Above photo: In 2021, over five dozen people from nearby communities joined the annual memorial march. Binny Paul/Terrace Standard.
Elder Gladys Radek and the Tears to Hope Society welcome the public to join in solidarity.
Terrace, British Columbia – The Tears to Hope Society is organizing their annual memorial march for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, transgender and gender-diverse peoples in Terrace on Feb. 14. It is open to the public.
“Feb 14 is a special day for the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and think it’s important that people get out and acknowledge that they are going missing or being murdered, many of them unsolved murders, particularly up here on the Highway of Tears,” said Gladys Radek, a Witset elder with the Tears to Hope Society.
The 34th annual march will begin at 10:45 a.m. from the Highway of Tears memorial totem pole on Kitsumkalum territory, west of Terrace.
“That was my vision, to begin the march from the totem pole,” said Radek, whose had the idea to create the memorial totem pole that was carved and raised in 2020.
“I wanted a space where our families could go, to find a little bit of healing, a little bit of peace, and a little bit of honouring their loved ones,” she said in 2020.
Radek has been an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women for two decades. After her niece Tamara Chipman disappeared near Prince Rupert in Sept. 2005, Radek started organizing awareness walks — including a walk from Vancouver to Prince Rupert, and a walk across Canada. Chipman is still missing to this day.
Eventually, she became involved with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls as an advisor and as an advocate for families coming forward to share stories.
Radek and the Tears to Hope Society welcome the public to join in solidarity.
“Remember our lost loved ones, because our families always remember and honour them,” she said.
Tears to Hope Society is an Indigenous-led organization that brings awareness to the issue of MMIWG2S. Their primary focus is to support the families of missing and murdered loves ones by providing a safe space for them to grieve, process and heal.