Prince George Citizen
By Frank Peebles

Highway of Tears CD Released - now available at: http://www.highwayoftears.ca/CD.htm

The community is stepping out onto the Highway of Tears (the infamous stretch of road in British Columbia where seven young women have been the victims of unsolved murders.)  A groundswell of private interests are releasing their own initiatives to draw funds and attention to the missing and murdered women of Highway 16, and all the circumstances of society that foster the violence.  Ray Bessette is the most recent contributor, although his project was a long time in the making. 

Last month he released a two-song CD from which the proceeds will go to pay for signage along Highway 16 warning of the grave dangers of hitchhiking. "If I can utilize my talents and my creativity for anybody I can't think of a better cause," Bessette told the Citizen.  One song, Please Come Home, was written in 2004 as a tribute to missing hitchhiker Nicole Hoar.  The other tune, Highway of Tears,  co-written with Brent Brekkaas, came out of a meeting Bessette had with missing women advocate Tony Romeyn in 2005 followed soon after by the disappearance of hitchhiker Tamara Chipman.  

When the Highway of Tears Symposium was held in Prince George this past spring, the rough cuts of Bessette's songs were played for the CN Centre audience.  "There was a standing ovation; everyone was so taken by it," said Romeyn, who worked behind the scenes to debut the songs at the symposium.   

He is also selling the CD via the www.highwayoftears.com website he maintains as a service to the families of the victims.  "The power that was in that room, all the people going through what is written about in the songs, overwhelming," Bessette said. The CD is available at sites throughout British Columbia, including Books and Company, the Native Friendship Centre Art Gallery, Two Rivers Art Gallery, Angelique's Native Arts, CNC Bookstore, Kumbayas Native Arts, IRL Signs and Supplies, Body Balance Naturopathic Clinic, Sound Entertainment, and more being added. 

Bessette is a reluctant spokesperson for the CD, even though it is his workmanship in every song.  It is also his money.  He donated the cost of manufacturing.  The studio space and sound engineering for the recording sessions were donated to him by Neal Wiebe of Bullet Recording Studios in Vanderhoof.  He is not getting any of the funds from the sales of the disc, preferring it all go to the Highway of Tears governing body recently struck to implement the recommendations of the symposium.  

"We are talking about bringing together some of the other musicians who have created songs of the Highway of Tears and maybe hold a performance showcase," said Lisa Krebs, co-ordinator of the governing body.  "The beauty is, everyone can contribute. When we get the signs done we are going to need people to put them up. Everyone has a part, everyone can contribute." 

On Wednesday, the members of the Street Humanities program at the College of New Caledonia unveiled a bench they purchased from their own fundraising.  It will be installed at the college in a prominent location as a memorial to the missing and murdered women, and all those at risk.  The Association Advocating for Women and Children is behind the sewing of a quilt, patched together as a textile document memorializing the Highway of Tears that will, like the bench and CD, be used to raise awareness for the issue. 

"It has all been grassroots," said Krebs. "These are all from people moved by the Highway of Tears and prompted to do something to speak out, in the ways they want to express themselves."

Tony Romeyn
tony@doorsofhope.com
tony@highwayoftears.ca

Websites to find out more:
NEW!
http://www.iammissing.ca
I Am Missing- Missing Persons

http://www.highwayoftears.com
Missing Loved Ones

http://www.doorsofhope.com
Victim Resource Site

http://www.windowsofhope.ca
Keeping Families Together

http://www.stopchildabuse.ca
Stop Child Abuse