Missing Persons Act ‘Good Step’, But Not Enough
Prince George, BC – The Tribal Chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council says the provincial government's proposed Missing Persons Act is a step in the right direction, but Terry Teegee says a federal inquiry into missing and murdered women is long overdue.
"I have a missing relative,"says Teegee. "Ramona Wilson – she went missing in 1994 and we found her body a year later. It's an excruciating thing to go through – to have a family member missing or murdered. Anything to expedite the issue of looking for missing women helps."
16-year-old Ramona Wilson of Smithers was last seen in June of 1994, her body was discovered near the airport in that community almost one year later. Wilson is one of the 18 girls and women officially missing or murdered along the so-called Highway of Tears.
In 2006, a Highway of Tears symposium came out with 33 recommendations aimed at preventing and addressing some of the issues that are putting women at risk. While the final report of the BC Missing Women Commission of Inquiry released six years later mainly focused on missing and murdered women in the Lower Mainland, it, once again, called on the provincial government to implement those recommendations.
Last week, the Province took steps to follow through with some of the Commission's recommendations aimed at improving police access to information that may hold clues to the whereabouts of vulnerable or at-risk individuals with the introduction of the Missing Persons Act. If passed, the act will define a 'missing person', 'vulnerable missing person', and a 'person at risk'. The Ministry of Justice says when there is an emergency, such as a risk of serious harm to a missing person or a concern that records could be destroyed, the act will authorize officers to directly demand access to those records.
"This legislation acknowledges that access to relevant records can sometimes mean the difference between life and death," says Suzanne Anton. "Our proposed legislation not only meets the intent of Commissioner (Wally) Oppal's recommendations, but it also strikes a critical balance between disclosing and protecting information, with the safety and welfare of vulnerable people as its paramount goal."
Terry Teegee says the proposed act, coupled with the federal government's announcement last week that it will create a national missing persons DNA databank, are positives, but they don't go far enough. "I think we need to go further and implement more preventative measures – that's what we've always been advocating for," says Teegee. Many of the recommendations in the Highway of Tears report focused on prevention and most still haven't been implemented. We're seeking the resources to do that."
"We still want to see a federal inquiry," says the CSTC Tribal Chief. "It's not just Highway 16. New statistics that we're getting are, I believe, over 800 missing and murdered women across Canada that are unaccounted for. We need to get at the root problems of all missing First Nations people – figuring out a strategy or a plan to mitigate all these issues of violence against women and missing and murdered women is something that should have happened a long time ago."
Comments
Recommendations sound good but have no ” meat”. Hundreds if not thousands of people gave been killed after safety recommendations have been made for cars, planes, trains etc. until they are made a law it’s just publicity.
And after they are made law there is still the matter of rigorous no non-sense enforcement. Without that problems will still be there.
There are still people who don’t wear seatbelts and some still hitchhike, for instance.
Very true.. Look at everyone still using cell phones in their cars…
Education is where it should start.
No government measure will ever be ‘enough’ until people stop engaging in risky behaviour.
Education should be one of the efforts but it goes only so far.
The cost of increased education can be paid for with the heavy fines collected from those who get caught engaging in unlawful risky behaviour.
Been here, done that!
blog/view/28906/1/give+'gas'+to+highway+of+tears+shuttle,+say+ndp
Not interested in getting on this merry-go-round discussion again, besides… I promised someone I would not comment on this subject anymore :-(
When I grew up, my parents taught me that hitch hiking was unsafe. They told me that if they ever caught me hitchhiking, or heard that I was hitchhiking, I wouldn’t be able to sit for a week after the swift kick that I would receive to my butt.
Ok, so they weren’t really serious about kicking my butt, but they certainly instilled in me their opinion of me ever hitchhiking. It was called parental responsibility!
I’d have a bit more respect for Terry Teegee and other Chiefs if they spent more time within their communities, speaking to their band members, meeting with parents and children to try to encourage a family dialogue about the dangers of hitchhiking and the real fear that parents have for their children with regards to hitchhiking.
