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The Current Transcript for December 7, 2016

Host: Anna Maria Tremonti

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Listen to the full episode

Prologue

[Music: Theme]

SOUNDCLIP

There are some stones underneath here that have different messages on them and I don't know if you could see them. But they say hope, love.

ANNA MARIA TREMONTI: I'm in Winnipeg with Bernadette Smith on the banks of the Red River.

[Sound: Footsteps]

AMT: It's pretty menacing today. We're right at a bend in the river and the water is cold and gray looking, kind of like the sky.

SOUNDCLIP

So we can walk this way and I'll show you exactly where Tina Fontaine’s body was recovered.

AMT: We walk down to the banks in the muck and the snow to see a little shrine to Tina Fontaine.

SOUNDCLIP

BERNADETTE SMITH: This is a 15-year-old little girl wrapped in a garbage bag and disposed of in this river like she was garbage. See where these bricks are?

AMT: Oh, they’re shaped like a heart.

BERNADETTE SMITH: Yeah.

AMT: Ohh.

BERNADETTE SMITH: So there’s actually a couple of them, teddy bears.

AMT: And there's chairs. People come down here—do they come down here and sit?

BERNADETTE SMITH: They come down here and sit and they visit and they, you know do tobacco offerings. They do prayers.

AMT: Bernadette helped to create Drag the Red—a group of citizens who are very afraid that there are more bodies of loved ones caught somewhere under the surface.

SOUNDCLIP

BERNADETTE SMITH: When we started Drag the Red, we did some test trials. So we put you know different weights into the water so we knew Tina was about 80, 90 pounds. So we started from there all the way up to about 250 pounds. You know and we were asking the police to do more searching of this river because you know we have so many people in Manitoba that are missing and we don't know where they are. They just refused to do any of it.

AMT: For far too many people in and around Winnipeg, the Red River is their Highway of Tears. It's become a symbol just as Highway 16 in northern BC has become a symbol of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. And that's why we're in Winnipeg to continue our discussions with people in communities affected by the disappearance of their loved ones—disappearances that have they say in too many cases been ignored, dismissed or forgotten by authorities for far too long. I'm Anna Maria Tremonti. This is a special edition of The Current.

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'She was Aboriginal. She had an addiction': Sister of MMIW says family had to push police

Guests: Carolyn Moar, Bernadette Smith, Martha Troian

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: We have moved inside and we are at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall at the University of Winnipeg—part of our series of public forums that we are hosting on missing and murdered Indigenous women. We are also showing our virtual reality documentary, The Highway of Tears. You can view the documentary on our app or online. Instructions or on our website: www.cbc.ca/thecurrent. We encourage you to tweet about this show with the #TheCurrentMMIW. And before we begin this special edition of The Current, I would like to start with a blessing from elder Carolyn Moar. Carolyn.

CAROLYN MOAR: Creator. It’s Blue Sky Woman Morning Star from the Deer Clan. Please hear my prayer. As we pray for our missing loved ones and as we pray for the ones that are still struggling to find them, the ones that are found and the families that are struggling to survive for the rest of their lives without them—we pray for them, Creator. We pray for each and every one that's fighting and understanding and feeling for the love that all these families and loved ones need. May we walk in their good journey, Creator, and walk with us always. Walk with us with kindness and love and generosity. Ho, ho, miigwech. All my relations. Thank you everybody. Miigwech.

AMT: And thank you. Over the next 90 minutes, we will be talking about the wider issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls through the prism of policing. We will hear the stories of families who have lost loved ones and their experiences with police. We will learn about the community groups that have been created in part because families felt there were not enough services, not enough official recognition of their needs. We will also hear from Winnipeg’s new police chief and from other police officials now trying to work more closely with families. We have a spirited and engaged audience with us tonight and we will hear their views as this forum moves along. So let's begin. You just heard Bernadette Smith talking about the community group she helped create, Drag the Red. Bernadette, welcome.

BERNADETTE SMITH: Thank you for having me.

AMT: This is very personal for you. Tell us about your sister, Claudette.

BERNADETTE SMITH: My sister was 21 when she went missing. She went missing in July of 2008. She was just this young girl who loved life. She had three or four children and she loved her family. She loved to come together as family. She was someone who cared about others and would give the coat off her back which we heard she did many times for some of the girls on the street that she became friends with. And she was loved, you know? She had sisters. She has a mother and she has four kids who are waiting for their mom to come home. We don't know where she is. We continually search. Like my stepmom lives in Norway House but she's here in Winnipeg and she's often here and she's searching you know on the land, and you know three years ago we started in the water.

AMT: How long has she been missing?

BERNADETTE SMITH: It'll be eight and a half years this January.

AMT: You can't talk about her even now without crying.

BERNADETTE SMITH: No.

AMT: What do you know about what happened when she was missing? When did you first realize?

BERNADETTE SMITH: It was around the 26^th, no, actually the 27^th. So my sister was someone who always called someone in our family. She wasn’t someone who would go a day without calling someone. So two days went by and everyone started calling each other and you know have you heard from Claudette? And nobody had heard from her. So of course everyone was concerned because that was out of character for her. So my sister Tina went to the police station, made a police report and she had a pay-as-you-go cell phone and at the time, she didn't have any minutes on it. And when she put minutes on the phone—it was about three and a half days later—and she got this disturbing call from my sister saying I'm at the Lincoln Hotel and I'm with this long distance truck driver and I'm scared. He's trying to have sex with me. And she was quite on the phone sounding like she was scared, fearful and she wanted to be picked up. When my sister got that phone call, she went to the police and it was difficult because my sister was 21 and we were being told that you know because she was 21, she's an adult. If she wants to be found, you know she'll be found. Give it a few days. She'll show up. All of these different things we were told, you know, and my sister we think there were four things that kind of played into the way her case was handled. She was a woman. She was Aboriginal. She had an addiction and she also had a police record. And we felt those things—the police didn't take her case seriously because of that. And you know we had to really push the police and it wasn't for Norway House, our chief there—Marcel Balfour at the time—he came and helped facilitate a meeting with the police. We were like can you release her picture at least? Like nobody knows she's missing.

AMT: Did they release her picture?

BERNADETTE SMITH: They did ten days later after we had that meeting and they released her picture and the information.

AMT: Did they release a picture you gave them?

