The Highway of Tears is a 719-kilometre (447 mi) corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of crimes against many Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) beginning in 1970. The phrase was coined during a vigil held in Terrace, British Columbia in 1998, by Florence Naziel, who was thinking of the victims’ families crying over their loved ones. There are a disproportionately high number of Indigenous women on the list of victims.
Title: UNBROKEN
Subtitle: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
Author: ANGELA STERRITT
Release Date: MAY 30, 2023
Genre: NON-FICTION, BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS, TRUE CRIME, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Number Of Pages: 312 Pages
Publisher: GREYSTONE BOOKS
ISBN: 9781771648165
Rating: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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DESCRIPTION:
Unbroken is a remarkable work of memoir and investigative journalism focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, written by an award-winning Gitxsan journalist who survived life on the streets against all odds.
As a Gitxsan teenager navigating life on the streets, Angela Sterritt wrote in her journal to help her survive and find her place in the world. Now an acclaimed journalist, she writes for major news outlets to push for justice and to light a path for Indigenous women, girls, and survivors. In her brilliant debut, Sterritt shares her memoir alongside investigative reporting into cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, showing how colonialism and racism led to a society where Sterritt struggled to survive as a young person, and where the lives of Indigenous women and girls are ignored and devalued.
Growing up, Sterritt was steeped in the stories of her ancestors: grandparents who carried bentwood boxes of berries, hunted and trapped, and later fought for rights and title to that land. But as a vulnerable young woman, kicked out of the family home and living on the street, Sterritt inhabited places that, today, are infamous for being communities where women have gone missing or been murdered: Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and, later on, Northern BC’s Highway of Tears. Sterritt faced darkness: she experienced violence from partners and strangers and saw friends and community members die or go missing. But she navigated the street, group homes, and SROs to finally find her place in journalism and academic excellence at university, relying entirely on her own strength, resilience, and creativity along with the support of her ancestors and community to find her way.
“She could have been me,” Sterritt acknowledges today, and her empathy for victims, survivors, and families drives her present-day investigations into the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women. In the end, Sterritt steps into a place of power, demanding accountability from the media and the public, exposing racism, and showing that there is much work to do on the path towards understanding the truth.
But most importantly, she proves that the strength and brilliance of Indigenous women is unbroken, and that together, they can build lives of joy and abundance.
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MY REVIEW:
Angela Sterritt has written a book that is important in innumerable ways. She writes with unflinching honesty about the trauma she has endured throughout her life as an Indigenous woman.
It is that shared intergenerational trauma that resonates throughout the stories in her memoir/treatise on the MMIW Crisis.
This book is not only a memoir. It is not just “True Crime.” Instead it is both a wake-up call and a call to action.
People need to know more. They need to see the Missing and Murdered women and girls as living, breathing, loving people who had lives and families and not just as a grim statistics.
However, people do need to be made aware of those grim statistics. I believe that many people are unaware of the facts.
The statistics are shocking and horrifying. For example…
“According to statistics gathered by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Indigenous women are twelve times as likely to be murdered or missing as any other women in Canada and sixteen times as likely to be murdered as white women… Simply being Indigenous and female is a risk.”
So, if being an Indigenous woman is so risky, what can be done? How can we help? What is the first step that people can take to attempt to make a difference?
Well, if you read this book you will have taken the first step … educating yourself about the realities that Indigenous women and girls face on a daily basis.Congratulations on joining the fight to find the many MMIWG.
This book is unlike any other. Even though it does talk about many MMIW victims, it is the story of Angela Sterritt’s life so far as well as that of people she has met or worked with during her life do far. Writing about her years of homelessness as a teen, she states:
“I was sometimes in survival mode as a child. But as a teenager, surviving the circumstances I’d been placed in gave me a better understanding of the world that was sharply divided by privilege and power on one side and disenfranchisement and exclusion on the other.”
I could go on and on about the abuses she, and other Indigenous youth experienced, but I truly believe that this book is an essential read and you MUST READ it for yourself.
I believe that Canadians are ashamed of the way Indigenous women and girls have been (and often still are) treated and it is that shame that allows the treatment to be continued. THIS MUST STOP.
It would be a crying shame if people were to skip reading this book. It is in incredibly important for every Canadian and US citizen to learn the truth about the systemic and widespread racism that continues to be ongoing in our countries.
If we read about, or watched a documentary film about these same injustices happening in other countries, we, as a society, would be appalled. We would raise up our voices and call for the authorities to put an end to such treatment. So, why is it that many seem to turn a blind eye when it happens here in Canada?
Angela Sterritt’s book is a CALL TO ACTION.
Please, please, please read this book. And once you have, pass it on to someone else, and have them pass it on again. It is up to us to recognize the injustices and to raise up our voices. We MUST demand action – NOW.
I am rating UNBROKEN as 5+ out of 5 Stars.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Angela Sterritt is an award-winning journalist, writer, and artist. Sterritt has worked as a journalist for close to twenty years and has been with the CBC since 2003.
She currently works with CBC Vancouver as a host and television, radio, and digital reporter.
She is a proud member of the Gitxsan Nation and lives on Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh territories, Vancouver, Canada.
To learn more about this author visit the following links:
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
https://angelasterritt.com/
2021 CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS – WINNER – BEST LOCAL REPORTER
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER:
Greystone Books is a leading independent publisher of books about nature, science, health, and social issues, with a commitment to environmental stewardship.
We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint in our production and supply chain. We print on paper that meets international standards set by globally recognized organizations that certify paper products sourced with socially responsible and environmentally friendly methods.
Founded in Vancouver in 1993 and named after the greystone commonly used in heritage architecture in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, our name reflects both the prairie roots of founding publisher Rob Sanders and a material grounded in the natural world.
We publish books that provide insight into living with a deep connection to nature: books that show readers how we can respect, protect, and care for the species we share this planet with—and how to create a future with them in mind.
As part of our commitment to protecting the environment, we publish a collection of our books in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute (DSI), a non-profit organization that raises public awareness and advances political action in Canada on the climate and biodiversity crisis and their solutions. Proceeds from the books published in partnership with the DSI help fund their organizing and advocacy initiatives.
To learn more about this Publisher visit the following links:
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
https://greystonebooks.com
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