Sachigo Lake First Nation youth finish 13-day fundraising walk

A group of First Nations young people desperately want a safe place for students to live in Thunder Bay, Ont. so they walked more than 1,000 kilometres to raise money for it.

It's the second time young people from Sachigo Lake First Nation have completed a fundraising walk across the ice road from their community to the city, but this time it took on an additional meaning.

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Daniel Levac, 20, of Sachigo Lake was fatally stabbed in front of the movie theatre in Thunder Bay in October 2014. He was living in the city while attending Dennis Franklin Cromarty high school. 

"I was with him when he died. I was holding him when he died. I witnessed the whole thing the night it happened," said support worker Robert Barkman, who chaperoned the young people on both walks.

"Two weeks prior to his death I bumped into Daniel at the mall and he told me he wanted to do this walk," Barkman said. "He told me it was his graduation year this year and I had promised him [he could] because he wanted to do this walk for the young people, the future generation."

The group of walkers helped fulfil that promise, thinking of Daniel and talking about him every day of their 13-day walk, Barkman said.

"I looked at it as a healing journey," he said. "It gave me a motive to keep going. I believe his spirit was with us the whole time."

The group of nine walkers included Daniel's sister and several of his friends, as well as his mother during the final leg of the journey. Myra Levac cried as her son was rememberd, during a welcoming event for the group in Thunder Bay on Monday.

"We always think about you, about the loss of your son," Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said to her. "That's why we're here today to make sure we do everything we can to ensure the safety of all our students that are here in Thunder Bay."

Most remote First Nations don't have traditional high schools and teenagers must leave their families for their secondary education in the city. Levac is the eighth First Nations student to die in Thunder Bay since 2000. 

Plans for a student living centre were unveiled in 2012 but funding for the $15-million combined residence and recreation centre has been slow in coming. 

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The original Journey of New Beginnings walk from Sachigo Lake in 2013 earned $75,000 in donations.

Assembly of First Nations Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy said he was inspired by the young people and called on government to be equally committed to their safety.

"They're taking responsibility for themselves and other young people," Beardy said. "They're prepared to do their part to make sure others are safe when they come out for school."

Donations from this year's walk haven't been tallied yet. The organizers said pledges are still coming in.