What is happening to Indigenous men and boys along B.C.’s Highway of Tears? | Investigates

[Music] [Music] start putting a spotlight on all these missing and murdered indigenous men [Music] he was walking by and i said i'll see you later bud sir then he went to school and then he had the meeting with the principal and supposed to go back to class and never did there's so many people going messy and there's so much young kids there's so much elders what i did was i put a label in a baggie anybody anywhere that has that sees my son um they'd have my phone number right on their phone and it seems like it's one one article in the paper and then it's never spoken of again every day i used to uh call up north and talk to him and when he said that he was lost i have to think that he's okay until i hear different [Music] i just wanted to come home [Music] [Music] each of these men and boys had a family devastated by their loss and left wondering what happened an aptn investigation has revealed more than 600 cases of missing and murdered indigenous men and boys in canada a staggering number each with its own story i see women's pictures everywhere they're all over facebook too i don't have the money to put up a bulletin board but somebody out there should fund something for our men i just like to see the police actually do something about it start putting some a spotlight on all these missing and murdered indigenous men [Music] lucas dagerness was just 14 years old when he went missing his mother reported him missing on june 7 2007 and this is the high school though there have been many sightings of him none have been confirmed where he went to high school this is the last time gina's seen him was here he was last seen at his prince george high school in northern british columbia he left there and said he never went to class a charming town for some it's also the starting point of the infamous highway of tears so we'd be putting posters up all around like in every like one of these polls we would stop and put posters up me my dad were out driving the roads all the time every day what's called we were putting posters up all over he was adorable like he made me laugh he was he was a good kid saturday night lorena perry remembers her nephew as a sweet boy and memories of their movie nights pour in they sound vicious but they're not or he'd like lay in bed and cuddle up behind you and be like i love you auntie and i'm like oh i love you too fred perry vividly remembers when his nephew went missing he was 14 you know just a teenager i like playing sports i like playing basketball i like playing baseball perry spent hours putting up posters and searching the streets of prince george he was walking by and i said i'll see you later bud sir he left and then he went to school and then he had the meeting with the principal and supposed to go back to class and never did how long he was last seen did the family start to worry well we were worried instantly because he never came home right do you think that his friends might know something if anybody would they would right i felt bad because he was in between places between my sisters and my dad's our place and my mom's but that wasn't fair for him he would take turns staying here with my mom and my sister and then he would come over to our place every once in a while and then also at my little sister's house moving from the big city to here is kind of i think was a down or two you know you're leaving all your friends coming back starting to start new what we had thought always was that he went back to edmonton because that's where he just came from that would make sense i miss my nephew with my lord and i just wanted to come home i have to think that he's okay until i hear different every every day i look at a star star scene i make a witch it's always about him coming home [Music] [Music] this highway is infamous dozens of missing and murdered indigenous women have disappeared along the 725 kilometer stretch that winds along to the west coast ending in prince rupert but lesser known are the missing and murdered indigenous men and boys of the highway of tears an aptn investigation reveals that since 1988 19 indigenous men and boys have been murdered or disappeared along the highway sixteen-year-old colton fleury went missing from a local motel so that happened for about two days his mother phyllis flurry saw him get up to go to the bathroom in the early morning hours of may 3rd he had just come back into her care this place used to be called uh the downtown or motel so i worked here and i cleaned all these rooms when they they had a new owner and i lived in that one that's way in the corner the ministry came to drop colton off they brought him in there with a little garbage bag of clothes only a quarter full bag of clothes after two years of being in and out of care and in the group homes and a foster home phyllis knows the child welfare system all too well as a 60 scoop survivor if you were raised with somebody from residential schools you didn't get the hugs you didn't get the i love views you just basically got with what you essentially needed was food in a bed right [Music] fleury worked hard to provide a better life for her kids and she remembers her son colton as a happy baby [Music] he was the sweetest little boy he he was the baby family very handsome very uh temperamental i guess i can say what's up yeah i've got supplies do you want meat and cheese okay so you're rachel and phoebe yeah right how old were you rachel 45 that was the beginning of one of my journeys [Music] i went to ketuanga treatment center and um part of going to a treatment center is getting rid of the um toxic relationships so through my pregnancy i was sober through all of that she had just regained custody of her son and the two of them stayed in this downtown motel but the next day he vanished i wish i could just turn back time and say hey where you going and i just thought he went to the bathroom but this is the last time i've seen them [Music] [Music] okay [Music] so these are the lifesaver kits i hand out the kits that i make each week safe supply kits i know my son's addicted to her when i that you know and somebody's doing this for him somebody's feeding him have to pack then our own our camera which i've already used quite a bit i've used it on a young boy last year we got donations of blankets and some warm socks so i guess um my supply kits will have to go in my trunk what i did was i put a label in a baggie so that the cigarette doesn't get wet and i had this out anybody anywhere that has