Highway of Tears

My late husband's heritage was Indigenous. His mother was Cree from the West. In the very short period of time that we were married and before he died in 1980, his First Nations heritage never came up in our discussions, which I mostly attribute to a period of time in history, generally speaking, when it wasn't in the forefront of the collective mindset in mainstream Canadian culture to talk about these important issues. To say this is regretful is a gross understatement. I'm certain and know if Bill was alive today 35 years later, it would be completely different story. We'd be having this conversation now, as reality demands that we pay attention, talk about, advocate for First Nations people. We do this not simply because of what has happened and continues to happen systemically to the Indigenous peoples world wide, but we all need address this for all that is sacred and holy. Otherwise we betray our own humanity.

I listened today to the first episode of Town Halls, from Prince George Civic Centre in Prince George B.C., It is one out of the ongoing series of The Current about the Highway of Tears, and the discussions surrounding the inquiry involving the murdered and missing young women. I was moved to write this post and to share what I heard.