B.C. residents bring unsolved-murder campaign to Ottawa

B.C. residents bring unsolved-murder campaign to Ottawa
from CBC News, September 15, 2008.

After walking thousands of kilometres, a group of B.C. residents arrived on Parliament Hill Monday to draw attention to the unsolved cases of 3,000 missing and murdered women, mostly aboriginal.

The Walk4Justice journey was personal for organizer Gladys Radek, whose niece Tamara Chipman went missing along the "highway of tears" — an 800-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert where 18 women have disappeared since the 1970s.

"I kind of knew how big Canada was, but it really opened my eyes even more about the plight of the missing and murdered women right across the nation," said Rudek. "I think it's Canada's dirtiest secret."

The group of family members and community activists left Vancouver June 21 for Ottawa, where they hoped to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to present a petition asking for a public inquiry into 3,000 cases of missing and murdered women.

The list of names, along with case details, has been compiled over the decades, organizers said in a news release.