What’s It Like To Drive On The Highway of Tears in Northern Canada?

The Highway of Tears is a 725-kilometre (450 mi) corridor of Highway #16 located between Prince George and Prince Rupert in the province of British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of many murders and disappearances "beginning in 1970". But there are undocumented disappearances and deaths from well before the 1960s, probably beginning in 1953 when the highway was built and the access began.
The "Highway of Tears" also unofficially INCLUDES the 2,081 km (1,293 mi) HIGHWAY #97 and the 543 km (337 mi) HIGHWAY #5. People have been murdered and disappeared from locations along these highways as well, due to the similar remote desolate wilderness.
My first winter working and living next to the Highway of Tears (#97, just outside Prince George) I remember going outside at night in the winter. Just to marvel at the moon and stars, especially the reflection of the moon off the perfect, pale blankets of snow everywhere.
It seemed like being on the moon in terms of isolation. It was so still, and cold, and quiet.
Except for the sound of engine brakes on trucks in the distance every once and a while. Engine brakes are loud. And because of the terrain, the sound carries very far.
And that's how far away you are up there. Most of the traffic at that time of year, and in general, is truck traffic.
And there's not much up there besides logging.
I didn't know what the Highway was when I came to British Columbia from another province. It's bloody history, the legacy of tragedy or its current existence. But while I stood in the snow under the stars I remember thinking "(for) how many people have had that be the last sound they hear??"Imagine all you could hear were those truck brakes?
KNOWING that someone was out there, but they can't hear or help you.
"Once you know. You can't unknow. You can only choose to ignore it".
I heard that at the UNBC screening of a Highway of Tears documentary in 2014.When asked by a family member of a missing woman *"Why aren't there any monuments where we can go and pay respects?"* The filmmakers said when they inquired if the government would be interested in memorializing the many victims they were told point-blank, "IT WOULD BE BAD FOR TOURISM".
As someone commented, "it's just a road". And they're right. It is "just a road". And there are beautiful stretches of road, the #16, #97, #5, (and +?)
Stretches of well-maintained pavement run through mountain vistas, fields, and vast forests in a multitude of shades of green, often next to rivers or lakes that have carved their way through the ancient rocky terrain. There's a very noticeable "northwest" dankness that sets in as you get closer to the coast from the temperate rainforests near the Pacific. But the conditions and types of beauty and the animals you will encounter, depend on the time of year when you travel as well. Summer makes hitchhiking easier, but nothing ever makes it SAFER. Especially when you consider that anyone looking to abduct someone in that area is using it because of its "underground tourism industry".
"So who's the killer? Why don't they catch them?"
-After speaking with cab drivers, locals and other people working in the region, and accounts from the victim's family and friends it appears there isn't one person responsible. The large billboards that you don't see say "Killer on the loose" implying there is ONLY one.
The logical deduction is that many people are responsible, maybe a cab driver, truckers who work the north, RCMP officers with access to vulnerable people, transient travelers, basically anyone aware that you have access to people. Anyone with access to those areas, intent to harm (this isn't an invitation, as awareness grows, so does vigilance and technology).Just erecting a sign and calling it a day is an ugly truth of race relations. Interesting that a developed country can't make more of an effort to stop the violence eh?
That's why a lot of people in Canada and outside of the country aren't aware of the Highway of Tears, and the government doesn't bring it up.
Winter is almost always long. And during it, temperatures drop to the point where you can't even breathe outside long enough to freeze to death.
And there are figuratively and literally, dead zones.
Cell phones don't work at all in many sections of the highway between places. There is NO bus service between towns and what constitutes the "major" city for services (Prince George, population approx 74,000). Terrace is a bad 5 hours from Prince George, Prince Rupert (on the coast where the #16 ends) is a long 8 plus hour drive from PG. Unfortunately, PG is the only place to access many very, very limited services people want, or desperately NEED in the northern part of BC.
Many, many people go missing or end up murdered in this mountainous, forested area. People of different colours. Historically the trend toward doing more to find and bring justice to non-Native disappearances is another uncomfortable, ugly reality of the systemic racism Canada was founded on.
That continues to the present day.
It's not uncommon to see a couple of women or a guy hitchhiking on these highways in the warmer months.
"But why do people hitchhike there if they know it's dangerous?"
-Imagine you need to see a doctor, but there isn't one where you live so you have to drive an hour (or eight) away? Or you find a job out of town? Or have family or friends that you need to visit? But you don't have a car. Or you don't know anyone with a car that can take you. There's no bus you can buy a ticket for, or even if there was, you couldn't afford one. What do you do?
If you'd like to find out more, there are resources available out there. Including a well-made documentary called "Highway of Tears". If you do watch this 2015 documentary PLEASE DON'T watch it on Netflix. The easy-to-find Netflix version REMOVED an animated opening sequence to the film that explains a little of the "history" of Canadian colonization leading up to the conditions today (possibly why they chose to use animation and also omit it?!)This intro uses the ACTUAL song "Squaws Along the Yukon" by Hank Thompson and Cam Smith (written), released in 1958 which includes charming lines such as:" The Squaws along the Yukon are good enough for me", and "Ooga ooga mooska. Which means that I love you".
-It supposedly means “I love you” in the "Eskimo"language. Since there are three different languages used by Inuit people that isn’t very likely. And some other nonsense lyrics presumably meant to be amusing.
One can only guess that this content wasn't included because it tells a hard truth. "It's okay to know, but you don't need to know WHY!" Little documentaries can air, but nothing more than superficial can be done, "it's bad press eh".
By asking questions you're helping to raise awareness. By talking about it, more people find out about the existence of the highway, and the reasons behind it. Interest in this very painful topic generates energy toward finding solutions and more importantly, paying respect.
Just taking some time out of your life to acknowledge and remember people, mostly women, who've left their loved ones unexpectedly and tragically helps to encourage healing through respect.
Reconciliation starts with recognizing.