In no way whatsoever do I wish to diminish or downplay the tragedies that have occurred and the loss that families have suffered. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone! But we can never do enough to protect children, teenagers and young adults and this starts at home, not with any government. Families need to sit together and talk about the dangers that lurk outside of the family home and the local community. I wouldn’t hitchhike because my mother made it crystal clear to me how devastated she would be if something ever happened to me! But sadly nowadays, no sooner do we learn of another tragedy, do we see young people out hitchhiking!
Some people think that we need government to fix this tragedy from the top down, but we need to work to prevent these tragedies in the first place, from the bottom up! As JohnnyBelt said, No government measure will ever be “enough” until people stop engaging in risky behavior.
Bad things happen to good people, everyday!
As horrible as it is, bad people, dangerous people will always exist. Putting oneself in harm’s way will often result in harm. So how do we encourage young people to stay away from “harm”? I honestly think it starts, at home with parents and children talking, together!
One of the best “victim blaming” comments I have ever read! Congratulations Hart Gal.
Peeps, in no way was I trying to blame the victim!! If you actually read my comments, you will see that I do not wish to diminish or downplay the tragedies that have occurred and the loss that families have suffered.
I hope that I NEVER ever have to suffer the loss that these families have suffered and my heart goes out to the mothers who go to sleep every night, never knowing what happened to their child!
I am not as self-righteous as you are and I am not suggesting at all that I have the answers or solutions to these types of tragedies. But government cannot and will not ever be able to fix these types of tragedies!
We MUST do our best to teach our young people about the cold cruel world so that they are better able to make decisions to keep themselves safe!! Sometimes that might take a swift kick to the backside so to speak!
You suggest that I am blaming the victims. That’s ridiculous but I’ve come to expect ridiculous from you!!
Who do you blame? The big bad Government? How about the big bad Businesses??
How about we blame the perpetrators of these horrible tragedies??
After we lay the blame where it belongs, on the perpetrator, then we need to get on with the job of teaching our loved ones about life and the dangers that exist so that they make the best decisions regarding their own safety!
Bad people will always exist! That’s a fact of life!! Bad people will always exist and will always do bad things if and when the opportunity to do so arrives!! That’s also a fact of life!!
So, let’s try to encourage safe behaviours in our children so that the bad people have fewer chances to do bad things!!
In closing, Peeps, you’re a moron!!
Hart Guy states; “Putting oneself in harm’s way will often result in harm. So how do we encourage young people to stay away from “harm”? I honestly think it starts, at home with parents and children talking, together!”
How else are we to interpret your comment? It’s the victims fault for hitchhiking, if not then it is their families (parents) who should have warned them?
Talk is cheap Hart Guy, the report states that the main reason these women put themselves at risk in hitchhiking on that highway is POVERTY!!!
Do us a favour and google “highway of tears recommendation report” then read pages 18 and 19.
The Highway of Tears Recommendation Report can contain all of the politically correct rhetoric that it wants to, but even if all of the recommendations were enacted, bad people will still exist and bad things might happen to those that put themselves in harms way!!
Are you really that stupid that you would actually think that if all of the recommendations contained in the Highway of Tears Report were enacted, young people would stop hitchhiking? Of course you are that stupid!
Everybody is so darned scared to be politically incorrect! We need to worry less about being politically correct and we need to worry more about doing the right things for our children and young people!!
How many more lives will be lost while we put our faith in recommendations that likely won’t stop young people from hitchhiking and won’t stop bad people from preying upon them??
Do us a favour and crawl back under the rock that you usually retreat to! Bloody moron!!
Hart Guy states; “Are you really that stupid that you would actually think that if all of the recommendations contained in the Highway of Tears Report were enacted, young people would stop hitchhiking?”
Hmm… where did I say, or “think” anything about implementing all the recommendations will result in no one hitchhiking?
Where did I mention, in any of my comments, anything about “implementing all of the recommendations”?
Good ole Hart Guy; putting thoughts into my head and words in my mouth and then debating against them on a public forum.
I am feeling kind of left out, as you deny me my own thoughts and words on this matter, assume for me what I am thinking, and then chastise me for those thoughts that are not even mine.
So who is the moron here?
All dark vermin need to justice served cold!
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