Caribou Legs is on the move.
Brad Firth, a.k.a. Caribou Legs, is a Gwich’in ultra runner. On April 2 he began a run from Inuvik to Whitehorse to deliver letters from the people of the Mackenzie Delta to Premier Darrell Pasloski, urging him to protect the Peel watershed.
He made it to the Yukon border yesterday. Today, he hopes to run 100 kilometres to Eagle Plains.
“I feel up for the challenge!” Firth wrote on his Facebook page this morning. “My body is recharged and primed for more mountain road running!”
Firth started running about seven years ago. It was a big part of how he got away from a life of addiction, living on the streets of Vancouver.
He recently moved backed to his hometown of Inuvik, N.W.T.
After hearing about the Yukon government’s plan to open 71 per cent of the Peel watershed to new mineral staking and development, he found a new reason to run.
For the past few months he has collected letters from people in Inuvik, Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic about why they want to see protection for the Peel.
“Hopefully (the premier) can read them and get a firsthand sense of our attachment to the land – all the stories, all the history of people living on the land up in the watershed,” Firth told the News in February. “And what it’s done for them, how hurt they are right now, how afraid they are, how tense and anxious they are right now.”
Firth’s goal is to reach Whitehorse by April 22.
On that day there will be a rally in front of the Yukon legislature. Firth will read some of the letters before delivering them to the premier.
Beginning in May, Firth plans to run all the way from Vancouver back to Inuvik to raise awareness and support for the Peel.
Regular updates on Firth’s progress can be found at the Caribou Legs Facebook page.
Contact Jacqueline Ronson at jronson@yukon-news.com