For many, Mile 0 in Victoria is a start, and for some it’s an end.
The marker near Dallas Road identifies the western end of more than 8,000 kilometres of Trans-Canada Highway that crosses the nation.
For Trevor Redmond – who paused at the Terry Fox statue and dipped a toe in the nearby Salish Sea on Monday (Dec. 29) – it’s a kind of restart.
“It’s a different meaning here to me. I think it is everyone else’s mile zero, it isn’t mine,” Redmond told Victoria News. “It’s a beginning, a new beginning, a new journey. Most people coming east to west, it’s the finish … I want to go from Victoria General to Victoria B.C., back to Victoria General.”
Known as the “fellow in yellow,” his journey started at Victoria General Hospital, in Halifax, N.S. – not View Royal, B.C. – where Redmond fought to keep a leg after being involved in a car crash when he was 15.
It left a lingering respect and desire to support health care in Canada. Over several years he completed what he calls the grand trifecta across Canada—three human-powered crossings. He walked 11,421 kilometres across Canada in 2006 and 2007; bicycled 14,632 kilometres across Canada in 2009 and now 10,456 kilometres across Canada.
Much of the latest trip funds raised are supporting the Dollar A Day Foundation and its work advancing mental health and addiction initiatives across Canada.
It aligns with what began as a personal journey of recovery and his latest message of “exercising your mind, body and spirit.”
“That is a grand trifecta too, and it will take you much further than you could ever expect,” he said. “I didn’t believe I could. I didn’t believe I couldn’t. I believe in doing.”
For now, Redmond believes he’ll get back on the road right away, heading north with the goal of snacking on a Nanaimo bar in the city it’s named after. He hopes to hit the other end of Highway 1 in Port Hardy, as well as heading west to Tofino – dependent on the comforts provided by supporters to propel him along the way.
“The strength of the people is the strength in me,” he said. “I’ve been through some pretty tough stuff. This time last year I was headed into northern Ontario,” he added, recalling seven-foot snow piles alongside the roads.
Happily hearing robins in the trees here, weather is less of a concern.
Visit thereandbackcanada.ca for links to social media and how to support the cause.