{"id":102649,"date":"2026-03-10T12:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102649"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:20:18","slug":"youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You\u2019re the ones who make it real\u2019: Packed forum hears highway horrors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 Tannis Smith says routinely driving on area highways is so dangerous, she\u2019s taken out extra life insurance. Smith, from the Red Rock Indian Band, was one of well over 100 people who filled the restaurant space at the Slovak Legion Monday night for an open forum on northern Ontario highway safety. It was led by Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles and four of her MPPs \u2014 all from northern ridings. \u201cI travel on the highway a lot for my work,\u201d Smith told the room. \u201cI lost a cousin near Pearl, Ontario due to a car accident, and I kind of feel emotional, but I&#8217;m scared to travel on the highways for work.\u201d \u201cI bought extra life insurance so my&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F10%2Fyoure-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 Tannis Smith says routinely driving on area highways is so dangerous, she\u2019s taken out extra life insurance. Smith, from the Red Rock Indian Band, was one of well over 100 people who filled the restaurant space at the Slovak Legion Monday night for an open forum on northern Ontario highway safety. It was led by Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles and four of her MPPs \u2014 all from northern ridings. \u201cI travel on the highway a lot for my work,\u201d Smith told the room. \u201cI lost a cousin near Pearl, Ontario due to a car accident, and I kind of feel emotional, but I&#8217;m scared to travel on the highways for work.\u201d \u201cI bought extra life insurance so my... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F10%2Fyoure-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018You\u2019re the ones who make it real\u2019: Packed forum hears highway horrors - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018You\u2019re the ones who make it real\u2019: Packed forum hears highway horrors - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 Tannis Smith says routinely driving on area highways is so dangerous, she\u2019s taken out extra life insurance. Smith, from the Red Rock Indian Band, was one of well over 100 people who filled the restaurant space at the Slovak Legion Monday night for an open forum on northern Ontario highway safety. It was led by Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles and four of her MPPs \u2014 all from northern ridings. \u201cI travel on the highway a lot for my work,\u201d Smith told the room. \u201cI lost a cousin near Pearl, Ontario due to a car accident, and I kind of feel emotional, but I&#8217;m scared to travel on the highways for work.\u201d \u201cI bought extra life insurance so my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T16:19:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T16:20:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/10\\\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/10\\\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018You\u2019re the ones who make it real\u2019: Packed forum hears highway horrors\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-10T16:19:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T16:20:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/10\\\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1043,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/10\\\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/10\\\/youre-the-ones-who-make-it-real-packed-forum-hears-highway-horrors\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018You\u2019re the ones who make it real\u2019: Packed forum hears highway horrors - 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