About the Highway of Tears

"Highway of Tears" is about the missing or murdered women along a 724 kilometer stretch of highway in northern British Columbia. None of the 18 cold-cases since the 1960's had been solved, until project E-Pana (a special division of the RCMP) managed to link DNA to Portland drifter, Bobby Jack Fowler with the 1974 murder of 16 year-old hitchhiker, Colleen MacMillen. In Canada, over 600 Aboriginal women have been reported missing or been murdered since the 1960s. Viewers will discover what the effects of generational poverty, residential schools, systemic violence, and high unemployment rates have done to First Nations reserves and how they tie in with the missing and murdered women in the Highway of Tears cases. Aboriginal women are considered abject victims of violence.

Highway of Tears is originally known as Highway 16 which is a section of the Yellowhead Highway which runs through British Columbia. The highway stretches 1347 km long and has a rich history which dates back all the way to 1942, when the highway was given the number “16.” The route that the highway took was more to the north of today's highway, and it was not as long as it is now. Highway 16 originally ran from New Hazelton east to an obscure location known as Aleza Lake. In 1947, Highway 16's western end was moved from New Hazelton to the coastal city of Prince Rupert, and in 1953, the highway was extended east to Prince George. In 1969, further alignment east into Yellowhead Pass was opened to traffic after being constructed up through 1968 and raised to all-weather standards in 1969. Highway 16's alignment on the Haida Gwaii was commissioned in 1984, with BC Ferries beginning service along Highway 16 to the Haida Gwaii the following year.