Walk brings greater awareness to community

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Three years ago, Iris Bonaise lost her brother, Denis Joseph Bonaise, to cancer.

Last week, the 10-year-old from the Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan honored his memory in a very special way. With the support of her parents, Patrick and Rita Bonaise, Iris walked from Cut Knife to Saskatoon to raise money for cancer research and awareness of the severity of the disease among First Nations' communities.

"In our family, lots of people have had cancer and we've only had one survivor so far," explained the little girl, who also lost a great-grandmother to cancer, has a cousin who lost a limb to the disease and a father who is currently battling a spinal tumor.

Bonais' Walk For Cancer took four days. When she got to her destination, Elders smudged the "little leader" in an emotional ceremony and thanked her for what she was trying to accomplish. Community leaders were also on hand to thank her and to donate money to the cause at a hastily-organized press conference. These included representatives from the Saskatoon Tribal Council, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology, the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College, the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, Peace Hills Trust, the law firm of Wardell Worme and Missens and Wanuskewin Heritage Park.

Patrick Bonaise, who walked with his daughter, was overcome with emotion when asked about her accomplishments.

"There are no words I can mention to describe how I feel," he said. "It's very personal and emotional."

Rita Bonaise agreed.

"We're very, very proud of her," she said. "I'm proud she made it all the way and maybe this will show her she can do anything."

Iris began training for her walk back in January. The girl was initially affected by television images of Telemiracle, but eventually decided the Terry Fox Foundation would be more fitting.

"I was looking at Telemiracle [commercials] and a few minutes later, I looked at my brother's photo album and asked my father if I could raise money," she said.

As part of her walk, Iris brought along a flag from the Terry Fox Foundation and invited people to inscribe the names of individual cancer victims from First Nations communities, including those from her own family.

When the flag is filled with names, Iris and her family plan to present it, in person if possible, to Betty Fox for the Terry Fox Foundation.