06/03/2026
Thank you CBC Indigenous
"Holly Roberge (Gixdii Motx), describes running in a relay along Highway 16 in northwestern B.C. for murdered and missing Indigenous people as a spiritual experience.
"There's a different loved one pictured, at the beginning and the end," said Roberge.
"When I choose these runs, I smudge and I bring strength and prayers to this family… If I can see the river it, you know, calms me, and it gives me that strength that I need."
The Tears to Hope Society launched its relay in 2019 to advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous people along Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears. The 2026 event was this past weekend.
Each person runs 10 kilometres along one of four routes converging on Terrace, B.C., from Smithers, Nass Valley, Prince Rupert and Kitimaat. There are signs every 10 kilometres along the relay routes featuring photos of a family's loved one who never made it home — over 50 in total.
There are 18 known cold cases of women — many Indigenous — who are missing or were killed along the Highway of Tears since 1969 and several current cases.
Sheridan Martin said her sister Cindy Martin was 50 when she went missing in 2018. Her remains were found in 2022.
"I can't begin to tell you how important that is to see my sister's picture along the highway there," said Martin.
"It's not just a name. It's not just statistics. It's an actual face in colour. So that means a lot to me."
Denise Halfyard, manager for Tears to Hope Society, said the relay reminds people the families of those missing and murdered along and around Highway 16 will never forget their relatives.
She said raising awareness is more than "just a bunch of noise" and marches. Her cousin, Tamara Chipman, disappeared near Prince Rupert in the fall of 2005.
"With my cousin's case, now that it's been 20 years people who may know something are 20 years older and maybe it's eating away at them," said Halfyard.
"Maybe they're starting to feel like they need to unload that information and let us know where she is."
MMIWG2S movement
Halfyard's family has been advocating for MMIWG2S along the Highway of Tears, and across the country, for two decades.
Lorna Brown, executive director of the Tears to Hope Society and Halfyard's mother, said it all began with drawing on a restaurant napkin in Witset, B.C., after the disappearance of her niece.
Brown said her cousin Florence Naziel was visiting Karen Plazway, her niece, and talking about a walk Naziel planned to raise awareness for missing girls in the area and Chipman's case.
"She said, you know, 'I need to come up with a name for our walk coming up in March…' Karen began to draw tears…. She was writing the names of those that had gone missing," said Brown.
"And then before you know it, the napkin was just filled with tears…. Karen said, 'It's like a highway of tears,' and, thus, the movement was born."
That movement grew and helped to spark national MMIWG2S campaigns and global headlines, and a cross-country walk by Brown's sister Gladys Radek.
'The genocide cannot continue' says longtime MMIWG advocate Gladys Radek
"It's not work we ever asked to do but it feels like almost a responsibility, which in so many ways seems unfair," said Lorna Brown.
"As Indigenous women, we have to resist so much violence… and we keep on, even just creating space, because it's not just about us."
Family-focused advocacy
Brown said Tears to Hope Society's advocacy work is successful because it's family focused.
"I feel like as Tears to Hope, we've actually created a stage. We didn't wait for a stage, we actually created that," said Brown.
"It's the others that come alongside us to support what we do that allows us to keep going."
Martin said, "It's important that MMIW does not go silent."
"I thought MMIW was a story of other families until Cindy went missing, and it became our story. Because of our brown skin, we're going missing and it is because of the colour of the skin. We have to put that truth on the table."
MMIWG2S+ programs at risk of losing federal funding, say Indigenous women's organizations
RCMP did not respond to requests for comment on the status of Tamara Chipman or Cindy Martin's case by time of publishing.
Roberge said she will continue to run the relay, every year.
"I'll be a lifelong runner if I can," said Roberge.
"I'll run until I can't to keep this movement going.""
