A walk took place today (Sunday) in Smithers to honour a Saskatchewan woman who will be walking across the country to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman and Girls (MMIWG).
Krista Fox will be going on a ten month journey walking from Victoria to Newfoundland but, prior to the start of that walk she made a trip to Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears.
A group of people gathered near the Subway on Main Street where stories of loved ones who were either found murdered or are still missing were told and drumming took place.
Among the names told were Ramona Wilson, Jessica Patrick and Frances Brown.
Fox said that she had many reasons to do this walk and those reasons are the missing and murdered indigenous people across the country.
“A big part of this walk is connecting so, connecting families to families, not one of us can look a mother in the eyes and say I know how you feel, no you don’t, you don’t know unless you’re another mother, so connecting mothers to mothers, sisters to sisters,” she said.
Yesterday (Saturday), Fox arrived in Prince George where she walked to Vanderhoof.
She added that she knew the names of the Indigenous men and women that went missing along the Highway of Tears and that she needed to come to the area to connect.
Fox said she wasn’t sure what she needed or what she was coming to the area for.
“When I walked and laid that tobacco down and took those first couple of steps on the Highway of Tears, it was one of the toughest days of my life because as i took those first hundred steps is how many of our people walked out of Prince George and never made it to their destination,” she said.
Fox added that it was heartbreaking walking along Highway 16.
She also said after hearing all of the stories from families it is hard to describe what she is feeling.
Fox begins her walk from Victoria to Newfoundland on February 18.