Travelers along Highway #55 between Prince Albert and Shellbrook may have noticed a make-shift camp along the side of the road. A Quebec woman is travelling across Canada with her horse, and has decided to live here.
"The water is good here," says Jeanne Veronneau. "Some people don't drink it, but I do. The north is better for the summer and it doesn't cost me anything.”
Veronneau and her horse have been travelling across the country for about two years.
"I walk and I pack. I don't want to use the Greyhound anymore; I don't want to use homeless shelters.”
She works odd jobs to make enough money for food for her, and hay for her horse. Veronneau says she didn't always live like this; she went to university, and worked as a lobbyist. She says she just decided to try and live her dream.
"I want to live while I am still alive, while I can still do this. Honestly, I would like to find four or five people like me and we could live together.”
Veronneau isn't sure how long she'll live on the side of the highway. No one, including the RCMP, have asked her to leave. She isn't sure where she'll end up next.
"I'm sure there is a place in Canada where the people of the town will appreciate the way that I am, and I can respect who they are".
Until then, Veronneau will live her simple life, close, but far enough away from the busy life of those who pass her by.
