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IN OUR OPINION: A walk to remember

Keeping memories alive of Tamara Chipman and others who went missing on Highway 16
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A memory stone was placed high up along a bank by Highway 16, east of Prince Rupert, where Tamara Lynn Chipman went missing. (Shannon Lough / The Northern View)

In a tremendous act of solidarity, a group of women and men met at the spot where Tamara Lynn Chipman disappeared 12 years ago.

The subject early morning on Sept. 21 was heavy, a call for justice, for the dozens of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls who have gone missing along the Highway of Tears.

But even with the collective memory of loss and tragedy, the people who gathered in Prince Rupert for Tamara and others also found moments to laugh. Together they wore shirts with photos of the missing women on them. Some had lost a cousin, a niece, a daughter, while others had lost their mother.

The walk to Smithers is timed to meet with the national inquiry on Monday 25, to share their stories, which will later be examined in an attempt to understand the “systemic causes of all forms of violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada.”

There has been criticism over the inquiry and its process – yet, the attempts at reconciliation and addressing the missing, the murdered, has carried the subject into the light.

Because of the walk, more people in Prince Rupert now know that Tamara is still missing, and a memorial left behind reminds us never to forget.

RELATED: WALKING THE HIGHWAY OF TEARS FOR A WOMAN WHO WENT MISSING 12 YEARS AGO