First Nations pre-teen running 130K for Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women

For the second consecutive year, 12-year-old Theland Kicknosway will embark on a 134-kilometre run between Kitigan Zibi, an Algonquin community bordering Maniwaki, Que. to the southwest, and Gatineau Park just outside of Ottawa.

Theland is running in support of Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS), a grassroots program that supports the families of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. He is a member of Walpole Island First Nation, according to his mother Elaine, and attends school in Ottawa.

Kitigan Zibi is the hometown of Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander, two indigenous women who have been missing since 2008 and were last seen in Maniwaki. The community has a population of approximately 1,400.

Police have reported more than 1,200 cases of missing or mudered indigenous women since 1980, according to the CBC. The Government of Canada is launching a national inquiry into missing indigenous women and girls.

Theland will begin the journey on Wednesday, March 23 at 3:00 p.m. with the trip expected to take approximately three to five days with five to six hours of running and walking each day. He will be making stops in communities along the way depending on his day-to-day progress.

Kicknosway completed the distance in the spring of 2015 but in the opposite direction, a journey that took him six days. Last summer, a teenage girl ran for the same cause. The Manitoba teen ran 115 kilometre for missing Canadian indigenous women.

Theland is a traditional drummer, singer and hoop dancer and gained national attention in November.

After Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister, the 12-year-old Cree drummer led the procession before Trudeau and his cabinet were sworn in at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. Video of the procession can be found below:

Kicknosway has raised $990 as of Tuesday afternoon (March 22), well on his way to the $2,500 fundraising goal.