I finished this book in a puddle of feelings and tears. I knew even before taking it off the store shelf it would be packed with sorrow, anger and devastation, and I was not disappointed. Jessica McDiarmid approaches the sensitive and tragic topic with a journalistic and respective balance to both sides of the story.
Highway 16, also known as the “Highway of Tears” is a stretch of highway through British Columbia, Canada, where hundreds, maybe thousands, of women have gone missing over the years. All but one were Indigenous. McDiarmid takes us through the heart-wrenching searches for loved ones, the stories of the women and girls behind the mystery, and busting the myth that they were sex workers, runaways, or addicts – it simply isn’t true. The author also takes on the systematic racism both in the RCMP and Canadian culture in general which led to many of these cases being ignored or not thoroughly investigated.
I grew up not far from where all of the disappearances and murders happened. I recognized one of the last names as someone who used to be our neighbour. This hit really close to home. Just to drive a point home about how much radio silence there was regarding these cases, I never really heard much about them. Not until I was an adult and it was hitting the news because of the symposium and then the national inquiry. And yet it’s true – when a white person or child goes missing, there is an abundance of press coverage and efforts to locate them. Think Caley Anthony or Lacey Peterson, or the example the author used, Melanie Carpenter.
In 2021, we’re still inundated with examples of systematic racism. Most recently, there have been over 1000 bodies found on former residential school sites, the last of which only closed in 1996. This book tells things from the viewpoint of the Indigenous people living this reality. From the social systems, or lack thereof, that keep them in poverty, to criminal investigations that fail them time after time because the girls or women who vanish are “runaways” or something. We aren’t merely inundated with examples – we are overwhelmed with a truth the Indigenous people have long known and tried to speak up about, only to meet a brick wall of ignorance from those who should care.
A quick Google search informs me that the Canadian federal government and Rogers are supposedly installing twelve new cell towers along Highway 16, something that has been a recommendation since the symposium. This was reported by CBC in April. (Link at bottom of post). It’s an improvement which is long overdue, with many, many steps still necessary for reconciliation and justice.
In many of these missing persons cases, justice might be impossible. It’s been many years since some of these women and girls simply vanished, some whose bodies were never found. Much like the residential schools, they were children, sisters, mothers and aunts who never came home. They are still remembered, loved and mourned. Many of the living family members and friends are getting older and some are already deceased. These stories will fade in time if no one else speaks up for them. Thankfully, Jessica McDiarmid has written a riveting and truthful account of this mystery, helping to keep the stories alive. We owe these women and girls that, and much more.
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