Articles
“At least 18 women and girls, many of them aboriginal, have been murdered or disappeared along Highway 16 and the adjacent Highways 5 and 97 since 1969.
Many of them were believed to be hitchhiking when they were last seen alive, and some of the recommendations for the Highway of Tears have focused on the dangers associated with hitchhiking and a lack of transportation linking remote communities and First Nations reserves.
“Hitchhiking takes on a particular importance in the Highway of Tears discussion because there are serious transportation needs that aren’t being met in the north,” said Holler, who stressed that not all Highway of Tears victims were hitchhikers.
“The easy solution is to say, ‘Don’t ever hitchhike, and you’re much less likely to become a victim,’ but it’s just not that simple. For many people, hitchhiking is an absolute necessity.”
The RCMP approached Holler and her colleagues about the possibility of studying hitchhiking, and they officially launched the project in September 2012.”
– The Globe and Mail, Researchers examine hitchhiking along B.C.’s so-called Highway of Tears.
“”Hitchhiking takes on a particular importance in the Highway of Tears discussion because there are serious transportation needs that aren’t being met in the north,” said Holler, who stressed that not all Highway of Tears victims were hitchhikers.
“The easy solution is to say, ‘Don’t ever hitchhike, and you’re much less likely to become a victim,’ but it’s just not that simple. For many people, hitchhiking is an absolute necessity.”
The RCMP approached Holler and her colleagues about the possibility of studying hitchhiking, and they officially launched the project in September 2012.
Holler and her fellow researchers developed an online survey to ask hitchhikers about themselves and their experiences, while the RCMP has directed its traffic officers in the north to stop and gather information from hitchhikers they come across.
At the same time, several commercial courier companies installed GPS devices in their trucks to allow drivers to indicate where they see hitchhikers with the press of a button.”
– Kelowna Now, Highway Of Tears Hitchhiking Studied By Researchers.
Info
Get more info at HighwayofTears.ca.
Download
Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #21 – Highway of Tears.
Close Ups
Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
Creative Commons License
This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
