Throughout this week, Carrier Sekani Family Services is hosting the Highway of Tears Symposium at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre.
The event brings together the family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, advocates, Elders, community members, the RCMP and Government, discussing the 33 Recommendations that came out of the original Symposium, held 20 years ago.
The Symposium has the theme of “Where We Were, Where We Are, and Where We Are Going,” not just commemorating the anniversary of the original symposium, but recommitting to the 33 Recommendations.
Carrier Sekani Family Services’ Child and Family Services CAO Mary Teegee says while many things have changed in the last 20 years, it’s important to know what has happened in our history so it doesn’t repeat.
“We need to know what happened 20 years ago, why we had the symposium, what we’ve learned from that, and what we can do better, and also to make sure that we’re getting really good solutions,” she said.
“We also need to look at where we’re at today, what have we achieved, and then also to look at those initial 33 recommendations, and then build on those 33 recommendations moving forward.”
Teegee said awareness of the issue has increased greatly over the last 20 years.
“In 2006, there was not a lot of people knowing that this was an issue, never mind in the north, but across Canada,” she said.
“The Highway of Tears, really, I think, was the jumping off point for the National Inquiry for people across the country to be really well aware that missing and murdered Indigenous women was a thing that was happening in a first-world country.”
In addition to awareness, Teegee said some progress has been made.
“We’ve had in the North, for example, the cell service, we have cell coverage between Prince George and Prince Rupert, which Rogers is the one that really came to the forefront,” she said.
“It really shows how industry could actually make fundamental good change, and really putting their mouth to where their money is to reconciliation, so I think there has been some good things that have happened, but definitely there’s a long, long way to go.”
Teegee said we still need to look at systemic issues at the root of the issue.
“That’s what we need to look at, and those are stemming from the impacts of colonization, the impacts of residential school, and we need to address those factors,” she said.
“Issues such as, there’s the childhood mental health issues, there’s the lack of services in the north for mental health, you certainly see that in the streets with the opioid crisis. There’s needs to be a more concerted effort to deal with that.”
Teegee said we haven’t gone far enough to address why Indigenous women and girls are vulnerable.
“We haven’t even started scratching the surface,” she said.
“There is I think good examples of how good things and great things happen when we work together and when governments are committed to doing what is right.”
Teegee says one thing to be proud of in the North is the Highway 16 Transportation Action Plan, born out of the Highway of Tears Recommendations report.
“So we have buses that are $5 to take them from a smaller community into Prince George, the bigger centre, to go to their appointments, to go to university, to do all of that kind of stuff,”
“That is really an amazing system of transportation we’ve been developing, certainly there’s more that we need to get done, but it is an exemplar for not only B.C., but for the rest of Canada.”
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