Car wheels and documentary cameras were rolling along the Highway Of Tears this week.
Two students of journalism, director Tennessa Wild and videographer Alex Antoneshyn were travelling the infamous stretch of Highway 16 between Prince Rupert and Prince George, stopping along the way to look at the cases of missing and murdered women from over the years.
They were specifically interested in transportation availability and hitchhiking culture - two underlying factors in why so many vulnerable women were in a position to be violently apprehended by predators.
The students looked at the Highway Of Tears Symposium Report as their starting point, zeroing in on the recommendation that a transportation system be created to service the First Nations communities along the highway.
That 2006 report flowed from the forum held at CN Centre that brought together levels of government, law enforcement, community service agencies, grassroots advocates and, for the first time ever, the families of the many victims. A public dialogue was held and the report was the written representation of that discussion.
It said, "Many of the First Nation Communities (Reserves) along Highway 16 are situated many miles from town and city centers. A majority of these First Nation communities do not have the business, recreation, or other services that are available in the towns and cities. Poverty, coupled with the need to buy essential items such as food and clothing, requires travel from these communities to the nearest town or city."
The report also said in another excerpt, "The first and most significant contributing factor for many of the aboriginal women being on the highway is poverty. Young aboriginal women are placing themselves at risk by hitchhiking because they simply have no other transportation options. They have very little money, and vehicles are considered a luxury item that many families cannot afford. The percentage of families living at, or below, the poverty line in First Nations communities is disproportionately higher than any other population segment in Canadian society. Moreover, poverty in some aboriginal families is intergenerational and is persistently present through many generations of the families. Some predators know that profound poverty exists within First Nation family units."
Noting that only the thin Greyhound bus service exists as a public transit option anywhere between Prince Rupert and Prince George, the Victim Prevention section of the report's first recommendation was "That a shuttle bus transportation system be established between each town and city located along the entire length of Highway 16, defined as the 'The Highway of Tears.'"
"This is an accountability piece," said Wild, who is using this documentary as her Masters of Journalism thesis at the University of Regina. "It's looking at the B.C. government's inaction."
Wild is originally from Houston and is aware that a tendering process has been underway for many months to establish transportation links in these areas. No single transportation agency offered to take on the job, as far as has been publicly disclosed from this process so far. The east-west distance is more than 700 kilometres, and the north-south branches off that Highway 16 tree are legion, making transportation logistics a significant challenge.
The provincial government has publicly stated in the past that the preferred method of addressing people in poverty turning to hitchhiking as a travel alternative is by raising people out of poverty. Hence, intense focus was put on gaps in the system leading to imbalances in aboriginal education outcomes, economic enhancement projects and programs, etc.
Wild said these points weren't enough. "Definitely not. That definitely doesn't change the focus at all."
She intends to speak with the premier on camera and felt dodged so far, since the requests for an interview were made "months ago" to no avail so far.
The government member with the most literal hands on the issue is MLA John Rustad, being the elected member for the largest stretch of that Highway 16 span, a lifelong resident who knows of the Highway Of Tears cases from personal memory and is also the Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation. Wild said she felt sure she could get an interview with Rustad but said "he's not en pointe" for the purposes of her film and only the premier's presence would satisfy her.
When asked if the documentary was balanced journalism, in keeping with the university degree to which it is associated, she said it was not.
"Objectivity is a requirement in journalism," she said, "In documentary, there are allowances made for subjectivity."
Many documentaries - both filmed and written - have been done on the Highway Of Tears topic. The first was directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (winner of two Oscars and six Emmy Awards, named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world) in 2006. The most widely viewed was directed by Matt Smiley, co-produced by Carly Pope and Prince George's Mary Teegee in 2015. It was narrated by Nathan Fillion, made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is available on Netflix.
"Oh yes, I've seen all of them," said Wild. She considered hers to be different. The bulk of the past work was "documenting the history, the circumstances, but not evoking change. We are still at a stalemate on what these communities require, what these communities are asking for."
She and Antoneshyn both expressed gratitude and inspiration at all the support their project has received. The filming portion still needs some footage from Vancouver and Victoria, than it's into the post-production phase. Editing the raw footage into the story she wants to tell will be an onerous task, she said, but her confidence in the advocacy she is doing will be a sure guide.
The film's deadline for her thesis purposes is Aug. 15 for a complete 22-minute television-style program. After that - a process she anticipates being a year to 18 months - she will explore the possibilities of getting it into film festivals, online viewing platforms, or even expanding it to a longer form.
She especially hopes to return to the area to show the finished film in the places that helped create it.
"I want to spark more interest in this topic, help influence others to strive towards these goals," she said. "I hear a lot of 'I'm just one person, what can I do?' but we want to show people that you can do something as one person. This could be my life's work. It has that potential."
