About 100 runners participated in an event Friday in honour of Métis war veterans.
The Road to Peace and Unity run left Saskatoon Friday morning and is due to arrive at the Back to Batoche Days Festival site about 11 p.m. Friday night.
The total distance traveled will be about 100 kilometres.
Run organizer Shannon Loutitt says all proceeds raised from the run will go toward a monument in honour of Métis war veterans to be unveiled at the Back to Batoche festival Saturday morning.
“I think we’re probably close to $25,000, that just started and is good but the goal definitely for this year is $100,000 for that monument,” she says.
Vancouver actor Nathaniel Arcand says he found out about the run through fellow artist and friend Andrea Menard and is happy to take part.
“My late grandfather, he was in one of the wars and he was a veteran, and he passed away a while ago but you know I am here to honour him,” he says.
Eighty-one-year-old Métis war veteran John McDonald served tours of duty with the Canadian army in the Korean War, Egypt and Germany.
He says it is nice to see Aboriginal war veterans get the recognition they deserve through events such as this one.
“In all the wars that we participated in, the First Nations and the Métis have got the raw end of the stick,” he says.
Another group of runners will depart Rosthern for the Back to Batoche festival site at 7 p.m. Friday evening.
The Gabriel Dumont Institute also helped to organize the run.