Highway of Tears Walk & Forums Aim to Raise Awareness, Improve Safety
Prince Rupert, B.C. – Today marks the beginning of the Highway of Tears ‘Cleansing the Highway’ Walk.
It will leave Nisga Hall in Prince Rupert before making its way towards Prince George. It will also include forums in many of the communities along Highway 16.
Organizers say the goal is to help bring awareness to “the many missing and murdered loved ones from Highway 16.”
Another goal is to support northern communities along the highway develop safety plans. It was 10 years ago a symposium was organized in Prince George to coordinate and address the issue of many indigenous women who were going missing or found murdered.
It was then a group of family members walked from Prince Rupert to Prince George to help raise awareness.
To mark the 10 years that have passed, some of the families will walk the same highway to continue to raise awareness.
Many of the cases remain unsolved while family members continue to search for answers.
Below is the route and forum schedule:
– Prince Rupert June 1-Nisga Hall 860 3rd Ave. West
– Terrace June 3-George Little House (Victim & Survivors Crime Walk)
– Kitwanga June 5-Kitwanga Hall
– Hagwilget June 7-Hagwilget Hall
– Hazelton June 8-Private Luncheon
– Smithers June 11-Ramona Lisa Wilson Memorial Walk & Music Fest
– Burns Lake-June 13-Location TBA
– Prince George- June 21-Treasure Cove parking lot to Lheidli Tenneh Park (RCMP Escort)
Comments
How many forums etc are there going to be over this ? Who doesn’t know about this? We are all well aware of this. We still see hitchikers risking their lives. You can put up all the signs you want..spend millions on this and it will not stop people from hitchhiking.
We all know the chance smoking causes and yet people still do it..
Stay classy there P Val by blaming the victims. We should just forget about the degenerate(s) that is/are abducting and/or killing these women? Wow.
If I am told that going to certain areas of town after midnight is a unsafe move…and yet I still go there.. It doesn’t make me a victim..it makes me stupid.
never once did I say to not pursue the person(s) doing this crime.. I am all for catching them and letting them have their day in court.. Nice try though.
A bit unfair to P Val to say the least! Undoubtedly hitchhiking has contributed in a major way to what has happened. Pointing that out, in my opinion, does not lay blame on the victims except that ignoring the danger of hitchhiking was not the best choice of action. That criticism is allowed and not a way of laying blame! How else can we remind people about the dangers of hitchhiking? In an ideal world we should be safe all the time, but this world is far from being in an ideal state. Neither did P Val’s remark insinuate that we should just forget about the degenerates. Let’s be a fair!
That is a terrible response – peoples loved ones have been abducted and most likely met a terrible demise and your response was – I know… quite reminding us. Btw, it is law to be “reminded” that smoking kills. Not to mention millions spent on getting people to quite. Shame on you.
Good time to bring back the interdict list.
37 men and 14 women missing.
Personally I think we should have constant reminders of all of the people who have gone missing or been found murdered. We should never forget those who have had their lives so tragically taken and respect their loved one’s loss. However….it upsets me that this consistently refers to indigenous women who are missing or found murdered. There have been Caucasian women as well and they should also be recognized. Why are they being separated or treated differently? It’s tragic all around.
Police reports have shown in most cases the perpetuator was known to the victim and 80% of cases solved. The problem is how to stop it and that the violence is not specific to females. The violence to males is much higher but that seems to be ignored by all the special interest groups.
“– Prince George- June 21-Treasure Cove parking lot to Lheidli Tenneh Park (RCMP Escort).”
Circumstances permitting I would like to join in the walk, hopefully they will give the public the time of departure from the parking lot.
Just to support P Val
I would imagine those that gave him the negatives were taught some of the same lessons I was taught as a child and growing into adulthood.
One of the first lessons is don’t touch the stove top, you could get burned.
Some of did touch it and did get burned, were they a victim?
Another, Look both ways before crossing the street and don’t run out blindly.
Again some did, I did and got hit by a car, was I a victim?
Much later, Don’t drive drunk and don’t ride with a drunk.
Once more some did, I lost a friend who thought it was ok to ride with a drunk, was he a victim?
So many things are taught to us and sometimes we just have to find out for ourselves, it’s the same in this case.
Just one more, Do not hitchhike there’s a murder on Hwy 16W, It’s been well known for at least ten years.
And yet we still see them…
The RCMP released a report on Canada’s missing and murdered aboriginal women last May based on statistics from police agencies across the country. It said at least 1,181 indigenous women and girls were murdered or went missing between 1980 and 2012.
Noting that Mr. Valcourt has now divulged unreleased information about ethnicity collected by the RCMP, Mr. Paulson wrote: “The consolidated data from the nearly 300 contributing police agencies has confirmed that 70 per cent of the offenders were of aboriginal origin, 25 per cent were non-aboriginal, and five per cent were of unknown ethnicity.”
Time to start looking for the killer(s) a bit closer to home…
Interesting about the thumbs down when the facts are stated where the majority of the problem lies. Truth does not fit the mantra I guess. Natives should be looking into their own communities for the much larger part of the problem. Being white I do not like what seems implied where the problem lies.
Comments for this article are closed.