Highway of Tears, 24x36", Ink and Gel pen on paper.

“ From 1989 to present 40 young women went missing or were found murdered along the 724 kilometre length of highway 16 – now commonly referred to as the Highway of Tears. All but one of these victims were Aboriginal women.

 

The RCMP’s investigation into the highway murders, referred to as Project E-PANA, began in the fall of 2005. In October 2007, the RCMP expanded the number of women in their investigation to 18 and increased the total kilometre to approximately 1500, which included the Highway of Tears and parts of Highway 97 and highway 5. The cases involved in the project now ranged in date from 1969 to 2018. No new cases have been added to the RCMP investigation since 2018; however, young women still continue to experience violence along British Columbia highways.

 

There is still much debate over the exact number of women who have gone missing in northern BC, but many people living in the north believe that the number exceeds 30. Under the CSFS Highway of Tears Initiative we do not share the same set of criteria for those on our highway of Tears “list”. We provide advocacy and support to all family members and friends that have lost a loved one to violence.” 

 

I have heard about this highway my entire life, and it hurts more every time i think about it. Aboriginal Woman are going missing constantly all over North America, and most of the time nothing is done about it until it way too late. More needs to be done to protect our woman, our people in general. 

This piece was so painful for me to complete, both because of the subject, and just how much detail i wanted to go into. 

I hope you all like it. Please be safe out there.