The lure of the North

“THERE ARE STRANGE things done in the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold …” I’ve known that line and numerous others from the poetry of Robert Service, the “Bard of the Yukon,” since I was a boy. Not because I read his work regularly, but because my dad routinely recited Service’s works around campfires, on hikes and during the summer nights of my childhood. Service, I presume, helped seed the lure of the North in my father, and perhaps, indirectly, he did so in me. Maybe he did so in you, too. Regardless, something about Canada’s northern hinterland and the people, communities and culture of the North has grabbed many. So it seemed natural that one of the themes of our issues this year in celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial should be the North. It’s a huge swath of land in my definition, one that expands much farther south than the Arctic and encompasses pretty much anything a few hundred kilometres north of the nation’s urban centres. And for those of us who live in those southern cities, it’s that varied geography and the mysterious nature it represents that attracts us. To that end, this issue features stories that explore the still relatively unknown and unseen of our North — Ontario’s Ring of Fire region, the North Pole, Nunavut’s Baffin Island ( above) and much more to feed our collective obsession. If you weren’t already fascinated, consider yourself warned.