South Okanagan's Robin Edgar-Haworth on a cross-Canada odyssey to 'Right the Wrong'
By Bruce Fuhr
Commuters heading into Nelson Monday morning for work from South Slocan or leaving the Heritage City for the afternoon drive home on the North Shore may have seen a man pushing a cart on the highway with his trusty dog by his side.
This person was not homeless, nor was he looking for recycled cans along the road.
The man is Robin Edgar-Haworth.
And he’s walking from Penticton to Ottawa to raise awareness and encourage dialogue about problems facing Canada and the planet Earth.
“I have 30 issues I’m dealing with here and it’s all due to the present and past sitting governments in Canada,” Edgar-Haworth told The Nelson Daily during a brief stop in the Heritage City.
“We are in dire straights and I think everywhere in this country it’s broken down.”
Edgar-Haworth, 63 on March 26, left the South Okanagan on his birthday, walking the highways with his four-legged friend Koda, an Aussie Shepherd.
He plans to walk almost 5,000 kilometers through five provinces to the Nation’s Capital stopping in communities along the way to share concerns about the future on a journey dubbed, “Right the Wrong.”
“There’s an election coming up,” Edgar-Haworth explains, “and we’re going to get new promises, new spending . . .. We’re going to look into the world through rose-coloured lenses again and forget the existing problems we have.”
Edgar-Haworth, who lives off the grid in the South Okanagan, has a laundry list of concerns listed on his website which he says are in no particular order.
Some that captured his attention in Nelson when asked are:
There’s no regulation for GMO foods labeling in Canada.
“Everybody should have a right to eat the food they want,” he said.
The absurd pension plans that the PM’s and MP’s are taking.
Rail lines and pipelines are self-regulated and self inspected.
“If that was the case that is why Lac-Mégantic (oil-train explosion killed 47 people in July 2014) happened.”
The way we treat our veterans.
“(Prime Minister Stephen) Harper wants to put the into war but when they get back as broken beans he doesn’t want anything to do with them. . .. He says it’s not his fault.”
Edgar-Haworth, who finds spots along the side of the road to camp for the night, arrived in Nelson Monday morning and was destined to continue his cross-Canada trek later in the day.
He’s off to Balfour, taking the Kootenay Lake Ferry for Creston and following Highway 3 to Medicine Hat.
Edgar-Haworth is unsure if his walk will make a difference.
But at the very least, it will get people talking and thinking about the direction the Canada is headed.
“I just started a week ago, but I’ve already got 600 hits on my Facebook page,” he said.
“I’ve had a lot of moral and spiritual support along the way.”
As for his footwear?
Edgar-Haworth said the souls of his boots are already wearing a little thin. (People can donate to the cause on the website.)
But that’s the least of his worries.
Canada and the World are bigger concerns.
“We can make the world a better place for our children if we band together,” he said.
“We can Right the Wrong, let’s make it so.”
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