BERNADETTE SMITH: No. They didn't ask us for a picture and when they did release her picture, it was her mug shot—the picture that they took at the police station when she was charged with a crime. So when that was released you know to the media, it was very difficult for our family because there were comments like oh well, obviously that's a mug shot of her. She got what she deserved. You know she had a criminal record. She put herself in that situation.

AMT: You know today you saw our virtual reality documentary on the Highway of Tears in DC and Matilda Wilson, her daughter Ramona was murdered on that highway. The RCMP initially ignored her when she went to them and said that her daughter was missing. What does that say to you given your own experience?

BERNADETTE SMITH: That we don't matter. That you know our women are disposable. That we don't get the same response as non-Indigenous people and we have examples of that here in our city. And I care about everyone, like non-Indigenous, Indigenous. I don't discriminate and when I talk about women, I talk about all women.

AMT: Tell me about the decision to start dragging the Red River.

BERNADETTE SMITH: I was actually in Ontario on a family vacation when this happened and my sister called me and said that you know this young girl's body had been discovered in the Red River and that they weren't even looking for her. That you know Faron Hall—who you know received a medal from the city you know for his courage for rescuing two people from the river—had gone under in the river and the police were looking for him and came across her. So really he's three times a hero in our eyes but so we rushed back and as we came to the city, my husband dropped us off at the Forks and they were just starting the march. And I remember walking in going like wow. This is a lot of people.

AMT: So it was the fact that other bodies had been found in the river by accident that you thought—you wanted the river dragged on a regular basis?

BERNADETTE SMITH: I had put a post on Facebook that the Red needed to be dragged. The police needed to drag the Red. And we really wanted the police to do it because we had no idea how to do it and we knew police you know had the resources and the manpower to be able to do that. We didn't. But they weren't going to do it. So you know this post became well, the Red needs to be dragged and Kyle Kematch, who is another family member—his sister, Amber Guiboche has been missing since November of 2010—came forward and he said let's do it. And then somebody else came forward, Percy Ningewance from Ontario, and said we've dragged in our community. I can train some people to do it. And then Neil Walstrom, another community member, came forward and he says I have a boat. So we thought okay. Well, we have everything we need. We were just kind of thrown into this.

AMT: You had no experience with this kind of search. But you've now done this for three years. Am I correct?

BERNADETTE SMITH: Yes.

AMT: And before you started Drag the Red, what was your stepmother doing to look for your sister?

BERNADETTE SMITH: She's continually searched. When my sister went missing, she went missing in July and we kept you know pretty much begging the police to search for her. They told us you know we need evidence to search. There's no evidence here. We have nothing. So we decided we would do our own search and we have so many other families like you know we have the Catcheway family with us tonight. And you know they haven't stopped looking for their daughter either.

AMT: Well, I want to bring someone else into this conversation. She's sitting right next to you. Martha Troian is an investigative journalist. She frequently contributes to CBC News. She is part of the CBC's Indigenous unit and the team working on CBC's missing and murdered Indigenous women database. Martha is with us now. Martha, you're originally from where?

MARTHA TROIAN: Lac Seul First Nation in Ontario.

AMT: Well, welcome.

MARTHA TROIAN: Thank you.

AMT: And as you listen to this, first of all, tell us how you and the CBC team go about investigating unsolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

MARTHA TROIAN: Well, we launched the project in April 2015. We reached out to family members. We had to find them, first of all, and then interview them. We would have to you know take the names and run them through the police, through the coroner's offices, public sources, newspaper archives to communities and First Nation leaders, organizations, you name it. Like we just kind of took the names and we ran with them. And we had a set of questions that we asked every family. It was a series of 19 questions that we asked—everything from like their age, what community they’re from, what nation they're from, to also their thoughts about how they think the police handled the case as well.

AMT: How emblematic are the stories we're talking about now? Bernadette's story, the story of Matilda Wilson, what you're hearing now about the issues with police—how emblematic is that of what you're finding as you talk to families?

MARTHA TROIAN: Well, I know with the data, you know we did see a lot of patterns. We did see a lot of similarities across the country as to what the families were telling us. And so some of them for instance, they were to do with initial reporting issues with the police. So sometimes families felt like they had to convince the police or try to persuade them that they want to make a missing person’s report. Families talked a lot about being just rebuffed by the police, being dismissed by them, to insensitive remarks being said to the family at the time of reporting. One problem that they talked a lot about was how some cases are always being handed off from one investigator to the next, so as soon as that happens, it makes it really difficult for families to kind of keep that momentum with one investigator and then they have to re-explain everything to a new investigator and their concerns. I guess you know there are a lot of complaints I guess by the families about the police and it wasn't just the police as well, it was also like the coroner's office too. Those are just a few examples I can think of right now.

AMT: So in terms of officials, families dealing with officials, there's a disconnect? They don't know where to go. People aren't hearing them. They're not keeping them informed.

MARTHA TROIAN: Yeah. I mean that's a problem that you know there's a lack of communication basically. When we called the families across Canada, a lot of them said to us that this is the first time anyone's called them in a long time about their relative. And one of the standard questions that we had for families was basically like when was the last time that police contacted you and who was it? What did they say? And a lot of them said to us that they don't hear from the police anymore. I was working with a family from Calgary. Her name is Joey English and she was found—partial remains were found—in the city of Calgary and the police they conducted a four month landfill search. And then recently they ended the search. The family didn't even know that first of all, there was a landfill search going on for the partial remains and then second, they didn't know that the case was going to be soon closed as well. So I had to be the one to kind of tell the family about that. And that's what I mean. There was just like this kind of lack of communication happening.

AMT: Bernadette Smith, you're part of an Indigenous Advisory Council now advising the police board in Winnipeg. What changes are you recommending? What do you want to see happen to improve the relationship between police and Indigenous communities and specifically the families?

