Warrior Walkers arrive in Whitehorse, completing 600-kilometre journey
CBC
There were some cold and tiring days, but Yukon's Warrior Walkers made it to Whitehorse in time for Saturday's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events.
The group left Dawson City on Sunday, to make the roughly 600-kilometre trek down the highway to Whitehorse (with a side excursion to Mayo). Different people would join for different portions of the journey that's meant to honour and raise awareness of the children who died at residential schools in Canada.
"We had laughter, we had tears, we had prayers, we had smudges, we had, you know, amazing conversations with survivors that came and shared their stories with us," said Corinna Yuill, who walked most of the distance this week.
"We had just the open highway where these little birdies would come and play with us on the side of the road, and we all had that same feeling from these birds ... the children were joining us, they were with us, and they were being celebrated and remembered."
The Warrior Walkers formed in 2021 when a handful of Yukoners decided to embark on a 2,100-kilometre walk from Whitehorse to Kamloops, B.C.
Ashley Russell, a Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin citizen, joined the walkers on Friday as they were approaching Whitehorse. She said she had stayed up into the wee hours the night before creating a baby belt.
"This baby belt is to signify a safe space for me to carry all of our children that never were, the babies that could have been but never were," she told CBC News on Friday.
"I've been involved in helping with the ground scans and with residential school survivors and when I heard about this walk... I knew I had to be a part of it."
On Saturday, the walkers planned to cover the last bit of distance through Whitehorse, ending at the totem pole at the base of Main Street, where there will be a gathering to mark the national day of truth and reconciliation.
Yuill hopes to be out walking again next year, and possibly more years to come. She said there is "a lot of highway to cover" in the Yukon, and the goal is to connect with people in every community, because none have been untouched by the legacy of residential schools.
She says they're thinking about the Dempster Highway for next year.
She calls the walks "a positive way of healing."
"This brings people out to speak with us, to get in touch with our culture, with drumming, with sacred fires, with prayer, with gathering, with talking ... it's hard not to think about doing a walk every year."
"It's not about us, walking. It's for the children, it's for the survivors and their family. So anybody can walk with us."
A tiny black bear cub was rescued near Kamloops, B.C., and transported across the province to safety this week.
The RCMP's commissioner says he expresses sincere regret for an extensive spying program that targeted hundreds of Indigenous people.
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas does not believe any current or former city council members are at the centre of an RCMP-led corruption investigation, although he says he did not get that information from police.
Ongoing arguments in the Supreme Court challenge to Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21, have exposed a national divide over the role of courts in interpreting the notwithstanding clause.
An unexpectedly heavy snowstorm wreaked havoc on some Calgary roads Wednesday morning.
The Dominican Republic national police are investigating the death of a 19-year-old Quebecer who was shot and killed early Monday morning in the province of Puerto Plata.
Whitby’s mayor said she will examine security measures at council chambers as Durham police investigate an incident that happened after a meeting on Monday evening.
RCMP in the Northwest Territories are investigating after a woman was found dead outside a house in the southwest area of Yellowknife.
An Alberta legislature committee has reached into the auditor general's office to pick a new person to lead the watchdog agency.
A Canadian man wanted for more than a year in connection with a massive grandparent scam has been arrested in Nicaragua.
Charlottetown police have arrested a man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant in connection with a homicide investigation in Edmonton.
Prime Minister Mark Carney had pointed words for the head of Canada's largest airline early Wednesday, saying the Air Canada CEO's unilingual message of condolences to those affected by the recent deadly crash showed a "lack of judgment" and "a lack of compassion."
Hotels in Newfoundland and Labrador are being trained to recognize human trafficking — criminal activity that officials say despite a lack of cases, is in fact present in the province.