Selina Violet Wallace was 19 when she disappeared from her home on Quadra Island, British Columbia, in the winter of 1971. A member of the We Wai Kai First Nation and one of ten children, she was last seen on the evening of February 7 at a pier in Cape Mudge after spending the day with family and friends and later going to the pier with a male friend.

Her family searched the pier and nearby beach when she failed to return on February 8. The waters off Cape Mudge have extremely strong tidal currents, and authorities said foul play was not suspected, proposing accidental drowning as the prevailing theory. The family reports they encountered resistance when seeking help: a sister and her partner were told Selina was old enough to leave home, another sister in Quebec was not informed for weeks, and the official search was eventually called off with the family feeling they lacked adequate support from the Band Council, the Band Chief, and the police.

Many questions remain about the early response and whether more could have been done in those crucial days.