Adam Prudhomme
Editor
James Caughill and Muckwah’s cross-Canada journey brought them to Greater Napanee this week, where they spent a few nights in a tent next to the river before heading towards Odessa.
Caughill is a 61-year-old man also known as Homeless James, who is on a mission to raise awareness for the homeless and their pets. Muckwah on the other paw is a husky-malamute mix and loyal canine companion. Together they are walking across the country while Caughill documents the journey in an ongoing series of books, the proceeds of which will be used to build homeless shelters that accommodate humans and their pets. On Sept. 27 Caughill invited the Beaver to meet with him in the backyard of a Napanee home where the owner was letting him and Muck sleep while they rested up for the final leg of their journey. That journey began nearly six years to the day, kicking off on Sept. 24, 2016 at 2 p.m.
The motivation for the grueling walk is near to Caughill’s heart, as he learned first-hand that anyone on the street with a pet would be forced to give up their animal if they wanted to be allowed entry into a shelter. Anyone who wants to receive benefits from the government needs an address, which put Caughill in a bind. Still he had no intention of giving up his dog.
Caughill became homeless after he was scammed out of his savings, putting first and last month rent down on what he thought was a legitimate apartment.
“So did nine other people,” said Caughill. “This (scammer) made a fake rental agreement. Rented his old apartment to 10 of us, took our money and booked it. We got scammed. Here I am, no place to live, me and my dog and a lousy $165 in my bank account. That’s all I had to my name.”
Stories like his are unfortunately all too common.
“When this happened to me, and it could happen to anybody, don’t think it can’t happen to you, don’t even….go there,” he said. “This economy is getting worse and worse, it could really happen to anybody.”
With no place to live he began seeking out homeless shelters-only to learn his dog Muckwah wouldn’t be allowed in.
“So I decided to fix it,” he said. “My dad would always say, out of me and my three brothers, out of the four of us, he would point me out specifically, this is not a man with whom to (mess with). Someone (messes with me) I take it personal. Real personal. I have never ever held a grudge for more than 61 years. I’m pretty proud of that.”
To make his point, he set off on foot with only a cart and Muckwah at his side, starting from St. Catharines and heading west to British Columbia. His goal was to raise funds and awareness to the issue in hopes of creating shelters that would allow pets.
Sadly, his first dog died of cancer in 2019. Shortly after he got a second dog, also Muckwah, who continues to keep him company on his journey. Over six years-with several months lost to the pandemic which put his trip on hold in Cypress River, Manitoba-he completed the journey to BC. He then took a train back to Ontario and resumed the final third of his journey, now headed towards the Maritimes.
“I don’t walk in the winter,” he said. “Canadian winter will kill you faster than a bullet. I don’t give a flying rat’s (behind) if it’s a dry cold, -55 celsius is bloody cold. Dry or not, that is fricking cold.”
Once he makes it to Odessa, he’ll be picked up by a friend who is allowing him the use of his Westport cottage for the winter. It’ll also give him the opportunity to watch TV for the first time since his journey began.
“I’ve missed a lot. I’ve missed all of Game of Thrones,” he said. “Come on dude. I know about it, but I missed it all.”
While there he’ll also work on the seventh installment of his book series, each volume covering a year in the journey. The first six parts of the series Walking To The Rockies With Muckwah, are available on Amazon.ca and are sold in stores worldwide, to which Caughill says with a laugh ‘that means we’re technically world famous’. Indeed his Facebook Page, Homeless James and Muckwah, has over 17,000 followers from all corners of the globe.
“When we finish we’ve got a movie deal for the end of this,” said Caughill. “Ninety per cent of that is going to be combined with the book money and that’s going to fund the construction of three Muckwah Memorial Shelters for the homeless and their pets. The movie is going to be a multi-million dollar docu-drama/mini series, probably direct to Netflix. My editor, her two friends work for a movie production company in Winnipeg that’s owned by Liam Neeson. When she’s edited number seven and that goes to print, then she’s sending all seven volumes to her friends, they’re going to turn that into a screenplay. And they’re going to do the same thing with book two, then we’ll have a movie deal when we’re done.”
He then plans to appeal to every major sport team in Canada, hoping to convince them to donate a percentage of their profits from one game a year, which would then be used to build an animal friendly shelter in major cities from coast to coast.
“If I can do that, I can die happy,” he says with a smile.
His walk has already begun to make a difference as a handful of shelters across the country have begun to accept pets as well on a case by case basis. A huge improvement from when he began when virtually no shelter would accept pets. That’s significant because homelessness is on the rise. Caughill says when he began his walk in 2016 some 300,000 Canadians were identified as homeless. Today that number is estimated to have tripled to 900,000.