It’s fairly safe to say that an impassioned speech by Nevaeh Pine on the “hidden human rights crisis and national tragedy” of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada left a lasting impression upon a panel of judges during a national public speaking competition held Wednesday.
Pine — a Grade 11 student at White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School — took first place in the Grade 9-12 category during Speaker’s Idol, an annual competition for students hosted by Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.
The product of Garden River First Nation is a repeat finalist, having finished second place in last year's event.
“You might be wondering, ‘why is this girl so worried about disappearing?’ It’s because statistics show I need to be,” said Pine, in her speech during the virtual Speaker's Idol finals. “I am five times more likely to go missing than other women and girls. I am 16 years old. I am Indigenous.
“It has been called the hidden human rights crisis and national tragedy — the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls of Canada.”
The 12 finalists for this year’s Speaker’s Idol were chosen from more than 200 students across Canada who submitted speeches.
This year, students based their speeches on Holocaust survivor and Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal’s quote: "I believe that there is no other solution than to constantly engage with the past and to learn from it."
"I joined Speaker’s Idol because I believe in our human rights, and I believe that we need to ensure that our human rights are protected,” said Pine during her introduction Wednesday. “Thank you for giving us this platform to speak on.”
Pine lamented the inaction of the federal government regarding the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women — an issue, in her words, “as old as Canada itself.”
“We are the most targeted and the least seen by media and law enforcement. Simon Weisenthal said, ‘I believe there is no other solution than to constantly engage with the past and to learn from it.’ It is not something you forget or get over,” Pine said in her speech. “If there can be any reconciliation of the past, it consists of the retelling of what happened, and recognizing and challenging systemic racism and discrimination.
“Silence is your compliance. This is a call to action. These women are someone’s mother, someone’s daughter — these women are someone.”
Judges were taken aback by Pine’s fiery delivery and piercing words.
“I think that was something that will stay with me for a very long time,” said lawyer and public policy expert Annamie Paul, adding that Pine's passion and conviction was “extremely clear.”
“I had goosebumps. I’m not sure that I actually breathed while listening to your speech,” added reconstructive surgeon Dr. Toni Zhong. “It was so moving, so powerful, and it was obviously a story that you’re telling as a first person.”
Pine took second place during last year’s Speaker’s Idol for a speech focused on the Every Child Matters movement, which gained traction across Canada after Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Nation used ground-penetrating radar to find what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.