Colleen Whitedeer begins her walk just north of Saskatoon bundled up for a cool September morning, followed by family and friends. Photo by Joel Willick
The second half of one women’s nearly 400 kilometre walk to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous men began Monday morning.
Colleen Whitedeer began her journey from Prince Albert to Regina last month, making it to Saskatoon in four days.
She began the remainder of the trip on Monday and says the cold September weather isn’t going to stop her.
“We have to do this because a lot of these people weren’t given a second chance,” said Whitedeer.
Whitedeer’s brother Timothy Charlette went missing in 2014 and was never heard from again. She wishes more would have been done around her brother’s disappearance. She believes he was less of a priority because he was homeless and struggled with addictions.
Whitedeer says watching her mother deal with the loss is what drove her to undertake this walk.
“Whether they are homeless or not they are human beings,” she said. “I am praying my child or someone else’s child doesn’t have to go through this in 15 years…I want change.”
Whitedeer says over the weekend she was discouraged in her journey because she heard some negative comments in regards to her walk. She was discouraged until until she got a call from a family who recently suffered a tragic loss.
The family of Colten Boushie called her to offer their support for the walk. Boushie was shot and killed on a farm in rural Saskatchewan last month.
“It was overwhelming, I started crying, but they were actually good tears,” said Whitedeer. “I can’t even find words for it, I just feel really good.”
When Whitedeer does arrive in Regina she plans on hand delivering a letter to Premier Brad Wall asking for change.