General

WCA members may be interested in taking in this documentary movie. Here is some info:

Winner of 8 Audience Choice Awards from around the world, 3 Best Picture Awards and finishing in the “Top 20 Audience Picks” out of 210 films screened at the 2015 Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto:

All The Time In The World comes to the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto July 17-23. http://boxoffice.hotdocs.ca/WebSales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=42026~fff3…

All The Time In The World is an inspiring, humorous, poetic and truly family friendly documentary chronicles life's natural unfolding when a family tries to let go of the control that is required in our time-based world.

A family, searching for a new perspective, leaves the comforts of home to live for 9 months, with their three young children, in the remote wilderness of the Canadian North. They spend the long northern winter living in a small cabin with no road access, no electricity, no running water, no internet and not a single watch or clock.

Filmed in the Yukon, All The Time In The World explores the theme of disconnecting from our hectic and technology laden lives in order to reconnect with each other, ourselves and our natural environment.

"A magnificent film" - David Suzuki

"A festival crowd-pleaser" - POV Magazine, April 2015

"It is a rare gem, a documentary that manages to have the character appeal and emotional pull of a fiction film. It is now on my list of all time favorite documentaries. That's high praise from someone who watches almost nothing but docs.” - Anne Dunsky, Director/Producer, California, USA

“All The Time In The World is near perfection.

The images cast a spell, and so does the story.”

-Ken Eisner, The Georgia Straight, Vancouver April 2015

"5/5 STARS - Timely and Inspiring….a crowd-pleaser”

– Michael Reid, Times Colonist, Victoria BC Feb 2015

“8/8 STARS - a heart-swellingly wonderful account of togetherness, ingenuity, creativity and invention, and a telling look at how letting go of technology can strengthen – not compromise –connection.”

- MoviePie Hot Docs 2015 Reviews. Toronto May 2015

"It’s a rare treat to see a film these days that leaves you a different person when you walk out of the theatre...Without a doubt, one of the best films I’ve seen in a long awhile."

- Kathryn Weese. BC

“I can’t recommend it highly enough…One of the most truly likeable films I’ve seen that manages also to be enlightening and intelligent.”

- Allan MacInnis, Alienated in Vancouver, April 2015

It was a cold and windy morning when our brave group met at the put in at Inglewood. While the drivers went to take our cars to the take out in Glen Williams, the rest of us went for a walk just to keep moving. Two of us stood behind a road sign to block the wind and this seemed to work for a while.

There were over 10 canoes and a handful of kayaks when we all set out down the river. The water was high and we had our share of sweepers to avoid. It was a nice challenging paddle to start off the year.
We had a good mixture of more advanced paddlers and some that were not as experienced. This is a good run for those who want to get a feel for some moving water without putting themselves in potential danger. When we stopped for lunch, the sun finally came out and warmed us up. We were all really happy to see the sun make an appearance.

We then went onto Glen Williams where the take out was. It was a nice day of paddling for the early Spring. A group of us ended off the day with a delicious pot luck tapas dinner at Rick Sabourin’s house where we sat in his beautiful sun room while poor Rick nursed a cold and kept his distance from the group. Hope you are feeling better, Rick.

400th Anniversary
July 18, 2015
If you want to register do it before this goes viral!
Check out the Links.
Great history to get your kids involved with.
http://www.lavaseportages.com/
Face Book
https://www.facebook.com/folvp?fref=nf
Jeff

I read this today and it really got me concerned.
As campers wether P.P. fixed sites or back country camping this will affect how much you pay.
The big thing is we do not want fees going to general revenues and not maintaining the facilities we use. Back country users will know not a lot gets done away from the crowds.
Paying 30 to 50 $ for a tent site a night and maybe soon to be more is going to "discourage" some people.
Now is the time to act and make our concerns known.
We may not be able to stop too many increases but we could make sure they are not too much and the fees stay in the parks.
I have learned that to be successful you will need to act early.
Share this post and pass it on, it is the only way to ensure we can enjoy our wilderness areas at a reasonable price/cost.

The time to write is now!

This quote just to inspire you to get involved.

Quote "Paying more to camp at provincial parks;" unquote

Here is a link to the Toronto Star Article.

http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/2015/05/04/no-new-taxe…

Jeff

Dear moderators, I know this is an environmental based thread, but judging by the fact few followed the posting on dams in Pukaskwa National Park.
I can only hope you let this sit here, because we need discussion on this National and we need paddlers to share this info across the Country.
These are your rivers and lakes, and you will no longer be able to paddle there.
So please share on your social media circles.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/lakes-across-canada-face-being-turned-int…

The reason they can get away with this is because so few care.
Time to stand up for your rivers.

Jeff

 George Luste, a pillar of the Wilderness Canoe Association and founder of the Canoeing & Wilderness Symposium died at his home on Toronto on Saturday, March 21st. An obituary notice will be published in one or more of the Toronto papers, probably in the weekend edition of March 28. No public funeral is planned. A celebration of George’s life will be held at a future date, to be determined by his family. I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, I invite you to share your memories of George by replying to this email. The idea is to collect them all in one place and publish in a photo journal that will be presented to Linda and family on behalf of all WCA members and Symposium attendees.

