Highway of Tears

Highway of Tears
Highway of Tears corridor including some paved egresses from outlying communities to Highway 16.
Details
Victims	80+
Span of crimes	1970–present
Country	Canada
Location(s)	Prince George, British Columbia Prince Rupert, British Columbia

The Highway of Tears is a 719-kilometre (447 mi) corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of crimes against many women, beginning in 1970 when the highway was completed. The phrase was coined during a vigil held in Terrace, British Columbia in 1998, by Florence Naziel, who was thinking of the victims' families crying over their loved ones.^[1] There are a disproportionately high number of Indigenous women on the list of victims, hence the association with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.

Proposed explanations for the years-long endurance of the crimes and the limited progress in identifying culprits include poverty, drug abuse, widespread domestic violence, disconnection with traditional culture and disruption of the family unit through the foster care system and Canadian Indian residential school system.^[2][3][4][5] Poverty in particular leads to low rates of vehicle ownership and mobility; thus, hitchhiking is often the only way for many to travel vast distances to see family or go to work, school, or seek medical treatment. The lack of public transportation between communities was at one time a major factor. Another factor leading to unsolved disappearances is that the area is largely isolated and remote. Soft soil in many areas makes burial easier and carnivorous scavengers often carry away human remains.^[6][7][8]

External videos
B.C.‘s infamous Highway of Tears, CBC Archives, 2:32, 21 June 2006, reported by Miyoung Lee[2]