BERNADETTE SMITH: I can give you a few examples that we've talked about. I mean missing and murdered is definitely a huge one, but the relationship with the community is another one and looking at the discourse that we're using and the narrative to you know talk about the issues in our community. And I could think of you know this case that was solved this week in our city of this young woman who was murdered a few years back and you know someone's been brought to justice. And the narrative that was used was you know was involved in an act of sex for money when she was murdered. You know do we really need to be using that language? And I think the details should be focused on you know that the case was solved, someone was brought to justice and the family has some closure you know and not to re-victimizing this woman who's been murdered and her family really. When you're using that kind of language, families feel like they're being targeted. And it really creates this distrust with the police really. And you feel like you can't go to them with these things. I think about our own community and how many people in our community came to us with the information because they weren't comfortable going to the police with it. In the second year my sister went missing, we created a coalition for families of missing and murdered women in Manitoba and we did that because we were finding that there was a lot of disconnect with the police and families. Like families were feeling like they weren't being heard. Their information wasn't being taken seriously and they didn't feel like their cases were even being investigated. So we became almost like a policing to police the police you know and we still get that to this day.

AMT: So how hopeful are you that the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women will help address cases like yours and the real issues that you're talking about?

BERNADETTE SMITH: I'm not very hopeful. You know police aren't going to be held accountable for you know some of their actions that have directly affected cases. My sister's case, it was 10 days before they investigated. We knew she was at this hotel within three days. And by the time they went to go and get the video footage, it had been written over you know and that's just one example. How many others— and I'm not saying the police are the only ones that have a part to play in this because I think all of society has a part to play in this and we need to start looking at our own attitudes and how we treat one another.

AMT: But you're talking about a system in place with lots of holes in it. Martha, what effect do you anticipate this national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women will have on the cases of the people you're talking to?

MARTHA TROIAN: I know there's a lot of families that would like to see the commissioners examine police investigations but based on the draft terms of reference, they're supposed to be only looking at violence prevention. And so that's kind of problematic for the families based on what we heard because for them, you know they want some of these cases to be reopened and reassessed. And based on CBC's second launch of the MMIW project, we did find a lot of evidence to show where cases may have been overlooked. I don't know. I think you know there's a lot of families out there that want answers still. There's a lot of cases out there that were determined suicide or no foul play and they just simply don't agree with that. However, I mean I think about what RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said. In December 2015, he had said that he doesn't want racists in his force and he wants them to be rooted out. So I mean it shows that—I mean those words, you know for him to say that that's a pretty big statement.

AMT: Well, we will pick up that conversation on policing in our next half hour. Thank you both of you for being part of this discussion. Bernadette Smith helped start Drag the Red. Martha Troian as an investigative journalist involved in CBC's missing and murdered Indigenous women database. A reminder: if you're tweeting about this public forum to use the #MMIW. If you want to watch our virtual reality documentary, The Highway of Tears, go to our www.cbc.ca/thecurrent. Coming up, we will hear from the Winnipeg police chief and an organization that's taken community safety into its own hands. Also we do have a full house here at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall and in our last half hour we will be taking questions from our audience. I'm Anna Maria Tremonti in Winnipeg. You are listening to a special edition of The Current on CBC Radio One.

[Sound: Applause]

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'We don't have to wait for a national inquiry to start making changes,' says Winnipeg police chief

Guests: Danny Smyth, Nahanni Fontaine

AMT: Hello. I'm Anna Maria Tremonti and you're listening to a special edition of The Current—a public forum on missing and murdered Indigenous women.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: Still to come, we will be taking questions from our audience here at the University of Winnipeg. But first, police duties and citizen action.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: Well, this is our second cross-Canada forum and we are in Winnipeg, a city that has been called ground zero in the fight by families to bring national attention to this issue. On this program, we are focusing specifically on the relationship between families of missing and murdered women and girls and the police and the justice system. So joining me on stage right now is Chief Danny Smyth. He is a 30-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service. He just took his oath of office as chief a few weeks ago. Welcome.

DANNY SMYTH: Thank you.

AMT: And congratulations.

DANNY SMYTH: Thank you.

AMT: As you were listening to the conversation in our last half hour, I'm wondering how you want to respond at first to the concerns we're hearing about how families feel they're treated by police.

DANNY SMYTH: Well, I think it's something that I hear often, hear it over and over. And I think it's important to hear those voices. I think it helps us put it into perspective. It humanizes things and I don't think we can forget that these families are grieving and they want answers so it's important to hear that.

AMT: What do you say to someone like Bernadette who's here and other family members who feel that there were real areas where police let them down?

DANNY SMYTH: I think we need to hear that. I think police are becoming more responsive to the concerns of women, in particular the Indigenous community. I think we're seeing an evolution here. I think you know it's something that's catching national attention and it's certainly something we're responding to in a much different way than we did 10 or 20 years ago.

AMT: What worries you most as chief when it comes to allegations of indifference or racism in the force toward the Indigenous community?

DANNY SMYTH: I think it's important that we recognize that there can be systemic racism in an organization. Certainly in our organization, we take steps to try to train our members to be more sensitive to their own biases and to really listen to people when they're telling you something that's out of the ordinary.

AMT: We were talking about Drag the Red. How does that fit into your relationship with the grassroots community?

DANNY SMYTH: Well, you know that one's a difficult one. You know as a police chief, I still have to be responsible for the use of our resources and to be clear, I'm prepared to put whatever resources we need into cases. You know to drag the Red in a general sense, it's a difficult thing for us to take on without specific information.

AMT: And so do you have a problem with a community group doing that? Do you think that—do you encourage them to do that? Do you think that there is another body that should be helping them do that?

DANNY SMYTH: You know I'm certainly supportive of all of the efforts to try to find loved ones including Drag the Red. I know our members have been consulted with several times by the groups that have been involved in that and not just Drag the Red certainly. There have been a number of searches that have been conducted on land in and around the city as well.

AMT: As I've been talking to people here, they refer to the death of Tina Fontaine. When she was killed, you referred to her as a child.

DANNY SMYTH: Well, she was a child.

AMT: And people point to your choice of language in the case of Tina Fontaine as a bit of a turning point with police because before that or often around that, we heard what we just heard in our last half hour, that people were being characterized in ways that were judgmental. Talk to me a little bit about your decision to use the language you use.

DANNY SMYTH: I think it's important to be sensitive to the dignity of our victims and you know the families of victims. You know Bernadette and I talked even earlier today and it causes me pain when I hear police in general just describe things in an insensitive way. So I know personally, I try to be very careful when I speak. You'll rarely hear me use the word sex trade worker. These are women that are being exploited. You know these aren’t johns. These are predators. So I try to be cautious. I try to be respectful to the families and the victims.

AMT: How unusual are you amongst police chiefs in that sense?

