An Ottawa man is shining a light on the drug crisis, as well as mental health, by walking from Niagara Falls to Ottawa later this year.
Greg McPherson lost his son Aric to the drug crisis in 2019, and two years later Aric’s friend Madeleine took her own life.
McPherson will be doing the walk, nearly 600km, in May with hopes of raising money for a number of causes. While he is training physically by walking on the treadmill daily, he notes a big part of the preparation is mental.
McPherson says when the COVID-19 pandemic started, he wasn’t in a great place mentally, and had to do something to get his mind off of everything going on in the world, as well as in his life.
Since then, he’s done a number of walks to raise awareness, including walking through all 24 wards in Ottawa in 24 hours – roughly 100km.
Aric and Madeleine.
Over the course of two weeks in May he will circle Lake Ontario, with a few detours along the way, ending at Ottawa City Hall on June 1st. His website, OTR4MentalHealth.com, includes his route for this walk as well as previous walks he’s done to support the cause. During the final stretch of the walk on the final day, there will also be fundraising done for the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, but McPherson reinforces that the walk is truly to bring awareness to the mental health and toxic drug crisis, as well as standing against stigma surrounding these topics.
He says walking is now his go-to method of clearing his mind, but it doesn’t always help.
Aric’s Facebook post, with a message of hope.
The 600km walk this year will start on May 19th in Niagara Falls, at the same location his son Aric once shared a photo with a message of hope from exactly six years prior. McPherson plans on walking with his sons Aaron and Kaelan to start the journey.
Greg says he hopes to see residents joining him for the walk, as a number of local politicians along the route will be as well.
Greg’s walking route – 600km from Niagara Falls to Ottawa starting on May 19th.
(Written by: Matt Latour)
