Idle No More walkers reach Ottawa

OTTAWA, March 25 (UPI) -- A group of 400 marchers representing Canada's Idle No More protest movement arrived in Ottawa Monday after a walk of nearly 1,000 miles, they announced.

Six people and a guide left Whapmagoostui, a Cree Indian community in Quebec, in January, to snowshoe and march to the Canadian capital, and were joined by numerous marchers from the Cree and Algonquin communities along the way, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

"This journey really shown me a lot, how much I can help people," said David Kawapit, 18, one of the original walkers.

The walkers will speak at an Idle No More rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the CBC said, with other leaders of the grassroots protest movement. The movement was formed in reaction to legislation perceived to be abuses of rights within treaties with First Nations tribes.