A Burns Lake couple are on the last leg of a journey that’s seen them traverse the country on foot.
But this stretch along Hwy 16 from Prince Rupert to Prince George carries extra meaning because Charity and Cameron West have each lost relatives and friends along what is commonly called the Highway of Tears.
And it’s why they say they are out to raise awareness of all murdered and missing Indigenous people.
“It’s not just women and girls. It’s adults, men and children,” said Cameron West, speaking on a blustery and cold late October morning before resuming their journey from the Walmart parking lot in Terrace.
They’ve also broadened their walking purpose to include those people who have died from other circumstances.
“We’ve both lost people. I’m the last one from my crew in high school,” said West.
“Just between us, we’ve lost 13 people just on this walk. Alcohol and drugs are killing our people. They’re dying off. A few by suicides the rest by accidental ODs. It’s a ripple effect on families, on children. It keeps going on. We’re walking for the children, for the next generation.”
One of those family members is Jessica Patrick. The 18-year-old from Fort Babine was found on Hudson Bay Mountain outside of Smithers a little over three years ago.
The couple, who now live in Prince George, began walking eastward May 4 from the Siksika Nation territory east of Calgary.
“We’ve been through rain, baked on the Prairies and went through a hurricane in the Maritimes,” said West. “We just kept going.”
The decision to walk across the country came to West after speaking with a cousin who was on a similar journey to remember murdered and missing Indigenous women.
“I woke up one morning and said let’s go for a walk to Charity. She said where to and I said Halifax,” West recounted.
Once on the east coast they began planning this last phase.
West said they picked a start date of Oct. 21 from Prince Rupert, completely unaware it was also the date of a pole raising at the turnoff to Port Edward in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and residential school survivors.
“We had no idea,” said West.
While going through Ontario they were asked to take a painted rock from a medicine wheel along the highway and the rock now rests at the base of the pole.
West said it was almost as if someone had a plan, a circumstance he said was common along their journey through meeting with people.
In Terrace, for instance, Charity and Cameron and Cameron’s cousin Gary West, who is taking turns with them walking to Prince George, were hosted to a supper by Ron and Birgitte Bartlett who themselves are part of the Tears to Hope Society formed to promote awareness of missing and murdered women and girls.
And just before leaving the Terrace Walmart parking lot, Gladys Radek, an organizer of and participant in her own awareness walks, presented the trio with a carry bag full of homemade fry bread and fish.
Charity, Cameron and Gary West expect to reach Prince George by the end of the first week of November.