DANNY SMYTH: You know I don't think you'd hear anyone disagree with what I'm saying but it takes some conditioning and really just some empathy to really think that through.

AMT: You've had decades of policing. Do you have any regrets about how you approached cases in the past?

DANNY SMYTH: I think you know as a service, we probably started to see a change in the way we approached exploited women. Probably you know inside of 10 years now, where our focus has been not on trying to arrest the women that are being exploited but rather you know focus or attention on those that are coming into the community to exploit.

AMT: You have made some high profile arrests in some cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women including surrounding the death of Tina Fontaine. What would you say made the difference in those cases?

DANNY SMYTH: Making sure that the units and the investigators that were involved had the resources they needed to pursue things. And every case is different and the way we investigate every case can be different. But my job is really to ensure that they have the resources they need to pursue.

AMT: I am speaking with the chief of the Winnipeg Police, Danny Smyth. I'm going to bring another guest into this conversation. Nahanni Fontaine is a familiar face to many of you in this audience. She has been an advocate for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls for something like 20 years now, before this issue was on anyone's national agenda. She was also a special adviser on Indigenous women's issues in Manitoba's government. She is now an NDP member of the legislature. Newly elected this year, am I right?

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Yes. Yeah.

AMT: Welcome. Congratulations to you.

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Thank you.

AMT: First of all, what are you thinking as you listen to Chief Smyth?

NAHANNI FONTAINE: You know it's a conversation when I listen to Bernie and when I listen to Danny that has been ongoing for many, many years. I know that across the country we've started to see more and more people get engaged in this issue including the media. But it's something that families have been talking about for the last you know 30 or 20 years and I know that in Winnipeg, we've been talking about it for close to 20 years. And I have to say that I have seen changes and you know as fast as we would like them? Probably not. And I always say this that at the end of the day, families just want closure. They want their loved one home or they want someone to be brought to justice

AMT: They want to know something. And so they want to know what the police know too, right?

[Crosstalk]

NAHANNI FONTAINE: They want to know something. And so it’s not fast enough. Exactly. Yeah. I will say that there have been some changes and I want to kind of pick up on what Bernadette was talking about earlier in respect of mug shots. So actually, in here in Winnipeg, there were a group of predominantly Indigenous women from a variety of different organizations that kept lobbying and fighting for the WPS and for the RCMP to stop releasing mug shots because what it does intrinsically is when that mug shot is released to the public, it doesn't really induce the public to that particular woman. Right, because we've got our own you know markers in respect of that she's criminalized and she's all these things. We actually lobbied for that for very hard. And now the WPS and the RCMP don't do that.

AMT: WPS is Winnipeg Police Services.

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Sorry. Yeah.

AMT: Okay.

NAHANNI FONTAINE: I do want to point out to another change in respect of particularly here in Winnipeg. Back in August of 2007, the body of Fonessa Bruyere was found. She was 17. She was actually from my home community of Sagkeeng. I remember at that time, we as—again, other Indigenous women held a press conference and at that time we were asking that a task force be established here, similar to what they had out in BC and Alberta. And there wasn't a lot of you know reception to that idea. So fast forward a year later, we have the development of a young girl whose body is found. Her name is Cherisse Houle. She was 17 as well. She was found in July. And three weeks later, we have another young girl and her mother is in the audience right now. Her body was found as well and as a result of that, those two women, those two young girls, we actually get the development of the Manitoba integrated task force which has now morphed into the Project Devote.

AMT: And where do you see room for improvement with the families then, as they try to bring their stories forward? What still needs to change?

NAHANNI FONTAINE: I think that one of the key issues still today remains the communication processes between policing institutions and families. You know the police are, we understand, very busy as well. Right? But families need that information. The other piece—and I want to pick up on what Bernadette was talking about—maybe training somebody in the community that community people trust and feel that they can be safe with and they can tell these very probably traumatizing information and scary information and know that they're going to be listened to, know that they're going to be respected, but that can also work with the police and say look, this information came to me. Here's what we have and what are we going to do about it?

AMT: Nahanni Fontaine. Twenty years you've been doing this. Why? Why does this matter to you so much?

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Well, I mean we just sat and we listened to Bernadette and I've sat and cried with Bernice, Bernice Catcheway who is here, and other families. If you are blessed enough to actually even just spend a couple of hours with families and to hear their pain or even to hear the joy of their loved one, the stories of their loved one and how loving they were and what they loved. And you know Bernadette and I, a couple of years ago, we went to the first national roundtable on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls which was the first time that Canada—the provinces and territories and the five national Aboriginal organizations along with families—ever sat in the same room and met and talked about this. We were so blessed to hear a woman from Saskatchewan who had to sign and she, through an interpreter, was signing the story of her daughter who had been missing at that time for three years. And she shared how much her daughter loved to draw. And so every year, that mom would buy these books for her daughter. There is something so powerful when you see families’ love and their determination and their resiliency and their absolute courage in this process of getting justice. I'm just blessed that I'm able to help. And as an Indigenous woman, we know that Indigenous women are not safe in this country and it is my role and all of our roles and our responsibilities to do everything that we can to put an end to that.

AMT: In January of this year, you organized a national summit in Winnipeg of experts from victim services, prosecutors, police, for ways for everyone to come together and help. What stands out as most important for you out of that?

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Yeah. Well, again, I do want to point out that that was actually one of the first times yet again that really you know all of those folks in justice gathered to discuss missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and have a space where they could look at different you know gaps and different recommendations. I think that some of the things that really stood out for me again was that no matter what provinces and territories do or you know any organizations or agencies or victim services whatever it may be, that there has to be a place and a role for families. This is their own loved ones that we're talking about and we have to ensure that there’s space and a real commitment to listening and executing what families are saying.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: Chief Smyth, does the rest of the system give you enough support? Do you need more support from the wider justice system in your province?

DANNY SMYTH: You know I think it's coming. You know I know when I speak with our investigators, they feel supported with the rest of the justice system. I think one of the focal points that Nahanni’s talked about is really just meeting the needs of families that are caught in this awful place and often without answers. You know it's interesting as you get to know people—and certainly Nahanni and I have gotten to know each other over the years—we just need like another thousand Nahannis to be an advocate for—you know and I say that tongue in cheek, but you know even informally, often she'll pick up the phone and highlight something for me that we need to pay attention to. And sometimes that's all it takes, is an advocate to steer us or to motivate us and that's been effective at times.

