A Saskatchewan man who walked across Canada to raise awareness about domestic abuse was greeted by a tiny cheering section as he arrived at the Terry Fox statue at Mile 0 in Victoria after a four-month odyssey.
A beaming Conrad Burns says he endured blizzards, winds and long stints without food during a journey where he was able to speak with Canadians about ending domestic abuse.
The 38-year-old Cree man from Prince Albert says the walk from Ottawa to Thunder Bay was the loneliest and most trying portion of his 7,400-trek across Canada.
Burns says he did not walk the entire distance himself, estimating he personally walked 3,500 kilometres, but he counted the kilometres of friends who joined him for portions of the journey as part of his total.
Burns says he set out to raise money to build safety homes for abuse survivors, but was not able to accomplish the goal and the money he did raise went to defray the costs of his walk.
He says the walk and the support he received cost about the same— $10,000.