SMITHERS, B.C. – In a powerful act of remembrance and a call for justice, the family of a murdered Indigenous teen recently completed a walk along the Highway of Tears, concluding their journey in Smithers last week.
The family walked from Prince George to Smithers to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and to appeal for new information in a case that has been cold for three decades.
Their walk was in memory of their daughter and sister, who was just 16 when she went missing near Smithers on June 11, 1994. Her remains were discovered ten months later, but her murder has never been solved.
“We want to bring awareness to the many unsolved cases of MMIWG and also, mostly, we want to find answers,” her older sister said during the walk. “The information has not been the full information, people are telling us things, but they might not be telling the whole story. We need to hear the whole story, and it needs to be concrete. It needs to be able to bring justice.”
The family’s long journey culminated in the annual Ramona Lisa Wilson Memorial Walk, an event held in Smithers that follows the path from Lake Kathlyn to the area where her body was found.
Despite the passage of 30 years, the family has not given up hope. “Every day I pray that we will find some kind of justice for Ramona,” her sister said.
Remembering her youngest sibling, she recalled her “contagious laugh” and humour. “She just was the apple of our eyes.”
The family’s walk is a poignant reminder of the many families still searching for answers and the enduring pain associated with the Highway of Tears, a stretch of road that has brought tragedy to too many communities across the North.