AMT: We know the national inquiry is not going to look at police action. Should it?

DANNY SMYTH: That's a tough one. You know I'm not sure how they decided what to do. I think one of the clearest messages that I heard and it was from Perry Bellgarde. It was: we don't have to wait for a national inquiry to start making changes or to start taking actions, including being accountable for our own actions as police. But a lot of these changes we can begin to do now and I don't think we need an inquiry necessarily to tell us that, although I see the importance of the inquiry.

AMT: Nahanni Fontaine, what do you want to see come out of this national inquiry?

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Well, what I always point out to people is that the national inquiry, first off is a long time coming and it is borne off of the fight and struggle of families and what families have wanted. And I think it's really important for Canadians to recognize that and to be supportive of the national inquiry because it may be the only opportunity that families have to have their loved one who's missing or murdered as a part of the official Canadian record, as a part of the official Canadian history. And so you know first and foremost, what I hope comes out of this is that at the very, very beginning that families are supported to participate, that they are supported to participate financially, that they are supported to participate spiritually, culturally, physically—all of the things that it will take to get families to be able to fully participate. And believe me, that takes a lot of work.

AMT: Financially because a lot of people live in remote places and they have to get to the inquiry.

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Absolutely. And all we need to do is look at the Pickton inquiry. A lot of people don’t realize that the families that wanted to participate in the Pickton inquiry did not have money to stay in hotels and those costs were not paid for. And so, just to be able to stay in the hotel for one night or two nights is a lot of money, never mind a whole process.

AMT: Thank you both. Thank you very much. That is NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine and Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth. We are in Winnipeg for our public forum on missing and murdered Indigenous women. If you are tweeting about this event, please use the #TheCurrentMMIW.

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How the murder of Tina Fontaine galvanized Bear Clan Patrol's James Favel

Guests: James Favel

AMT: Now communities in Winnipeg are not only looking to police to improve safety. The Bear Clan patrol is a volunteer program that patrols the streets of the north end. Our Winnipeg producer Suzanne Dufresne went on a patrol with the founder of the Bear Clan Patrol, James Favel.

SOUNDCLIP

Tonight we're looking for three males and Christine Wood as well. Christine Wood has been missing since the 19th of August. Her family's here. Radios up. We’re back in business. We're always—and I mean always—every night we're always looking for people. We're always looking through the fields. We're looking in the—like when we’re in the industrial area over there you'll see. We're looking under the tracks. We're looking at the bridges. We're looking behind the bins, in the bins. Any dark place where somebody can be you know hiding away hurt or sick or whatever, we're always looking. So far this year, we've taken 19 bags of meth off the street. Hello there. One of the disturbing facts: we used to only find needles in the industrial area. You know in the dark corners kind of thing. Now we're finding them everywhere. There’s nowhere safe.

AMT: Well, the Bear Clan Patrol came out of hibernation following the murder of a 15-year-old girl in 2014. The discovery in the Red River of the body of Tina Fontaine—we've mentioned her already in this program—galvanized a nation around the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. James Favel is the founder of the Bear Clan Patrol and he is here with us. Hello and welcome.

JAMES FAVEL: Good evening.

AMT: Tell us a bit of what we would see if we went out on patrol with you.

JAMES FAVEL: We're averaging between 20 and 25 members per patrol five nights a week. We're out there covering as much ground as we can. We're averaging between nine and 12 kilometres per evening. We're out there shaking hands and smiling at people, passing out food and other necessities. One of the things that's overlooked in our community a lot is we have a lot of homeless people. They don't have access to toilet paper so it's one of the things that we're providing when we're out.

AMT: So you're doing lots of things. You're not just patrolling. You're kind of—you're just being out there. What's the point of that?

JAMES FAVEL: We're trying to attend to the sociological issues of our community—the non-policing issues. We’re out there trying to you know guide people to a better life.

AMT: When did you guys start?

JAMES FAVEL: September 19th was our first meeting pertaining to Bear Clan. I'm a trucker by trade and one morning I went to support Drag the Red in September of 2014 and there was nobody there that day, just somebody tending the sacred fire. And when I walked up, there was a CBC camera there and she asked me some questions and I happened to mention that I was interested in starting the Bear Clan Patrol in my capacity as a chairman for the Dufferin Residents Association and it went out over the air and it just seemed to hit.

[Sound: Laughter]

JAMES FAVEL: Yeah. And the right people on the other end heard it. You know for a long time I wondered how it came so easy for us you know. And now after listening today, it's come to sharp focus. It's because of the suffering and the activism from the Catcheways and from Bernadette that’s paved the way for our success here.

AMT: Uh-huh. And there was something about the death of Tina Fontaine that galvanized you. What was it?

JAMES FAVEL: Well, it was the disrespect to her person was the last straw for me and my family and my community, you know? And I was only echoing the same concerns and the same cries that my community had been echoing for, screaming out at the top of their lungs for a decade or more. You know and they just heard me that day.

AMT: You're a truck driver.

JAMES FAVEL: Yes ma'am.

AMT: Are you working a lot or are you doing this—you're doing more of the patrol than you are of the driving these days.

JAMES FAVEL: October last year I put my truck up and took this on full time.

AMT: How are you supporting yourself?

[Sound: Applause]

JAMES FAVEL: It's not easy.

AMT: Is it true when you sometimes find people who need help and they've got nowhere to go you bring them over to your mom's house?

JAMES FAVEL: Yes ma'am.

AMT: You say that quietly. That's a lovely thing.

JAMES FAVEL: Yeah.

AMT: Did your mother think so?

JAMES FAVEL: We’ve had our moments.

[Sound: Laughter]

JAMES FAVEL: She's very supportive and I think that's why I am who I am.

AMT: And what's your relationship like with the police?

JAMES FAVEL: It's fantastic at this point. I've been active in my community for about 10 years. I was a chairman for the Dufferin Residents Association up until two weeks ago actually. And we had a different kind of relationship in the beginning.

AMT: Are there times when you come across something where you think the police need to be involved and you can call them?

JAMES FAVEL: Absolutely. That's another part of the change that we've experienced. In the past, we had no real outlet and now we have direct access to the sexual exploitation unit. We have direct access to the missing persons unit. I can call and we get support when we need it.

