THUNDER BAY -- Members of Sachigo Lake First Nation are walking 1,000 kilometres in memory of a 20-year-old man killed outside of the city’s movie theatre last fall.
On Oct. 3, 2014, Daniel Levac was fatally stabbed outside of SilverCity movie theatre in Thunder Bay. The Sachigo Lake First Nation youth was a Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School student.
Members of the First Nation will be walking from the community to Thunder Bay through the winter road that connects Sachigo Lake to the highway at Pickle Lake. The journey begins on April 7 and is estimated to take two weeks.
DFC principal Jonathan Kakegamic said the walk is spearheaded by Robert Barkman, a long-time supporter of DFC, who worked for the school’s on-call department last year when Levac died.
“He’s using this as a healing journey,” said Kakegamic.
“There are lots of people still grieving, still healing, including myself.”
The walk will also be used as a fundraiser for a student living centre for students from remote communities attending DFC.
“We’ve been in operation for 14 years and there’s always been talk of having one,” said Kakegamic.
“We need to keep our youth together. When we have our youth staying all over the city, it’s difficult to keep an eye on them…it’s time we move forward with this residence and make it a reality for the future students.”
A location and designs for the living centre were initially unveiled two years ago and it was expected to open this year, but the project has been stalled while the full funding has yet to be secured.
