Highway of Tears Poster campaign seeks to inform on dangers of hitch hiking

While not condoning the practice of hitch hiking, a new information campaign across Northern British Columbia is seeking to inform residents on the need to be aware of their surroundings and the dangers that could arise from hitch hiking.

Recognizing that in some cases, those that live on the Highway 16 corridor may use hitch hiking as a mode of transportation, the poster campaign is designed to give advice and offer up safety measures for those that do use that mode of travel.

The campaign has been created by the RCMP and the Native Women's Association of Canada and will soon be distributed across the region.

The RCMP is currently engaged in Project E-Pana, investigating a list of 18 active cases of women determined to have gone missing, or who have been murdered along Highways 16, 97 and 5, though many believe those numbers could be significantly higher, if the criteria for consideration was to be expanded.

The Highway of Tears as the Highway 16 stretch has become known as, has been the subject of much discussion in recent years, most recently re-introduced as a topic in the Legislature by North Coast NDP MLA Jennifer Rice.

With transportation options rather limited in the region, there is still a desire in many communities across Northern BC to see a shuttle bus service introduced to reduce the desire to hitch hike between communities.

You can learn more about the information campaign from the RCMP website or from the Native Women's Association of Canada website

Media accounts of the information campaign can be found below

Prince George Citizen-- Poster gives advice on hitchhiker safety