AMT: And what does that look like, the support that you get? Like give me a scenario.

JAMES FAVEL: When I see johns interacting with one of our street-involved women, I can take the plate down and send it to a detective and the john or the registered owner of the vehicle will get a phone call and he's asked to come and explain himself. He’s given an opportunity to come in and explain himselfor the police will go out and visit him.

[Sound: Applause]

JAMES FAVEL: And that's not something we had in the past.

AMT: And how many of you are involved in the patrol?

JAMES FAVEL: We have since August, mid-August, received an extra 207 volunteers. I think we're up to about 350 in total now.

AMT: That's a lot.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: What does that tell you about Winnipeg?

JAMES FAVEL: It's a really caring community.

AMT: Are there other people reaching out to you from other cities as well to try to do what you're doing?

JAMES FAVEL: Yes ma'am. We've moved into Toronto, Fort Frances, Kenora. I'm going to visit people in Thunder Bay in a couple of weeks. Lethbridge. We're looking at somebody in Prince George right now, potentially Alberta. And then there's Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk and like about eight communities here in Winnipeg.

AMT: Where does the name Bear Clan come from?

JAMES FAVEL: It comes from our clan teachings. Bear Clan is the clan that was responsible for security for the community. And it goes back to 1992 when Bear Clan first was born in response to violence against women.

AMT: Do you have your own kids?

JAMES FAVEL: I am a grandfather.

AMT: And so, how have your own fears for your own children informed the kind of work you do now?

JAMES FAVEL: It is the reason. And there was one point where my daughter left home for two years because she was sick and tired of constantly being badgered when she went to the bus stop by johns. And for me, I wanted to do something that would provide the safety that would allow her to be home with us again, you know?

AMT: It's really important to hear what you're doing. Thank you for your work. Thank you for being part of this.

JAMES FAVEL: Thank you for having me.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: That is James Favel. He is the founder of the Bear Clan in Winnipeg. A reminder if you're tweeting about this, use the #TheCurrentMMIW. To find out more information on the series of public forums on missing and murdered Indigenous women, go to our website: www.cbc.ca/thecurrent. You can also find information on how to watch our virtual reality documentary, The Highway of Tears. Now stay with us. Coming up next, we will be taking questions from our audience. I'm Anna Maria Tremonti. This is a special edition of The Current in Winnipeg.

[Sound: Applause]

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'I understood...because I was one of them.' Sheila North Wilson on creating #MMIW

Guests: Sheila North Wilson

AMT: Hello, I'm Anna Maria Tremonti. This is a special edition of The Current—our public forum on missing and murdered Indigenous women.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: And we are in Winnipeg for this program. Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett has called Winnipeg ground zero for national awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women because of the shocking murder of Tina Fontaine. It's not surprising that it's also the birthplace of the hashtag MMIW. It was coined by Sheila North Wilson, who at the time was working for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. Today she is the Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak. Did I say that right?

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: That’s pretty good.

AMT: I apologize for my hesitation. It is a political advocacy organization representing more than 30 northern First Nations. The first woman to hold that position. And Sheila North Wilson.

[Sound: Applause and cheers]

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: Thank you.

AMT: Welcome, Sheila North Wilson.

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: Thank you very much. Honoured to be here.

AMT: Let's talk about that hashtag MMIW. Take us back to—I guess what it was, around 2012 before the hashtag. How were people talking about the issue of the women who were missing and murdered?

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: On the streets we saw women—mostly women and girls—gathering. Sometimes there was three people. Sometimes there were 300. Sometimes minus 50, plus 50. But there was always women and families of missing and murdered women and girls, even boys and men, that gathered on the streets to support each other. And I saw it over the years and I think when I became a journalist at the time, the issue gravitated to me because I understood exactly what the families were saying and I understood what the friends of victims and survivors were saying because I was one of them. It just was a conversation that was in the grassroots level but I saw it slowly building up as the advocates got stronger and smarter and just relentless.

AMT: There was a time when the conversations were just happening quietly and now they're louder.

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: Mhm. Mhm. Even in chief circles I'm told by other female leaders that even 10 years ago around the chief's tables which was predominantly men, the conversation wasn't so easy. And I think at the time, some of the women chiefs were being told that this is a woman's issue. Go take care of it outside of this circle. But I don't think they would dare to say that now.

[Sound: Laughter and applause]

AMT: Walk me through the acronym. What went into selecting those four letters, MMIW?

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: Yeah. Well, I'm a huge social media fiend so I knew that we had to tie this conversation together in social media so we can you know look back and then look at the history is what I'm thinking. And so I propose MMIW and I specifically for Indigenous because I knew once I learned the difference what Indigenous and Aboriginal meant, I couldn't use Aboriginal anymore.

AMT: Explain the difference.

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: Because Indigenous places us in this country and gives place to who we are to this country. We are from this land. We are the people of this land and you know it means more than the word Aboriginal because Aboriginal is more legislated and produced by the government in that language. So it doesn't give honour and place to people that are coming from this country.

AMT: And so is the W too limiting? Some people want to know—obviously we also say women and girls—people want to know about men as well. What do you say when you are asked that or criticized on that front?

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: Not to say that the girls, boys, men, people, two-spirited people are not important to the issue. But to me when I was thinking about MMIW, I knew it has to be short and catchy, so that was just logistics. But I thought the W gives honor to women who were mostly the ones that were on the streets being relentless in raising the awareness of this issue. And unfortunately, most of the victims are women so that's where that thinking came from.

AMT: Well, thank you for coming here.

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: Thank you.

AMT: Thank you. Today.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: That is Sheila North Wilson, Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak. And if you are tweeting about this event, please do use the hashtag MMIW. We are also using #TheCurrentMMIW.

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'I just want to find my daughter. I just want to bring her home.' MMIW mother on her continued search

Guests: Wilfred Catcheway, Bernice Catcheway, Jeanette Thiesen, Shawn Pike, Gwendolyn Wilson, Rhonda Head

AMT: Okay. We are going to open up this for questions from the floor. Just raise your hand. Maybe we could have the house lights on so we can see a little better. And as that happens, I'm going to introduce Sergeant Shawn Pike of Project Devote and Superintendent Jeanette Theisen who's in charge of the major crime unit for the Manitoba RCMP is also here if you have any direct questions as well. Do we have some questions? Please give us your name and your question.

