Prince Albert man continues walk across Canada for ‘Every Child Matters’

By Nigel Maxwell

A Prince Albert man walking across Canada to support the ‘Every Child Matters’ movement is nearing the halfway mark.

John Custer, 35, was heading out of Montreal when he spoke with paNOW on Tuesday.

“I was told to walk this highway because a long time ago before it was a highway, it was a trail travelled by native people,” he explained.

Custer’s walk began in July of 2021 and after making his way to Vancouver, he headed east. Along the way, the member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has been going to the sites of all the former residential schools and spending his nights sleeping at shelters, churches and friendship centres.

“I didn’t know how big the picture was of our people getting hurt,” he said when asked what it was like experiencing the sites.

Custer cited one example of a former residential school in Nova Scotia that has been taken down and is now home to a plastic recycling plant. He did stop there regardless and said a prayer.

On his journey across Canada, Custer has met with a number of Elders and former students of residential schools. He said he has encountered some resistance when asked about their personal experiences.

“A lot of people are scared to talk about it. A lot of people are bothered,” he said, adding he has however enjoyed travelling to the various reserves and learning the dialects.

“I never had a story of my family growing up. I never had a story of my own father.”

Custer was taken into the foster care system at the age of five months and would not meet his mother until the age of 14.

“I was bouncing all over, from foster home to foster home,” he recalled.

Commenting on how he has witnessed the drug pandemics and homelessness in both Vancouver and Toronto, Custer said the legacy of residential schools is the relationship between Indigenous people and the justice system.

“We’ve got so many troubles right now. A lot of us fill the correctional centres,” he said, adding many of his own family and friends have ties to gangs, or have been among the missing and murdered.

Unsure when he will make it to Prince Albert, Custer said every day is a struggle, but he feels he is making a difference. He said he never thought growing up he would get the chance to witness all the things he has seen.