unfortunate to me that those who claim to be civilised, we the indigenous people of the world are still waiting for them to evolve, and find their humanity. Indeed racism is bred by fear, fear of becoming human, and humanity begins with loving one’s self.

(anonymous)
Reading and hearing about my sisters and brothers missing on the streets or moving on into the spirit world too early before we expect them to always saddens me. There are times that I wonder if this is a reflection of how our guests (Caucasians) treat their own. If so then, I think their values are evil!

Carol Martin - Surrey, B.C.
I was deeply touched and felt the heaviness within my heart. I work in the heart of the downtown eastside in Vancouver and everyday we see the end result of the effects of the residential school. My heart goes out to all those who have survived the horrendous years and to those who continue on carrying with them pain and suffering; I commend you on your strength and courage. My heart and prayers go out to all those who have gone missing and to the families, I send you prayers. I pray for racism to stop, to protect our elders, women, men and children. I pray for our people to find their way home, to utilize their culture, to build a strong solid family. No family deserves to go through the heartaches, pain and suffering of a lost child, woman, man. I am here for anyone who needs support. I work in the heart of the Vancouver area, where homelessness is high, addiction is visible, health and safety of our people needs to be addressed, where racism and prejudices exist, where violence is normalized. The women, men and children who went missing, you will forever be in my prayers for the safe return home to your loved ones.

Stephanie Lovatt - Victoria, BC
Saying that a 14 or 15 year old child is a woman is a way of saying that it is not really so bad. It indicates that there is some understandable rationale involved in woman slaying. It is a system that protects violent men by telling two lies at the same time.

William Dishner - Graham, NC
Young women, alone, draw perverts like bad meat draws maggots. Well written article, and I offer my prayer for the families’ strength and the perp to be caught.

Kansas City, MO
It is a disgrace to all humanity that in the 21st Century such inequity still exists. To know that your life and the life of your family are worth nothing in the eyes of governmental bodies must leave one bitter, enraged and frustrated. The responsibility for the persecution of indigenous people falls upon each and every one of us. It will only cease once we all take a stand against it. It is all very well to shout from our armchairs about the demeaning and dreadful way the relatives of these missing women and children are being treated. If they were our missing relatives, we would be screaming in the faces of our representatives for action. Isn’t it time we started?

(anonymous)
I grew up in the Kitiamat/Terrace area going to school with Tamara. Yes, it is heart wrenching that Tamara is still missing and who ever else went missing, and yes Terrace, Kitiamat, Prince Rupert, Kitwanga and so on and so forth are remote areas, mountains, bush, and of course rivers course throughout that part of B.C. And yes, transportation may be dwindling but how about teaching kids the dangers of hitchhiking; most of these women hitchhike alone - what is more dangerous then a woman “thumbing it” alone? It is not that these women are picked on because of race; it is because a woman alone is no threat to a man or a group of men, especially a woman who has been walking for five hours, who is tired and would rather hitch a ride rather then turn back around and walk the five hours back. And yes, I have hitchhiked in that area, and yes I am kicking myself in the bottom because it could have been me instead. And I always remember that.

Brenda Wilson - Smithers, Canada
Great article! I would just like to say that there are many versions of this story and the facts start to get mixed up along the way. Ramona was not 14; she was 16 years old. To anyone else wanting to write about the story should be sure that their facts are straight. Thank you. I am Ramona’s sister and my purpose on this earth is to keep her memory alive and to keep our future generations safe from the boogey man!

Therese - Napa, CA
My heart feels burdened for the families of the missing women and the surrounding communities. The community seems to have really drawn together in support of one another. Be proud of that. What an awful way to create this kind of atmosphere. My prayer will be that the truth of these missing women will surface and there will be not one shred of doubt of who is involved. My prayer also is may the Lord Jesus sustain the families in his loving arms of comfort and that he would protect their minds and hearts. The poem is beautiful and so true.

(anonymous)
I do not understand how 14 year olds and 15 year olds can be called women? These are child murders!

(anonymous)
I loved the poem best. Thanks to whoever penned those words, they must know how awful losing a child is.

gladys radek - vancouver, british columbia
From the bottom of my heart, Sharmeen, I am so greatful for people like you. Thank you for addressing the real issues surrounding our missing women, not only in northern B.C., but all across Canada. This article hit my heart felt feelings right on the spot. I am Tamara Chipman’s auntie and have been searching for her through media internet and personal resources. I have advocated for her through the “Highway of Tears” symposium, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Center in Vancouver, United Native Nations, National Aboriginal Women Association, World Peace Forum, World Forum in Geneva, Amnesty International, Chief Phil Fontaine and many more international organizations. To me, Tamara is not disposable. She is a free spirited young girl who is loved by a very large family. She is the young mother of a beautiful young boy, who resembles her. I met him for the first time at the “Highway of Tears walk in March 2005. I looked at Jayden and felt the pain in my brother’s heart, when he looked at his grandson. The pain of missing his daughter was so strong because this little man looked just like Tamara, when she was a baby. My heart went out to him. He loves her so much.I don’t want any more Tamara’s going missing, but unfortunately, there are still young girls going missing. At least 3 more were added to the list since the symposium.For more information on these cases, the site is www.highwayoftears.ca…
Thank you again for the great journalism. Prayers for safety to all. Keep your children close and always tell them you love them.
All my Relations,
Gladys Radek
Wet su wit ‘en Nation

saira qureshi - nyc, ny
Heart rending, inspirational and motivating. A brave work of accurate journalism. You touch upon feminism, social justice, equity, honesty and state the strength and hope of the loved ones, in the face of whoever, whatever was or is the reason for the disappearance of these girls and women…A lot has to be done, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Well done, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy!

Shelby Raymond - Terrace, BC
Excellent short article! Sharmeen caught the essence of the issues facing First Nations, Inuit and Metis families whose children are missing.

Shaheen Junaid - Pointe-Claire, Quebec
Amazing story, well researched, very true. Racism STILL exists although the least in Canada. We just have to look to the world to confirm that. I hope this world can get over and look beyond colour, caste and creed. We should all vow for a world free of racism. Good luck.