‘not the | _ and hitchhiking don't mix. : * + Blaming ~ bad things. We like easy an- from television ‘talk shows . - bites for our information. It’s _ subject, a place to start, but (fj ' dividuals to do a little bit of . we speak or write in a public . - when it comes to the miss- PQQ yrveTreT TTT eT eT TT eT TeV YT Vee Te eT Te Dear Sir: When I read the newspaper, it-never | ceases to amaze me how ignorant indi- viduals can be. It’s very simplified statements like, “What’s the matter with these women hitchhiking”, and “why do first nations get special attention” that need to be ex- ‘amined closely. -I think these are very valid concerns although I think that these are very com- plicated situations and need to be viewed more as a societal problem with a histori- «cal context in mind. Blame 1 ie ee ates I am by no means claiming to be some extraordinary intellect, although I can _ claim to have some educational basis for my statements. A fundamental attribution error occurs when we blame the individuals rather then the system as a whole. What are the varied circumstances, most importantly, What is the degree of historical injustices? — . Clearly, women and First Nations people have been historically marginal- ized, oppressed, and further problems have obviously stemmed from this. First a al ie ee a a i a ne ay Nations women are most often dually disadvantaged. Due to historical inequities and op- pression, many women often face socio- economic dilemmas to present day, thus forcing alternate transportation such as hitchhiking. - Truly, when a woman gets raped do we say, “well, she shouldn’t of worn that skirt and been walking by herself”? Not likely. We need to look at making this a soci- etal problem, rather then as the women’s. problem because it really isn’t. Ke The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, ‘April 12, 2006 - A5 | Hitchhiking not a native-only issue Furthermore, while developing plans . * and strategies for the future on how to resolve this societal problem of hitchhik- ing, we need to include and truly listen . to women that have been forced into this position. It’s not as if it is a chosen position. ‘I can further say that I do firmly be- - lieve in meritocracy and do agree that all individuals, no matter race, gender, sexu- al preference, ‘age or socioeconomic sta- tus all deserve rights on an equal basis. I also believe that in order to judge payments being made i in the’ case of the ‘CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD First Nations groups it is so important to first divulge yourself into some history . on the situation. It’s easy to pick and choose what you’d like to hear or what politicians tell us. oe _ But do your homework. Look care- . fully at the colonization of Canada and " the historical injustices. ‘Only then should you be permittéd to : make a statement on such a subject. Virg Russell,’ "Terrace, B. Cc. _in one community doesn’t know... what. the detachment - in another community is do- ing, how can they work to- solution Dear Sir: e Mail Bas r gether? .1 Would like to see a breakdown.of the number. of people reported missing, over the past 25 years, in the communities along Hwy 16. Break that down by gen- der, age, ethnicity. Let us- ’ Regarding Claudette San- decki’s recent column, Girls ‘the — victim seems the easiest way for . our society to shirk respon- . sibility when bad people do swers. Simple solutions. _ Z yo We love to get our news |. - = -=: and seem to rely on sound- really a lot easier to have an opinion when someone tells us what to think - especially when it comes to the palat- - able format of a talk show. ~ .. . Unfortunately, in the real world easy answers and sim- - ple. solutions rarely work. Talk. shows and news pro- grams can give a person a — it is our responsibility as in- [i research. - especially when forum. It is not appropriate to blame the victim, especially © ing and/or murdered women along Hwyl6. The victim. is not to blame - the person - who harmed them is the only person responsible for the act of harm. The victim t dS mots! deat. mes See ttt HIGHWAY OF Tears walkers, including Florence Naziel (far right) who is credited with sparking the idea of walking from Prince Rupert to Prince George to attend a Symposium on the subject of missing | and murdered women, Prepare | to leave Terrace March, 18. : APTN E ag oe MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO " were reported missing have ‘».| been found alive, found oon dead. solved. have been found dead in the >! - northwest but ‘weren t ‘Te- . ported missing? | ‘Answers to questions " ~ kane RD eee ® Perhaps the compilation of this kind of information ; tions. 