Another Highway of Tears: Human rights abuses on the Alaska Highway

Built for defense and later modernized for commerce and tourism, the Alaska Highway was considered an engineering marvel of the twentieth century. This research documents unintended consequences of the construction of this ambitious military project. The highway functioned not only as a conduit for transportation but also as an avenue for flagrant human rights abuses. During the construction phase, racially segregated African American service regiments were poorly equipped and sheltered in canvas tents during severe weather conditions. Indigenous communities in the project’s path were subjected to abrupt social and environmental upheavals. Communicable diseases decimated defenseless villages. Once the completed highway was opened to the public, religious missionaries built one school and expanded another along its route. These institutions sought to assimilate Indigenous minorities into Canadian society and served as havens for the systemic human rights abuses that were inflicted on defenseless children. After the schools closed, the highway provided convenient access to the Indigenous communities for Child Care Services in the Yukon and British Columbia to “scoop” Indigenous children to protect them from perceived neglect. Most never returned to their home villages. Far from being a marvel, to many, the Alaska Highway is another Highway of Tears.