Highway of Tears

September 15, 2019
A powerful account of an area of British Columbia in which women and girls are being murdered or disappearing without a trace. Highway 16, which runs for 735 kilometers west from Prince Rupert in the northwest corner of B.C., is called the Highway of Tears because more than 30 girls and women, by far most of them members of Indigenous families, have been murdered or disappeared along that route. Canadian journalist and first-time author McDiarmid, who grew up near the highway, traces in agonizing detail the lives and fates of several of those women, but the narrative is much more than just a list of tragedies. The author, whose writing has appeared in the Associated Press and the Toronto Star, among other publications, uses the highway as a microcosm to shine a light on the racism against Indigenous people that stretches across Canada. The numbers are startling: murders or disappearances of between 1,000 and 4,000 (depending on who's counting) women and girls, most of them Indigenous, over the past few decades. McDiarmid delves into the history of how racism has forced many Indigenous people into poverty, which in turn has led to drug addiction, crime, violence, and broken families. She also exposes the uncaring attitudes of many law enforcement agencies when the victims are Indigenous; and of the press, which devotes noticeably less space--if any at all--to murders and disappearances of Indigenous people compared with whites. The author, writing with deeply felt emotion, makes it abundantly clear that this racism persists today. If there is a weakness in her book, it is the sometimes-rough transitions among the several narrative elements--the personal stories, the indictments of law enforcement and the press, and the tumultuous history of the Indigenous people. Nonetheless, McDiarmid brings to light a little-known story that deserves more attention. A difficult but essential read.

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September 30, 2019
Canadian journalist McDiarmid debuts with a heart-wrenching account of the more than 1,200 indigenous women and girls who have gone missing or were found murdered along Highway 16 (aka the Highway of Tears), which runs across the middle of British Columbia into Alberta. The deaths and disappearances went unaddressed for decades, the author notes, and only garnered massive police and media attention when a white woman went missing while hitchhiking the highway in 2002. McDiarmid uses family photos and interviews to tell the stories of 16-year-old Ramona Wilson, whom McDiarmid first saw on a missing persons poster in 1994 when she was 10, and many others who went missing, putting faces on the victims and their families. Finally, a symposia and a walk down the 725 kilometers of highway in British Columbia by the victims’ families in 2006 brought international attention to the crimes. National inquiries in 2016 and 2017 have brought more resources to the investigation, but indigenous women and girls continue to disappear today. This moving, well-sourced book is essential reading for anyone who cares about social injustice. Agent: Chris Bucci, McDermid Agency.

November 1, 2019

Investigative journalist McDiarmid shines a powerful light on an ongoing tragedy. For decades, Canadian law enforcement and the country's legal system has ineffectually dealt with thousands of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Focusing on Highway 16 in British Columbia, the infamous Highway of Tears, this book by McDiarmid contains interviews with families of victims and Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators in order to construct a patterned history of these missing and murdered women. Personal accounts of Ramona Wilson, Delphine Nikal, Roxanne Thiara, Lana Derrick, Alishia Germaine, Nicole Hoar, Alberta Williams, Aielah Saric-Auger, Tamera Chipman, and Mackie Basil, among others, are presented. Members of their families, such as Brenda and Matilda Wilson and Florence Naziel, became social activists and conducted memorial protest walks along Highway 16, eventually drawing international attention to the tragedy. VERDICT This ongoing national crisis of violence against women is not unique to Canada, and is being scrutinized in the United States, too. McDiarmid's exposé of racism and the lack of justice for indigenous women should be required reading for all.--Nathan Bender, Albany Cty. P.L., Laramie, WY

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2019
McDiarmid is a Canadian journalist who grew up near Highway 16, British Columbia's 450-mile section of the Yellowhead Highway known as the Highway of Tears. In her first book, she investigates in painstaking detail the stories of the Indigenous women and girls who have gone missing or been murdered in the vicinity over the last few decades. While the exact number of victims is disputed?the Royal Canadian police estimates the number to be about 1,200, while the Native Women's Association of Canada puts it closer to 4,000?the count is staggering. McDiarmid's touching, poignant account intricately details the backgrounds of many of the victims, and their families and loved ones. She deftly explains the continuous circle of blatant racism, depression, hopelessness, poverty, and addiction faced by the women, brought on by lack of opportunity and, frankly, by lack of care from the government. (A former prime minister is quoted as saying the issue "isn't really high on our radar, to be honest.") McDiarmid also shares stories of those fighting for justice. A powerful must-read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)