Kayla Boisvert shares an update after going missing from Shambhala
Kayla Boisvert has resurfaced with a heartfelt video weeks after vanishing from Shambhala Music Festival, though she says she is not ready to reveal what happened before she heals from the experience.
Kayla Boisvert has spoken publicly for the first time since she went missing from Shambhala Music Festival in British Columbia, posting an emotional Instagram video thanking the people who brought her home safely. The 28-year-old paramedic from Trenton, Ontario, disappeared during the sold-out festival’s final night in the early hours of July 27, last seen near Salmo, British Columbia. She was found days later, on July 30, near the Nelway border crossing, roughly 13 kilometers (roughly 8 miles) from the festival grounds. British Columbia paramedics took her into their care before she was treated at the local hospital.
In her video, Boisvert said she was lost in the forest with no sense of direction until she pieced together enough information to seek help. Opening up about her ordeal, she shared that “being by yourself, no one around you, unfamiliar area, not knowing when you were going to find food next or a water source” is horrifying. She credited her two brothers, who flew with the rest of her family from Ontario, nearly 3,000 kilometers away, for joining the search-and-rescue effort on the ground. A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $20,000, with about 60 percent covering her family’s travel and the remainder going to the search-and-rescue team in the region.
Boisvert said she has started therapy and is taking stress leave from work, but is still processing the ordeal on her own timeline. “No matter how many times people ask me what happened, it’s not going to change when I decide to share that story,” she said, adding that she plans to open up once she has healed. She also addressed critics online who she feels have downplayed her trauma, calling the experience one that “something I wouldn’t wish anyone to ever experience.”
Her comments section reflected far more warmth than judgment. “You do not need to explain anything to anyone about nothin. We’re happy you’re safe, plain and simple,” wrote artist Smoakland. Another fellow artist, A Hundred Drums, added, “So very happy to learn you’re back safe and sound. Sending you and your family so much love.” A third commenter, @dopamineglassco, addressed the harsher comments and criticisms Boisvert was receiving on her vulnerable post, stating that “Society has not fully comprehended how trauma affects us, how mental health presents, how coping mechanisms develop, and as soon as you add in counter-culture, the comments are not kind. I’m so sorry that people judge you…”
Boisvert shared that she has “personally never been so grateful to be here and back at home, because when I was out there, I did not think I was going to make it back home.” Concluding her video with “I’ll always be a part of the rave community… it’ll be a good return once I do.”
About The Author
Shiv
Hey! I'm Shiv! Music is the greatest part of my life, I remember discovering dubstep when I was 15/16 and my entire life was altered - robot noises?? I needed MORE! Now, I live in NYC and have seen over 80 artists of all genres (I've lost count). Some of my faves being Odesza, Rezz, Griz, Zeds Dead, Pretty Lights, Of The Trees, Daily Bread, and Kaskade. You can usually find me in a warehouse under a pashmina.
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