The highway of tears...

Highway 16 West between Prince Rupert and Prince George has garnered the new name "Highway of Tears". It is a stretch that can be desolate and lonely, especially during the cold season.

Amnesty International estimates that 30 people have gone missing or were murdered along this stretch of road. All, except for one, were aboriginal. Amnesty will not provide a list of the missing and dead as it is considered a "soft statistic", says Shelby Raymond. "Much of it was anecdotal, gathered during the Stolen Sisters report." (Amnesty released the Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada in October 2004) That report cited 1996 federal government statistics that showed native women between 25 and 44 are five times more likely to die as the result of violence, than other women in the same age group. This same report included information gather by Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), which estimates that 500 Native Women in Canada have gone missing since 1984.

The names that I have been able to garner from www.highwayoftears.ca are:

Missing

Nicole Hoar
Tamara Chipman
Lana Derrick
Delphine Anne Nikal

Murdered

Monica Ignas
Alberta Williams
Ramona Wilson
Roxanne Thiara
Leah Alishia Germaine
Aielah Saric-Auger

Although I know that they are not the only ones, this is more then enough. One child's name on this list is enough.

My thoughts are many on The Highway of Tears...I will write more when I am done with present Native crisis that is here in Ontario and so close to home.