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Caribou Legs run for water protection has begun


Caribou Legs

Council of Canadians organizer AJ Klein, Caribou Legs, Board member Garry John and water campaigner Emma Lui at yesterday’s launch.

The Council of Canadians is sponsoring Caribou Legs and his run across the country to promote the protection of water.

The Northern Journal reports, “Brad Firth, a Gwich’in man also known as ‘Caribou Legs’, set off from the Vancouver Art Gallery on June 1 for his longest run yet, a 4,800-km route along the TransCanada Highway to the country’s capital in Ottawa. …Social justice group Council of Canadians, sponsors for Firth’s latest run, reported 1,838 simultaneous drinking water advisories across Canada as of January 2015, some of which had been in effect between five and 15 years. Additionally, they found that only 97 lakes, 62 rivers and three oceans out of Canada’s vast water sources are currently protected by the Navigable Waters Protection Act.”


Caribou Legs

Caribou Legs talks to school kids before his run.

Caribou Legs says, “I’m doing this because it’s needed; the Peel watershed and the rest of Canada’s waters are going unprotected and no one is really doing something grand, so I’m doing it to make some awareness. …I think that the run is going to add a lot of publicity and awareness to what the current government is doing to the Navigable Waters Protection Act. They’re just throwing everything on the table for the companies to buy and then you can’t even sue these people or these companies when they leave these chemical wastelands behind. We’re left to deal with it and get sick and get cancers. You can’t have clean fresh drinking water as a result.”

Caribou Legs will also be producing a documentary about the run.

He says, “I bought a GoPro (camera), so I’ll be asking people what are their thoughts on the current government. I want to form an idea around water and why it should be protected according to the people of Canada. Also, I’ll be logging my own thoughts and theories as I run, my ideas of what it’s like to do a run like this, coming from my background and things like that. I’m just drawing a picture for others who want to do this.”




A group shot before Caribou Legs starts his 4800 kilometre run.

The article also notes, “Firth is asking his supporters to take action while he is on the road, encouraging those living in communities on his route to run at his side and to tweet photos of their unprotected waterways to @pmharper [Prime Minister Stephen Harper] and @ec_minister [Environment Minister Leona Agglukaq], all of which are listed here. He is also asking them to sign the #Pledge2Protect, a petition to increase federal protection over Canadian water bodies. Donations to Firth for his trek can also be made here. To view his route or follow his run, head here.”

Caribou Legs’ route includes the communities of Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Golden, Calgary, Moose Jaw, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and Sudbury. Caribou Legs is expected to arrive at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on August 21 where he will be greeted by Council of Canadians staff and supporters.

For more, please see our web-page for his run here.