that sees my son um they'd have my phone number right on their phone they could take a picture and call me right away because i went down to vancouver about so far i've been down there 16 times and fleury has spent countless hours searching the streets of vancouver she prepares meals safe supply kits and offers warm clothing to those in need she hopes that if her son is out there others are doing the same work yeah and the thing is that when i narcan this young boy um he reminded me so much of fulton and i just broke down [Music] when colton went missing they have him on camera that he walked from that room no bag seven o'clock in the morning and he went walking that way i thought he jumped up and went to the bathroom when i got up to go to work at nine o'clock he wasn't on his bed and i didn't think anything of it you know i just got up and did my work because he's home now and i've never seen him again my mom she she she called me and asked me if he's been around and she's like if he does come around tell him call me or get home or whatever and i was like yeah he's probably just like to me i figured like he's just out with his friends the cops didn't even do anything until two or three weeks later when they finally put that missing person out it took that long you know but they also come in with the same uh the same conclusion colton's not in prince george and uh foul play is not suspected and do they tell you why that they don't think foul play suspected no she never did tell me that what are your thoughts on that um that they want to sit behind the desk and i hate to say it let me do all the work and um i have to get out of the car this time you guys need a sandwich oh phoebe how are you just last week i realized you have to be thankful for everything that i'm going through because i'm trying to change to be a better person and because i went to vancouver so much and saw so much need for outreach i came back and that's what i wanted to do you guys want a sandwich i know you do do you want to make some cheese both of you in water one of my friends just said hey we need um somebody to help with the cultural center they wanted me so much for outreach because that's exactly what i wanted to do she looks like she needs it diana sandwich what's your name christina christina how old are you do you need um smoking in a bubble too yes please okay 31 okay okay she needs a smoking and a bubble you want a cigarette yes that's my missing son oh yeah my phone number it's a label you could just put it behind your phone or something right i'll get you some socks in that blanket she gets tips that her son was seen in vancouver and she believes colton is still alive i got some warm socks you need that i have i don't know if i could find another men's one but thank you so much fleury knows the downtown eastside well it's not the first time she's had to search for a loved one there mona wilson is colton's auntie colton was just born when we went down there and we saw mona across the street but her dad we didn't want us us to meet her he didn't want us to see her the way she was and a month later she was found in the pigtan farm that might be a big thing of why there's so much attention on the missing women was because of that pikmin perm and i can't take away from them because we were a part of that too we had to go down there and my ex estranged husband had to go to the trailer and look at belongings that might have been monas i see women's pictures everywhere they're all over facebook too and i was wondering about that too like it's not just women that are getting missing it's men too you know they talk about the highway of tears and there are no men's pictures [Music] barry seymour was 32 years old when he vanished from prince george he had traveled from his home community in fort ware to attend his son's ninth birthday charles and his dad and that's on his ninth birthday cosmic bowling and tyrez seymour holds close the last memories of his father me and mom and i think graham and them went to the bowling alley and that's where we met up with him and he he brought me presents and i had a good time bowling and the last time that i saw him was at the camelot park and working a lot it's been nearly a decade since he was last seen on may 26 2012. every day i used to call up north and talk to him and uh when i went to call him um and he said that he was lost i just couldn't believe it she started crying on the phone after she told me that and i uh gave the phone to my mom and and it's just it's a hard day i met him through my cousin admiral she was actually dating his brother and she brought me on a family trip she just set you guys up yeah literally seymour's former partner charity rivard says his disappearance is unlike him he was like he was very outdoorsy who's this with him in there bubs that's that's delaney yeah yeah so it's another one of him hunting that was like his favorite thing to do yeah he was like he was very outdoorsy yeah i love the cowboy boots it's just like that's the style going there he really wanted to wear those the two were high school sweethearts and the new family enjoyed exploring the outdoors he's very traditional he's super kind and he's a great father this is our family photos from trends like one and a half year i think sometimes it feels like it's just yesterday and then sometimes it's just like a life that once lived that's you know sometimes uh i don't know during recess i would see someone that made me look like him and i would just just completely flip i guess i don't you should be here there's no reason why he shouldn't be here he didn't deserve this rivard says there needs to be a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous men and boys start putting some a spotlight on all these missing and murdered indigenous men barry is not the only one there's so many people going messy and there's so much young kids there's so much elders they're just like it's just and it seems like it's one one article in the paper and then it's never spoken of again [Music] [Music] so [Music] he was young and vibrant and loving caring and you know had so much potential to go so many different ways in life you know when we talk about our indigenous brothers when we talk about victims of homicide and knowing that indigenous men are at the highest rate of being victims of homicide where's the supports coming from police where's the

Channel: APTN News

Views: 35,295

Keywords: aptn, national, news

Id: 6FpX8gni-cs

Length: 23min 50sec (1430 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 29 2022