Highway of Tears — Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

The Highway of Tears refers to a 724-kilometer stretch of Highway 16 in British Columbia, Canada, along which at least 18 women and girls — most of them Indigenous — have disappeared or been murdered since 1969. The actual number may be significantly higher, and researchers believe multiple perpetrators have operated over the decades. The isolation of the highway and the vulnerability of hitchhikers — some walking because of a lack of public transportation — made the area a hunting ground. Most cases remain unsolved. The RCMP and Indigenous advocacy groups have called for renewed national attention, and the cases have become central to Canada's inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.