Tumpline


Common ground. PHOTO: JAMES RAFFAN


[ TUMBLEHOME ] The Voyage Home HIGH SCHOOL CLASS TRIP ON THE COPPERMINE


Four years ago, when then 15-year-old Angulalik Pedersen left Kugluktuk, Nuna- vut, to attend high school on full scholar- ship at Upper Canada College in Toronto, he brought with him a dream that one day he could take some of his southern class- mates north to visit his hometown on the Arctic Ocean. In the summer before Pedersen’s fi-


nal year, with the help of his geography teacher at UCC and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, he finally pulled it all to- gether—a canoe trip on the Coppermine River that would end at his house on July 9, Nunavut Day. Te goal of the expedition—named


Atanigi, “when two things come together” in the language of Kugluktuk—was to bring together Pedersen’s new classmates with youth from his home in the North. Because paddling is part of the extra-cur- ricular program at UCC, Pedersen had no trouble drumming up interest for the trip in Toronto. Back home, however, extra- curricular activities involved powerboats, snow machines and ATVs…but not canoes. With the infectious enthusiasm of Kug-


luktuk High School counselor cum recruit- ment officer Kenny Taptuna, however, half a dozen northern youth signed up. Tey found a canoe and the will to start learn- ing strokes. Unfortunately, it was May and nearly everything was still frozen. As a re- sult, when the group gathered as a whole for the first time on Air Tindi’s wharf in Yellowknife, half had no real paddling ex- perience on flatwater, let alone prepara- tion for whitewater. Incredibly, the northerners surmounted


their inexperience with natural athleti- cism and a seemingly near-genetic famil- iarity with boats in general. Aided by the


skill and determination of three wilder- ness guides, the group practiced strokes and maneuvers on the first hundred or so kilometers of calm water near the North- west Territories/Nunavut border. By the time the crew turned north at


Big Bend and started into the current and class II–III rapids for which the Cop- permine is known, cross-cultural pad- dling teams were working like reasonably well-oiled machines. On the more difficult rapids, lead guide Colin Smith lashed two canoes together to make a pontoon boat— a.k.a. the “party barge”—which created a super stable, almost relaxing whitewater experience for novice paddlers. At the Coppermine campsites, Taptuna


taught nightly lessons in Inuit language and traditional games. Others started string games, throat singing lessons and impromptu


inukshuk-building work-


shops. Traditions from the north and south blended in the common experience of paddling to the Arctic Ocean under the midnight sun. When the paddlers arrived cold, wet


and happy in Kugluktuk on Nunavut Day, they were celebrated for coming together to accomplish something remarkable. Pedersen and the other northerners were recognized by the town as the first people ever from that community to arrive via the river. Equally significant was the realization


of one young person’s dream to make this land just a little bit smaller by bringing people together in canoes.


JAMES RAFFAN hopes paddlers will be inspired by Pedersen’s example to use their canoes to connect with their country and each other. Don’t forget: National Canoe Day is June 26, www.nationalcanoeday.net. American canoeists are encouraged to celebrate as well.


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