Heartbreak shared at 'highway of tears' symposium

About 500 people are attending an emotional public meeting in Prince George dealing with the deaths and disappearances of nine young women along Highway 16 since 1990.

• LINK: Highway of Tears

The stretch of highway from Prince George to Prince Rupert, where the women most of them Aboriginal have died or gone missing, is known as the "highway of tears."

The families of the women, top RCMP brass, B.C.'s solicitor general, social workers and First Nations leaders are all taking part in the two-day symposium organized by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

• LINK: Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs release

Families of several victims have called for a special police investigative team that would swing into action when people are reported missing.

Fourteen-year-old Aielah Saric was the most recent victim found dead along the highway. Her body was found near Prince George on Feb. 10 a week after she went missing

Her mother, Audrey Auger, says police didn't do enough to find the teen.

"There was no Amber alert for my baby girl. That's the one thing I was wondering. How come there wasn't an alert, an Amber alert for my baby?"

• FROM FEB. 15, 2006: 14-year-old girl murdered in northern B.C.

Matilda Wilson's 16-year-old daughter, Ramona Wilson, disappeared while hitchhiking near Smithers in 1994. Her body was found a year later.

"I've been trying to make people aware that there's still a killer out there, or killers. It just brings back how much it hurts," said Wilson, who vows to keep up the pressure on police until her daughter's killer is found.

Dan George of the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council says police should pay more attention to the fact that most of the victims are First Nations people.

"Because of the murders in the [Vancouver] Downtown Eastside, the 'highway of tears' and other crimes targeting First Nations women, they feel as though they are part of a group that has actually been targeted by violent criminals," he said.

"It begs the question, if First Nations women are being singled out, does this constitute a hate crime within our society?"

• FOR THE RECORD: Dan George speaks to the "highway of tears" symposium."

• FROM FEB. 28, 2006: No evidence of serial killer in Northern B.C.: Solicitor general