4 that it is impossible to solve - every crime - but by: some . reports we have eight young fort. _ and. friends of these ‘young “women, .even one unsolved . too many. It is-past time for these. disappearances to be: solved. _ Someone out there has information that could lead — to the arrest of ‘the person * or persons harming. ;these young women. — cl had hoped we 2 had got- ao ten past the point of blaming _ these young women must be know how many people who |. ‘Let us know,,. “of those me found’ dead, how. -many © of ‘those cases have been ~~ How. many ‘people Co, . such as. these would help us. | | .all-put this into perspective. — could point us toward solu- 7 'T know it has been said ‘women, who are missing, _ several of. whom have been. ~ murdered. That is far:too -.*% large a number for my com- “In fact; for: the: families.” Those who. could: harm | women for the abuse and harm done them. It appears we haven’t. Every human being has the right to the expectation of safety of per- son. Period. _ Additionally, not all of the young women who have gone missing along Hwy16 were .hitchhiking nor were they all participants in high risk lifestyles, so simplifying — the larger issue to the admo- nition “don’t hitchhike” will only gloss over the larger so- cial problems we face. ‘IT know, I know. I’m-not naive enough to say it’s okay to hitchhike. Right now it isn’t safe and I strongly urge everyone to avoid it. That said, we must look » further and ask, as commu- nities and as a society as a whole - what are the prob- lems we need to resolve? Why are these young women disappearing? Who is harm- ing them? Why hasn’t there been an arrest in 15 years? What © places these young women in situations where they can be harmed? Why haven’t our ' communities risen in outrage : at every disappearance? | According. to Amnesty ' International’s Stolen Sisters report, approximately 500 indigenous ‘women. across Canada are missing. This re- _ port also states that an indig- - enous woman is five times more likely to die as the result of an act of violence than any other group. Since the majority of these women are of First Nations, Inuit or Metis de- scent the issue bears close scrutiny. ‘What makes these wom- en more vulnerable? The Stolen Sisters report points to historical abuse (coloni- zation, racist policies and ‘residential schools) as set- ’ ting the stage. - We must, as a society, recognize the harm done and its long-term, multi- .generational effects such as poverty, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol addictions, and mental illness. Racism must also be ad- dressed - it is the responsi- bility of every individual to actively fight against racist _ attitudes, * policies. behaviours and We may think we’re not racist or that we don’t be- have in a racist manner, but — it’s fairly difficult to avoid. I fight against racism ev- ‘ery day of my life, but also know that racist stereotypes pop into my. head frequently | in spite of my diligence. Society manages to sneak those pictures in ‘regard- less of how we may battle against it. It doesn’t diminish - me to admit that nor to rec- ognize the historical abuses; it strengthens me and my resolve to continue the: fight - . to build up the people who have been harmed. Recog- nizing the issues is the first © step towards healing. © Another issue at hand is poverty. That is the reason that some of the women I know choose to hitchike. How else can they get to town for work, school, shop-" ; ping or a doctor’s appoint- - -ment if they don’t have a vehicle? ’ Poverty is a challenge v we - must all face head-on and must recognize the dispar- ity of poverty levels between First Nations, Inuit and. Me-' tis communities vs. those of non-indigenous peoples. . We have a wealth of peo- ple i in our communities who Needed: new pair of bifocals: and some new TV shows _ have a lot to offer - one step towards their independence is education. They -must have. access, support and funding to learn. trades and earn degrees, Ev- ery person in our communi- ties should have the support they need to complete high school and secondary educa- tion.. 2 - Every individual’ ‘must have .the support of their. neighbors, ‘family, friends, ’ and’. co-workers to | ‘know they have what it takes to succeed. It also seems that report- ing, information sharing and record-keeping _ procedures. may be an issue. ‘If the RCMP detachment. _ disappearance and/or. mur-. mr ~ ‘der is heartbreakingly, . one | prosecuted to the full extent. of the law. -T have to express my ad- miration for Florence Na- _ ziel and the family of Ta- mara Chipman. They continue to -work on bringing awareness. to the plight of. these young ‘women. _ TL hope: that wherever Ta . Marais she can see how hard . they are working: and how - much they love her... _ Florence: and the. ‘others , ‘are weaving together our communities. . Tti is this connection that ’ will heal: our ‘Highway of Tears. - Shelby Raymond, Terrace, B. C. _ Dear Sir: _ Remarks were insensitive _ 1 found the comments ‘from Mr.Bulleid in a recent Dear Sir: . - Regarding Claudette Sandecki’s re- | cent Through