WILFRED CATCHEWAY: Hi. My name is Wilfred Catcheway and I’ve been searching for my daughter for eight years. And when my daughter went missing, my wife went to the police station and a police officer there brushed her off and maybe she could talk about that. It's better that you hear it from her.

BERNICE CATCHEWAY: First of all, I want to say thank you for this forum tonight. It's not just a Indigenous issue but it's everybody's issue.

[Sound: Applause]

BERNICE CATCHEWAY: And like my husband said, we have been searching. We have been searching for our Jennifer up until even two weeks ago. And you know the hardest part—the hardest part because we go—all summer long, I work. I work for a living. And on my vacation days and my days off, we're out in a bush, we've excavated three dumps, we've been through lakes and marshes and swamps and dumps and rivers and valleys and mountains. From here to Grand Rapids, west Swan River, we've been everywhere searching for our daughter. And when I went to report Jennifer missing—she’s been missing for eight years—then that day she didn't come home. She just turned 18 on June 19^th, 2008. And she called me that morning and that was the last time I heard from her. So I went and report her missing at the Portage detachment, RCMP detachment. The officer there, he said oh, how old is she? I said she just turned 18 and he said oh, she's 18? Give her a week. She's on a drunk. She'll be back. And it's been eight years but I feel like it's been just yesterday that Jen's been gone. And the hardest part is when we're out there, we give everything we've got and I've always said right from the beginning that somebody out there knows where our loved ones are. Someone out there knows where Jennifer is. But I know my husband and I, where it's been eight years and we're going to continue to search and we will bring Jennifer home. We stopped relying on RCMP, on officials. They say we're with you. We're standing with you. Well, I don't see them standing with us. I never get a call from the RCMP. I never get a call from who's on our case, Jennifer's case, the detective. Nobody calls me. Nobody calls us to tell us where they’re at. The day I heard that Jennifer's case was a homicide case was on the news. The six o'clock news. That's where I found out. They said Jennifer's case was a homicide case and I was sitting watching the news. I said what? Nobody cared. Nobody phoned me. Nobody knocked on my door to tell me Jennifer's case was a homicide case. I heard it through the news.

AMT: As you talk to us about this, we have an RCMP superintendent right here who's listening very intently to you.

BERNICE CATCHEWAY: Yes.

AMT: What do you need now from the RCMP?

BERNICE CATCHEWAY: We need communication. Every time I ask a question, they say it's an investigation. We can't talk about it. Well, we need the talks. We need to communicate. My husband and I, I could show you what we've got at home. We got footage—thousands of pictures and footage where we've been and what we've done—statements that we've been taking throughout the eight years. Sometimes they ask can you find this person? Can you get their phone number for me? These are the detectives. And you know I'm not the person that will criticize and put down the RCMP. I just won't do that. I will not do that. I'll keep that to myself. I just want to find my daughter. I just want to bring her home. That’s all.

AMT: Superintendent Theisen, you weren't expecting this. I'm not ambushing you but I can tell that you're really listening and I wonder if you have anything you wanted to say at this point.

JEANETTE THEISEN: What I can say is that the Catcheway investigation is extremely active right now at this point. We are following up and we do follow up with the information that they get and they get a lot of information. And I think that our team commander, who is their family liaison, does come to me since I've been here. He has come to me and spoken about you, your family and what you've gone through. And when I listen to what happened when you first went to report Jennifer missing, that's a prime example of where we need to be better.

AMT: So you know this case.

JEANETTE THEISEN: I do, actually. Yes, I do. We are very active in investigation right now.

AMT: I think maybe if I could just ask one question about Jennifer. What do you want us to know about your daughter?

BERNICE CATCHEWAY: Jennifer was a beautiful, beautiful young lady who had a right to live. Jennifer was our baby girl. Our daughter.

AMT: I'm very sorry for your loss. Thank you very much for sharing your story with us.

BERNICE CATCHEWAY: Thank you.

WILFRED CATCHEWAY: I just have one question for the officer. When my daughter went missing, there was only 15 of us and we went out to the place called Dakota Tipi and a lady brought some soup from the Friendship Centre and that's all the support that we got. And I'm not racist, but a white girl went missing in the same community, Portage la Prairie. Fifteen hundred came out. So what is the problem with society? Is it power? Who was in charge? The numbers tell. They speak for themselves you know. And what does the police force have in place to stop racism? Eight years ago, 500 Aboriginal, Indigenous women went missing and that was a shock. It has since doubled, tripled. It’s on its way from the data. So what's going on?

AMT: Thank you. Do you want to speak to that? Go ahead.

JEANETTE THEISEN: Our organization, much like Chief Smyth spoke to, is proactively and actively making our officers—everybody aware and accountable for their actions and what I would encourage anybody that experiences any sort of racism or feeling of wrongdoing by an officer that they feel free to come forward because unless it's identified and we can deal specifically with that officer or identify if there is some patterns going on maybe in different communities. It's like everything else. We need the community to help us. And I feel that we are taking huge steps forward with our leaders and I'm not saying that we can't be better though.

AMT: Okay. Thank you, Superintendent Jeanette Theisen. Why don't we just move that mic over to the man sitting next to her who is Sergeant Shawn Pike of Project Devote. Because your project—maybe you can help us explain. Project Devote was created—was it not—to recognize that gap between families and police?

SHAWN PIKE: Yes. Project Devote started out as a review unit for murdered and missing women. We have we have the resources from Winnipeg Police Service, the RCMP and the province. What Project Devote does—and I think that they do very well—is we reach out to the families. It is all about the families and it's about respecting them, respecting their boundaries. We have some people that would like to speak with us regularly. We have people that I've talked to that have basically said when you solve our investigation you come and let us know. And there is no right or wrong to it. I mean it's a personal issue, a personal opinion, a personal feeling and I think that all needs to be respected. A lot of it comes down to communication. As you had just mentioned, there are people who know what's happened. Somebody out there knows what's happened to these women and girls and we implore them: find the courage. Talk to people in your community. If there's somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody, no matter how small the detail is, get it out to us and give us an opportunity to follow it up.

AMT: Okay. Superintendent Jeanette Theisen, I am wondering how you respond to some of the criticisms that the families have had about their involvement with police.

