A group of walkers in Stanley Mission. Photo courtesy of Valerie Barnes-Connell.

A group of people who braved cold weather and walked all the way to North Dakota arrived back home in Stanley Mission on Sunday.

The group left in late November to join the Water Protectors, already camped out at Standing Rock.

They are there to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline Project.

One of the walkers was Ricky Sanderson, who says he had one main goal in making the journey.

“I did this for the youth, you know the community here was struggling and I wanted to do something for the youth, so I did this walk for them to inspire a lot of you to do stuff good in life,” he said.

One of the people who helped organize the walk from Stanley Mission was Robert Ballantyne.

He says at one point, it appeared they may not be allowed to cross over the border into the United States.

“Once they crossed the border, after that their popularity just shot up right across the world, they have supporters from across the world, people from Iceland, Europe, Japan,” he said.

About 100 people gathered in Stanley Mission yesterday for a feast to honour the walkers, who thanked everyone for their support.