Annual Relay Run Amplifies Call for Justice on Highway of Tears
An annual relay run dedicated to raising awareness and advocating for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S) concluded Sunday in Terrace, British Columbia. The Tears to Hope Society’s event saw participants traverse sections of Highway 16, known as the Highway of Tears, a route with a tragic history of unsolved cases.
Holly Roberge, who identifies with the Gixdii Motx name, described the experience of running along the highway as deeply spiritual. “There’s a different loved one pictured, at the beginning and the end,” Roberge stated. “When I choose these runs, I smudge and I bring strength and prayers to this family… If I can see the river, it calms me, and it gives me that strength that I need.”
The Tears to Hope Society initiated this relay in 2019, focusing on the ongoing need for advocacy for those who have gone missing or been murdered along Highway 16. This year’s event, held over the past weekend, involved runners completing 10-kilometer segments across four routes converging on Terrace. These routes originated from Smithers, Nass Valley, Prince Rupert, and Kitimaat.
Memorial Signs Mark the Route
Along the relay routes, signs are placed every 10 kilometers, each displaying a photograph of a loved one who never returned home. Over 50 such images are part of the memorial. The Highway of Tears is associated with at least 18 known cold cases involving women, many of whom are Indigenous, who disappeared or were killed along the route since 1969, with several current cases also under investigation.
Sheridan Martin shared the profound impact of seeing her sister Cindy Martin’s photo among the memorial signs. Cindy Martin was 50 when she went missing in 2018, and her remains were discovered in 2022. “I can’t begin to tell you how important that is to see my sister’s picture along the highway there,” Martin said. “It’s not just a name. It’s not just statistics. It’s an actual face in colour. So that means a lot to me.”
Persistent Advocacy and Lingering Questions
Denise Halfyard, manager for the Tears to Hope Society, emphasized that the relay serves as a powerful reminder that families affected by disappearances and murders along and around Highway 16 have not forgotten their relatives. She noted that raising awareness transcends mere public outcry or marches. Halfyard’s cousin, Tamara Chipman, vanished near Prince Rupert in the fall of 2005, and the case remains unresolved.
“With my cousin’s case, now that it’s been 20 years people who may know something are 20 years older and maybe it’s eating away at them,” Halfyard explained. “Maybe they’re starting to feel like they need to unload that information and let us know where she is.”
Origins of the Movement
Halfyard’s family has been actively involved in advocating for MMIWG2S along the Highway of Tears and throughout the country for two decades. Lorna Brown, executive director of the Tears to Hope Society and Halfyard’s mother, recounted how the movement began with a simple sketch on a restaurant napkin in Witset, B.C., following the disappearance of her niece.
Brown described a conversation with her cousin Florence Naziel and niece Karen Plazway about a planned awareness walk for missing individuals in the area, including Chipman’s case. “She said, you know, ‘I need to come up with a name for our walk coming up in March…’ Karen began to draw tears…. She was writing the names of those that had gone missing,” Brown recalled. “And then before you know it, the napkin was just filled with tears…. Karen said, ‘It’s like a highway of tears,’ and, thus, the movement was born.”
This grassroots initiative evolved, contributing to national MMIWG2S campaigns and drawing international attention, including a cross-country walk by Brown’s sister, Gladys Radek. “It’s not work we ever asked to do but it feels like almost a responsibility, which in so many ways seems unfair,” Lorna Brown commented. “As Indigenous women, we have to resist so much violence… and we keep on, even just creating space, because it’s not just about us.”
Family-Centered Approach to Advocacy
Brown believes the Tears to Hope Society’s advocacy finds success due to its family-centric approach. “I feel like as Tears to Hope, we’ve actually created a stage. We didn’t wait for a stage, we actually created that,” Brown stated. “It’s the others that come alongside us to support what we do that allows us to keep going.”
Sheridan Martin underscored the critical need for sustained attention to the MMIW issue. “I thought MMIW was a story of other families until Cindy went missing, and it became our story. Because of our brown skin, we’re going missing and it is because of the colour of the skin. We have to put that truth on the table.”
Authorities did not provide comments regarding the status of Tamara Chipman or Cindy Martin’s cases by the time of reporting. Roberge expressed her commitment to continuing her participation in the relay run annually. “I’ll be a lifelong runner if I can,” she declared. “I’ll run until I can’t to keep this movement going.”
