A two day tour by two members of B.C.’s New Democrat party has reinforced the call for action along the Highway of Tears.
Jennifer Rice, MLA for the North Coast and Maurine Karagianis, NDP critic for women’s issues spent two days last week touring Hwy 16, the 724 Kilometre stretch of highway from Prince Rupert to Prince George that has been labeled the Highway of Tears after several women turned up missing or murdered along the highway.
The purpose of the tour was to highlight the need for alternate transportation for people in remote communities, specifically a shuttle bus for young women who have no other means of transportation but to hitchhike along the highway.
The shuttle bus was one of many recommendations made towards the Liberal government at the 2006 Highway of Tears symposium, and was again reinforced during the Wally Oppal inquiry in 2012.
“The B.C. Liberal government agreed to implement all the recommendations from the inquiry. That was several years ago, and they’ve yet to take action,” Maurine Karagianis, NDP critic for women’s issues, said, “we determined that if we cam up here ourselves, drove the highway, had a first hand experience of the kind of isolation that the people experience up, that we could go back to the legislature next week and reinforce our call for justice.”
Between the years of 1989-2006, nine women, most of aboriginal decent, turned up missing, or were murdered while hitchhiking along the highway.
The recommendation of a shuttle bus along the highway was one of many made, in regard to safe public transportation during the 2006 symposium.
This tour is also a reinforcement of the resolution put forth by the Town of Smithers’ Mayor, Taylor Bachrach in 2012.
Bachrach put forward a resolution at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention.
The resolution stated that the UBCM petition the B.C. government to implement the recommendation from the Highway of Tears symposium for a shuttle bus.
“We’re just reinforcing that call,” Karagianis said, “he went before the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention and had a resolution debated on the floor which received huge support.”
In January of 2013, the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board approved changes that saw the number of Greyhound trips between Prince George to Prince Rupert reduced from 22 to 14.
Rice says that people are now faced with no other alternatives.
“People are faced with no other alternatives,” Rice said, “we have limited Greyhound service, and many people cannot afford vehicles. If you’re living on social assistance or disability and you only have a couple hundred dollars a month, but it takes you $50 to hire a taxi to go to town and get groceries it’s just not feasible, so no wonder people hitchhike.”
Both believe it is time the government acted upon the promises that they made regarding this issue.
“Jennifer Rice has asked numerous times in the legislature when the government is going to implement the bus, and they continue to stall or give a non-answer,” Karagianis said, “they’re declaring that we are going to have a violence free B.C., and yet most of the resources we need to prevent violence, and to keep women safe in particular, have been cut or missing.”
Both Karagianis and Rice believe that this isn’t just about a safety issue for women either, rather it’s an issue of safety regarding both men and women, and about creating equality as well.
“If it saves on life, it is worth it,” Karagianis said, “this is about saving lives and about safety for women and men travelling this highway. I don’t think you can put a price on that.”
Rice adds, “if you look at the amount of wealth that is being generated from the resource extraction communities, particularly in the north, and what’s planned for the north, it’s such a drop in the bucket, as far as cost goes, to implement such a service.”
Karagianis hopes that this tour will finally force the government to work with local communities and leaders, to act on the promises they’ve made.
And that justice will be served to the people of those communities.
“They deserve justice,” Karagianis said, “they deserve to be treated fairly, and they deserve transportation options where non exist.”
