Facts about the Highway Of Tears
- 724 km is the length of the Yellowhead Highway 16 in British Columbia. Tragically this space now referred to as The Highway of Tears is where most First Nations women have vanished or discovered as murdered (Sabo, 2016, 2019).
- 12-16% of missing or murdered Indigenous Women; make up 4% of Canada’s population (Kameir, 2014).
- E-PANA defined: Spirit Goddess who tends to the souls before they are reincarnated or go to Heaven in Inuit the “E” portion comes from the Division of Criminal Operations requesting review of the murders on Highway 16 (Royal Canadian mounted Police in British Columbia, n.d.).
- Project E-PANA, which is the RCMP’s investigation into the murders that occurred on The Highway of Tears began in the fall of 2005 (Carrier Sekani Family Services, n.d).
In the Voice Of A Murdered Indigenous Woman
*content warning
I am unable to feel warm
the earth crusted to my skin
my hair is all tangled
I wish my mom was here
she would hate my onyx locks
being all matted and dirty
beautiful fuchsia nail polish
now scratched and bloody
I tried to fight off
this man who basically
took me as I walked
home from work
What's worse is that daylight
was at the point of a faded sun
I screamed -- no one heard me
Trapped and tied up in the trunk
of one of those old-fashioned
jeeps; with plastic zip bands
my hands and feet both bound
I am not safe, I want my soft
yellow and green floral comforter
to hide below
I am no longer able to feel my tears
they have dried to my face -- brittle drops
-- the moisture that was once
on my body has now diminished into
a pile of buried bones
positioned face down
I can never travel to the land
of where my ancestors
reside
Canada's Highway of Tears and the Women We Forgot: Rawiya Kameir
https://gawker.com/canadas-highway-of-tears-and-the-women-we-forgot-1579002464
Carrier Sekani Family Services https://www.highwayoftears.org/about-us/carrier-sekani-family-services
Highway of Tears By Don Sabo https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/highway-of-tears
Project E-PANA http://cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=1525#cont