JEANETTE THEISEN: One thing that really stood out that was said by one of the panel members was the fact that the investigators change all the time and that's something that is systemic in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police because of the movement and the transferring of members. If I own an investigation and I'm your family liaison person that we are better at transitioning that so that the families never feel lost. I've come here from British Columbia at the beginning of April to be your major crime superintendent for this province. When I hear the families and feel like we—and I say we being the RCMP—and when we have let people down, we need to know that. So I applaud everything that everybody is doing here.

AMT: Thank you.

JEANETTE THEISEN: Thank you.

AMT: Thank you all very much. Do we have some questions? Please give us your name and your question.

ELIZABETH ELLARD: Hi. My name is Elizabeth Ellard. I was just wondering, what is something or some things that an individual in this community can do to help support the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women?

AMT: Bernadette Smith, do you want to answer that?

BERNADETTE SMITH: That’s a really good question. I think families, you know when they're searching definitely need people to come out and help. And reaching out to the families I think really helps us. And you know having these conversations in the community. Having these conversations with your kids. Having these conversations at your dinner table. And often, there is financial you know support that can you know help families. I think of Bernice and Wilfred. Every summer they're searching. Like they were just in a community. They had a boat. They brought some divers out you know bringing those cameras and putting them in the water. We don't get any funding from anywhere. Like lots of families put their own funds in to be able to do this work. But the biggest thing is getting involved. Thanks.

AMT: Thank you. We have another question up here. What's your name?

SYLVIA JAMES: Sylvia James. I just wanted to ask if it's possible to have an inquest instead of an inquiry because families need answers. In an inquest, police would have to answer what has worked? Why hasn't it worked? Because for the life of me, sometimes I can’t understand when a woman gets murdered out east and then there's justice because the person who did it has been found. So for me personally, an inquest would be better for the families.

AMT: Who wants to speak to that? Go ahead. This is Sheila North Wilson who has taken on this answer. Go ahead, Sheila.

SHEILA NORTH WILSON: One of the criticisms that I and a whole bunch of people had when the inquiry was called was that the terms of reference didn't specifically state that the police would be investigated. And I know for every family I've ever talked to, it was always the same response that police give—disregarded their complaints, made fun of them even and said you know stupid things that families don't need to hear when they're missing their loved one. And so I was disappointed that I didn't see that either but I'm on a panel now, an advisory group for the RCMP, and I have hope that RCMP and other agencies. I can't speak for the Winnipeg Police but I know for the RCMP, they are truly making an effort to try and correct the problems within the system already as we speak. And they've gathered national people to talk to them and let me tell you, we ripped them apart. We ripped their forms apart. We ripped their policies apart and try and help them put it back together and one of the things, the last thing I encouraged them when I was there a couple of weeks ago, was that go ahead of the inquiry and come out yourselves and say yes, we messed up. Go beyond what the commissioners already admitted because that's what ultimately families wanted, is to make sure that police go under the microscope and start changing their attitudes toward their families. So I have hope that that will happen despite the challenges that we see with the inquiry.

AMT: Do any of the police officers here tonight want to speak to that as well? Chief Smyth?

DANNY SMYTH: Certainly when it comes to inquiries and an inquest, we don't really have any control of that but I don't think we have to wait for inquests or inquiries to make change now. And I'm seeing that locally but I'm certainly seeing that movement with other agencies across the country.

AMT: We have time for one more question up here. What's your name?

GWENDOLYN WILSON: My name is Gwendolyn Wilson. My Indian name is Thunderbird Woman and White Buffalo Woman. I am of the Grizzly Bear Clan. My daughter's name is Hillary Angel Wilson. Hillary was found murdered in August of 2009. And still to this day we haven't found who has done this to her. I've done what I can to help Project Devote. I'm standing here today with the same emotions I felt the day I was told of my beautiful girl. I am unable to step forward knowing of what happened. Unable to move ahead, even more so when I hear that someone else met the same fate as my Hillary. I have been slowly, slowly trying to move at a snail's pace to try to live life knowing that there is justice but unfortunately, there is no such thing for us because it's just us that are being hurt, just us still in pain. Hillary didn't deserve this, what happened to her. Whoever did this please come forward and tell the truth. She has brothers and a sister that miss her too, you know? Aunties. Uncles. Thank you for your time.

AMT: Thank you very much. As we end this program, I want to give some credit where credit is due. Our virtual reality documentary was created by the following people: the director, Lisa Jackson, producers, Josh Bloch, Chris Bennett. Creative director, Marty Flanagan. Cinematographer and editor, Connor Illsley. Executive producers, Kathleen Goldhar, CJ Hervey and James Milward. This forum was produced by Suzanne Dufresne, Josh Bloch, Cathy Simon. Our digital producer is Ruby Buiza. We want to thank our CBC colleagues at CBC in Winnipeg, Rosanna Deerchild, Kim Wheeler of Unreserved. Suzanne Dufresne Iris Yudai, Tim Fontaine, Stephanie Cram, Lenard Monkman and Martha Troian of CBC's Indigenous unit. Gabriela Klimes, Lindsay MacKenzie. Our sound engineers tonight, Joe Dudich and Andrey Ballon. And our camera operator, Trevor Brine. This brings us to the end to our special edition of The Current here in Winnipeg but we cannot leave without hearing from a wonderful mezzo-soprano. Rhonda Head is with us. Rhonda, welcome. Tell us, which Cree Nation are you from?

RHONDA HEAD: Opaskwayak Cree Nation from northern Manitoba by the Pas. I drove six hours—well, seven hours it took me because the roads are bad.

[Sound: Applause]

AMT: Well, thank you for being here. You have a song for us. What are you about to perform for us?

RHONDA HEAD: It's called “500 Years.” It came to me. I believe why our ancestors channeled through me to write this beautiful song about Indigenous people and our struggles and our history here in Canada.

AMT: You are going to take us out. I'm Anna Maria Tremonti. Thank you all for being part of our public forum on missing and murdered Indigenous women. Thank you for listening. And now we're going to listen to you.

RHONDA HEAD: Thank you, Anna Maria Tremonti, for coming here and doing this special event here in Winnipeg and right across Canada.

[Sound: Applause]

RHONDA HEAD: It’s fantastic.

[Music: “500 Years” – Rhonda Head]

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December 7, 2016 full episode transcript

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