The Highway of Tears

The Highway of Tears is the name widely used for the Highway 16 corridor between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, where many people—most of them Indigenous women and girls—have disappeared or been murdered since the late 1960s. It is not one crime committed by one proven offender. It is a collection of individual investigations, family searches and systemic questions about transportation, safety, policing and the unequal exposure of Indigenous communities to violence. The exact number of people connected to the corridor is unknown and depends on geography and case criteria.

A concise timeline

1. Late 1960s onward
   Families report losses

   Disappearances and murders accumulate along a remote corridor linking northern communities.

2. Fall 2005
   Project E-PANA begins

   The RCMP creates a task force to review selected unsolved cases associated with major British Columbia highways.

3. March 2006
   Families gather in Prince George

   More than 500 people join the Highway of Tears Symposium and develop practical prevention proposals.

4. October 2007
   The task-force scope expands

   E-PANA grows to 18 files and a wider network of Highways 5, 16 and 97.

5. 2016–2017
   Transportation changes

   Government action supports new transit services intended to reduce dependence on hitchhiking.

6. Present
   Cases and advocacy continue

   Families, Indigenous organizations and investigators continue to seek answers and full implementation of safety recommendations.

One name, many individual cases

The phrase Highway of Tears describes a place and a pattern, not a single official case list. Carrier Sekani Family Services says the precise number of missing or murdered people is unknown. Project E-PANA uses narrower investigative criteria and expanded from nine to 18 files, some located beyond Highway 16. Community lists may include different dates, genders, roads and circumstances.

This distinction protects the identities of those missing and murdered. A person should not disappear into a dramatic collective label, and a case should not be counted or excluded merely because it fits a popular narrative. Each family has its own chronology, evidence and relationship with investigators.

The 33 recommendations

The 2006 symposium produced 33 recommendations across prevention, emergency response, family counselling and community development. Proposals included safe transportation, reliable communications, coordinated searches and support controlled by affected communities. These were not abstract policy ideas: they responded to isolation, poverty, long travel distances and gaps in public transit.

Later transit improvements addressed part of that agenda, but families and First Nations organizations continue to call for complete, measurable implementation. The corridor also became part of the national conversation that led to the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

How to read claims responsibly

Some individual crimes have been linked to known offenders, while many remain unresolved. No evidence establishes one person as responsible for the entire Highway of Tears history. Suspect lists, online maps and fixed victim totals should therefore be checked against the scope and date of the source.

A responsible archive centers families, names the institutional context and clearly labels uncertainty. It does not repeat graphic detail, imply that hitchhiking caused victimization or describe structural vulnerability as a personal failure.