Bifocals column called — - time to learn about the missing women Girls and hitchhiking don’t mix.” Thanks very much for judging our aboriginal women and providing the solution to the: problem of the missing women of the © Highway of Teats. And wow - to. think © she gets her information from not one, but two TV talk shows! Am I supposed to be comforted in the knowledge that upstanding citizens are so quick to pass judgment on.why young | — women | choose risky life styles, and how Nursing care here is top notch Perhaps I am being unfair to compare our hos- pital with that in a third world country. I go to the — hospital at least three times a week to visit pa- tients. The care I witness and the love of the nurs- es and support staff for the patients is evident. I call the nurses “angels of mercy.” It is the same at Terraceview. Good people work i in these Dear Sir: I read the letter published March 22 regarding nursing care at Mills Memorial Hospital. My ex- perience of the nurses at Mills Memorial and ev- ery other town in which I have served as pastor is "just the opposite of that expressed by the writer. I have only been hospitalized once in my life and that was in Haiti. In 1985 I was doing some volunteer work at a mission run by the Sisters of Charity (Mother Teresa’s Sisters) in the capital _city of Port au Prince. Because of the rampant poverty in Haiti, I hesitated to throw food away, even rotten food. This decision of mine was foolish as I ate some spoiled sausage and got food poisoning and was laid up for several “ays “easy” it is to protect themselves from harm by not hitchhiking? ‘| invite Ms. Sandecki to take some and their families. She freely admits she hasn’t done that. , And she could consider if it were one of her daughters who is' missing: how she would feel if someone publicly told her that she raised a child to make bad’ ’ choices? We must work hard to make ‘Highway 16 safe, regardless of who is traveling it and why they do so. | All women and children regardless of Due to the food poisoning and the loss of lots of fluid I was on IV. The IV was hanging from a nail on the wall. Every 5-10 minutes I had to get up to use the washroom and hold the IV above my head. the nurses to replace the old one. to keep my arm up higher. _ Twas so weak and tired that I could not sus- pend the IV above my head and consequently the ‘needle would dry up. When the needle did dry up» some one (a friend, one of the.nuns, anyone other than the nurses) had to purchase a new needle ‘from a pharmacy one block away and give it to When the nurses changed my needle they yelled at me in Creole, probably telling me what I already knew I should be doing but was too weak their behaviours, backgrounds and life style choices have a right to be safe from: predators. The Highway of Tears Walk’ - with Florence Naziel was well publi- cized, I didn’t see Ms. Sandecki there. It would have been a good place for her to get some real information instead of _ |. _relying on the almighty television.. oat Sounds to me like she needs some-: thing more than the bifocals and talk show hosts she currently relies upon. Marianne Brorup . ' Weston, . Terrace, B. Cc. ‘places. dress. ‘Marianne Brorup. Tam not trying to be hurtful to the person who ‘submitted a letter of complaint. I just believe our nursing staff and support staff at Mills Memorial and Terraceview nursing and support staff need our thanks and affirmation and support, not our — criticism. Truly, they are angels of mercy. an : ‘Weston © _ Dear Sir: — Go to h----. Father Terry Brock, letter to the editor about women on television to be to- - tally and somewhat uncalled for...and offensive. ; Doug does not seem to realize these are. changing . times and we are in a new century. , __ We live in a very diverse world of both‘ sexes . get used to seeing females in gobs of make up and of | You are the father of three daughters and you “also - have a wife-do you belittle them as you do in your ar- ticles? You-seem so full of negativity. . | I’ye been in Terrace for 21years and | not once: have Te - I seen a letter about something nice uttered from you. = " Lighten up. There are good i in us females .. work place © - ; I’m proud to be who Iam and no one is going to boss : "me around and tell me that I cannot wear my make-up, or my mini-skirts, high-heels. Woo hoo to the ladies that look gorgeous. They love themselves. . I hope more women respond to this. We have to let ; Mr. Bulleid know we live in a changing world and he’ must accept that. Yuck. It would be humdrum and dark if lived like your world. Snicker and and a smile. Fill in blanks - I see that Shell Oil in their letter to The rine Standard regarding the Prettos and the contaminated soil have learned how to use 208 words instead of three Which was all they said. .. and - even in the. ; - Linda Brooks, ‘Terrace, B. C. Ee Keith McAra, Terrace, B.C. Terrace, B.C.