I also encourage you to make a donation to the Luste Lecture Fund. This fund was created in recognition of George's immense contribution to wilderness canoeing and in partnership between WCA and CCM. Details on how to contribute are available here:
http://www.wcsymposium.com/content/luste-lecture

May he rest in peace and live on in our memories.

See the Esquif website. As of Monday March 16th, Esquif has closed its doors. They'll be no TFormex replacement for Royalex. Anyone looking for a replacement Canyon or Pocket Canyon for tripping, or a solo whitewater canoe better start making calls to the shops to grab up the remaining stock. When it's gone, it's gone for good.

Just in case you are interested, The Credit race may move to the 4th of April if the ice is still not out.
View info online.
Credit river March 28th, 2015
https://bay179.mail.live.com/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=mga9…

Humber river race
April 11th, 2015
https://bay179.mail.live.com/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=mgTr…

Moira river Derby
April 19th, 2015
https://bay179.mail.live.com/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=mgTr…

Jeff

Last fall I have accepted an invitation to be involved with the next level of development in Queen Elizabeth Wild Lands P. P. along with the many other stakeholders that share interest in this area. Surprisingly, there are a lot of people with even with more than my almost 50 years of going into the area which is good for the point that they want to preserve the area as much a possible.

We met in early December, which was a meet and greet and to identify issues and to build direction from this and the past park documents. It was a great opportunity to show the other groups that our concerns where very similar.

From the canoeing fraternity perspective reasonable inexpensive access where we don’t cause conflict with the different property associations is the major point I brought to the meeting.

In this process we are looking at least at 5 year time span before things get really going (or more)
Hopefully in the near term we can come up with some temporary solutions.
On this point I have offered the paddling fraternity as a possible work/volunteer force to help clear any parking access point that may be identified to alleviate any places we are in conflict with other stakeholders.

The sad news here is the manners of some paddlers has put us on about the same level as the ATV’ers in the way they have treated surrounding landowners and users, but both are above weekend fishing people with powerboats.
We have lost a few of the parking spots due to this activity. Yes the park is a free/public area but we don’t pay taxes to the surrounding area.
So we need to make sure all paddlers are considerate to these surrounding groups. It will make it that much easier to develop new parking access locations.

Here are some of concerns from other Groups.
Trespassing on Private property.
Blocking of driveways and obstructing lane ways.
Leaving garbage, pet droppings.
Using private property and the access roads as a bathroom.
(yes they are watching!)
Camping too close to cottages.
Conflict when it is pointed out they are doing the above.
Not following hunting/fishing laws.
For the Hunt/fish camps.
Respect their camps, give them some space.
Don’t camp beside them.
Trespassing, they have had a number of break-ins.
Report any suspicious activity. They understand it is not canoe trippers, they would just like to protect their camps.
In hunting season wear ORANGE!
It is just common sense to make both your outdoor experiences safe and enjoyable.
This is just a readers digest version when the full report is made public I will post it.
This area is close to the GTA and will come under increasing pressure for use before it becomes an operational park.
It is up to us as paddlers to make sure we are not on the naughty list of park users.
I will post if I hear on the suggestions I made about helping to develop/expand and parking areas.
If you hear of a land owners/stores that will let us park for a few $ let us know, the competition will help keep the prices in the known areas competitive.
It is not going to be a fast process, if you have any concerns pass them on to me and I will bring them up at the next meeting.
Jeff McColl
Conservation Chair
WCA

PS When making comments on the use of the Park remember that all groups have a voice in what is going on. Look at it from others perspectives when trying to come up with solutions.

The Latest of Northern Hoot from Jeffrey Hinch
The Man who walks by Moonlight
Tawabinisay
A great read,
For those who may wonder why posting this here, This is the man that most likely was the Guide for the Group of Seven in Algoma. He took famous American author Stewart Edward White into this area before the ACR, and was also the Guide for the surveyor crews who put the tracks in.
http://www.northernhoot.com/…/ghostrain-circa-1922-man-who…/

In an earlier edition - Ghost Train
http://www.northernhoot.com/news/northernvoices/ghostrain/

I have been friends with the Grandson of Sidney Johnson since he gave me a lift from Hwy 17 up to Frater 10 years ago on one of my solo trips. He shared with me one of his Grandfathers drawins of the Canyon.
Jeffrey Hinch sent me a copy of the drawing in the story without the shadows,
With the people shadows I had mistakenly guessed the wrong spot but only by 200m, With out the shadows it was just another place that I had stood where Sidney painted, all very cool.

Winter
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gqGS5gmQL6c/USLe74rZglI/AAAAAAAAE5k/…

Fall trip train coming out of the sketch location.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-th7gM8-hJOM/VDwhqWoqIBI/AAAAAAAALec/…

Enjoy!
Jeff

the image attached is the other Sidney Johnston watercolor.