I watched the latest doc pertaining to the Highway of Tears. There are so many issues intertwined victimizing the young women, mostly hitchhiking being the danger zone. I grew up on Highway 16 in Telkwa. I had to hitchhike many times as a means of transportation.
I am also a Wetsuweten woman who was marginalized by my own people for being non-status. I was marginalized from the Caucasian world for being a native woman.
At ages five and 11, I was sexually violated. I reported this to the RCMP and the charges were dropped in 2005. I will never forget the defeat I felt - at the time I was a director for The National Aboriginal Nurses Association-Quebec.
I am a registered nurse of 21 years having worked in the remote north of Canada to the inner city hospitals of the deep south of Louisiana. Growing up in northern B.C. made me a strong person cognitively.
But the undertones incurred continue.
In 2012, I went to northern B.C. for a family reunion. En route back home, we were passed on a double solid line and my car was totaled. My son-in-law was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. The occupants of the other vehicle drove away (according to ICBC, they weren't insured). To make matters worse, when I was approached by the RCMP constable, I was insulted. I feel so badly that my Mohawk grandson who comes from a strong nation had to endure this accident and witness that.
When I told that constable I am an RN he said he wanted to protect himself and started to record our conversation.My complaint to the RCMP Public Complaint Commission was fruitless. Today I face a huge lawsuit from the people who passed me on a double solid and drove away from the scene unharmed after appearing to have fun visiting with the "witnesses" on the pavement.
As an educated native woman with high esteem, I wasn't heard nor was I held in regard. So how can a young native woman with no self-esteem feel safe approaching a constable about domestic violence? We have amazing constables working in the communities, but the ones who don't like their job and socialize only with Caucasians in communities with a native majority make it difficult for the many that are there for the people.
Aligned with the lack of regard we receive from the aforementioned sector is our very own people. Our people need to be accountable for hurting one another. We have predators in our own communities walking free and the abused are being ostracized for speaking up. How do we know the person(s) responsible for these disappearances aren't one of our own?
Your kindness to the downtrodden soul will go far. Some of us are like you and don't live on a reservation. Others are part of a very bad structure implemented by your government called the Indian Act - a cycle of violence and oppression.
Instead of more money being given to unaccountable leaders in our communities, try basic humanity in our interactions with one another.
Very basic and powerful kindness - and that includes giving your sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter, and a "ride to town." We don't need funding to be kind.
Cynthia George Taha
Bellingham, Wash.
