Hanna Petersen, CBC News
April 8, 2026
The families of Indigenous women and girls missing and murdered along B.C.’s Highway of Tears gathered in Prince George on Tuesday to mark 20 years since they first held a symposium to push for change.
That initial meeting, in 2006, saw 500 people come together to raise public awareness about the crisis along the 724-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
It was the first time that many families had the opportunity to share what had happened to their loved ones, and it drew national attention.
After the symposium, a report was published with 33 recommendations to prevent further violence along the Highway 16 corridor, known as the Highway of Tears.
Twenty years later, many of those same participants drummed, sang, held up photos of their loved ones and hugged each other, before marching from the Red Dress Monument to the Prince George Civic Centre to mark the start of a new four-day conference.
“We’ve done our very best to ensure that we’ve connected with everyone that was in this symposium … 20 years ago and throughout the years,” said Brenda Wilson-John, who attended the first symposium in 2006.
Wilson-John’s 16-year-old sister, Ramona, went missing and was later found murdered near the Smithers Airport in 1995.
“It took a long time for us to bring that awareness to the world, to let them know that we’re not going to forget about Ramona,” she said.
“There’s no justice for her today because her murderer has never been caught and we want to see that justice for Ramona and so many other family members that have missing or murdered loved ones.”
Wilson-John said some improvements have been made since the first symposium, including funding for more supports and programming for victims’ families, but she hopes this week’s gathering will help see more recommendations completed.
“We’re coming together again to not only look at what we’ve accomplished, but where we need to go,” said symposium organizer Mary Teegee, an executive director at Carrier Sekani Family Services.
She said the anniversary symposium will examine the successes and challenges of the recommendations with a goal to create an updated report.
She said one of the original recommendations was to have telephone booths placed along Highway 16, which has since become outdated with advancements in cellular communication in the north.
“There’s many reasons we need to have this symposium — one is to make sure that we never forget. We’re always reminded that in Canada we still have girls and women that go missing,” said Teegee.
“How do we make this change so that in another 20 years we don’t need to have another symposium? Hopefully, we’re going to somehow be able to get to a place where there are no more missing and murdered Indigenous women.”
To view the full news article, please visit www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/highway-of-tears-anniverary-symposium-9.7155693.