VANCOUVER - First Nations groups say the B.C. government has known for years what to do to make the Highway of Tears safer for vulnerable women and girls, and there's no excuse for inaction.
The province has been under pressure to announce a plan for Highway 16 in the province's north, where women have been vanishing or dying for decades.
A public inquiry in 2012 recommended urgent action, but the province has yet to respond to that call.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs says the B.C. government has avoided taking the issue seriously for years.
He notes a First Nations gathering in 2006 produced 33 recommendations, including a shuttle bus system along Highway 16 -- but nothing happened then, either.
Phillip says the B.C. government should quit stalling and making excuses.
B.C.'s justice minister has insisted the highway is safer today than it has been, and the province hasn't given any indication about what, if anything, more that it plans to do.
