The safety of women in the north has long been influenced by accessible, affordable transportation. The city of Prince George is adjacent to the infamous Highway of Tears, which runs along Highway 16 west of Prince George onwards to Prince Rupert. The highway is well known for its extremely high amount of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Women's Outreach Worker Cassidy Shuvera discusses that while these tragedies can be linked to a lack of readily available public transportation along that route, socio-economic factors, systematic challenges and other barriers must also be considered.

Alongside that, in an era where we are seeing increasing environmental concerns, Canadians are looking at alternate forms of transportation to personal, old fashioned gasoline powered vehicles. But the accessibility of those alternative forms, including the walkability of a city and reliable public transportation, influence how safe rejecting the usage of one's personal vehicle will be, especially for women.

In an interview conducted with Shuvera, she shares her expertise on the topic of the Highway of Tears, factors influencing transportation accessibility and safety of women, as well as certain initiatives that are being taken to raise awareness of the situations at hand: