A man running across Canada for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls made a stop in Swift Current last night.

Brad Firth - known as 'Caribou Legs' - isn't doing the journey to raise money - it's about the awareness and, for him, the love of running.

But getting the message across that women need to be treated with respect is at least as important as completing the run, Firth said. So he's getting a ride to Moose Jaw today where he has speaking obligations.

Firth grew up in the Gwich'in First Nation in Inuvik, N.W.T. said he was excellent at hockey, skiing, and running, but sports slipped away from him when he started struggling with alcohol.

He moved to Vancouver, got into drugs, and spent a lot of time running from the police.

One day when he got caught, the officer told him he should use his running for good.

"I was getting chased by the cops, and then I graduated to running with elite athletes - I sort of reset my love for sports again," said Firth, who joined the elite running club the Vancouver Falcons.

Substance-abuse problems behind him, it's been an interesting route for Firth.

He survived being hit by a semi-truck during his first 100-mile run from Vancouver to Hope, B.C., calling it karma for the way he lived his life prior to turning it around. He was also found liable of defamation, and ordered to play $60,000 over 10 years, for blaming his older sister's husband for her death, though the RCMP and Coroner said otherwise.

The lengthy runs are roughly a $100-per-day venture, considering the cost of room and food. He gets some money from donations or from public speaking fees, but says at times it's interesting going it alone.

"Sometimes there is no food for me; sometimes there is no room for me, so I have to sleep outside," he said. "Sometimes when running in uninhabited sections of the TransCanada Highway, I'll have to eat out of a garbage can... And that's exactly what I asked for when I said I don't want any support vehicle behind me."

Firth will be taking the TransCanada east through the prairies and hopping on Highway 17 through northern Ontario before crossing to Ottawa, going through Montreal, and working his way through New Brunswick, en route to his final destination of Eskasoni, Cape Breton, N.S.

Amazingly, he says his legs are sore after each day's run, but after eight to 10 hours of sleep he feels rejuvinated.

Armed with a pack of icy water, various traditional 'medicines,' face paint, a cell phone, earphones, feathers, and other items (that doesn't include identification or a debit card he lost them, and can't get a debit card without ID), he hopes to finish his journey in late October so he can get back to British Columbia, as he has another run booked in the coastal province for November.