Prince George couple Cameron and Charity West have officially been welcomed home from a five-month-walk across the country, and an additional 17-day-walk across the Highway of Tears, to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous people.
They were also joined on the Highway of Tears leg of their journey by supporters Gary West and Wendy Brown.
Going through six pairs of shoes each, they walked every day despite the conditions, and braved rain, wildfires, snowstorms, tornadoes, and more, as they continued their journey.
The cause is important to Charity, who is a Tlazten Nation member. She experienced the loss of the father of her son who went missing 11 years ago, while Cameron grew up in Fort Babine and Grainisle in central B.C. and has lost numerous high school friends and family.
Carrier Sekani Family Services hosted a special welcome event to celebrate their journey, which was attended by CSFS executive director Mary Teegee and her brother, B.C. Assembly of First Nations regional chief Terry Teegee.
Charity says she wasn’t expecting such a great turnout for their welcome home both at the Red Dress Monument when they completed their walk in Prince George and their welcome home dinner the following day.
She said she fell to her knees when she took the final steps of her walk at the corner of Highway 16 and Ferry Avenue.
“I couldn't stop crying as soon as my feet touched the ground I just sat on my knees for a second. I can’t believe we are done.”
Cameron added that their walk may be finished but the work and mission of the walk is far from over.
“This is like the blueprints for what's going to happen later on. There’s bigger things that are going to happen for people and I think we’re pretty proud of what we did for our next generations to come.”
The conclusion of their walk is particularly poignant as on Nov. 3, near the end of their journey they attended the press conference in Vanderhoof hosted by Saik’uz First Nation calling for more action to find missing community members Chelsey Quaw and Jay Preston Raphael.
On the final day of their walk on Nov. 6, just as they were arriving in Prince George, the Vanderhoof RCMP announced the remains of Chelsey Quaw had been found.
“A huge part of our walk was prayer and that was just kind of our prayer that whole day it was for their family,” said Chairty. “At that news conference it was just beautiful to see how many people turned up for it but it was disheartening not to see any members of the policing agencies turn up for that.”
She added that it’s a bittersweet feeling to know that Quaw’s family does not have to go on without closure but they were praying for a better outcome.
“This walk was never about us. It’s always been about raising the awareness and getting people engaged in the conversation,” added Charity. “It's no longer acceptable to sit here and pretend that you don't know this is going on in your own backyard and it's time to engage in these uncomfortable conversations.”
