Museum kayaks to travel the North
100 students to join project
Museums are usually for things far past practical use, but a trio of traditional kayaks built in front of the public at the Museum of Nature will soon be part of an epic journey across the North.
Dr. Kate Breen and Eric McNair-Landry travelled all the way from Yellowknife to give people a taste of what goes into kayak building. They’ve been working for weeks on the traditional vessels, right across from the polar bears.
It all started with a big pile of wood about two weeks ago, Breen said. Since then, they’ve steamed, scratched and sanded until the frames came into shape.
But Sunday the boats will be taken apart and eventually taken to Greenland. There, Breen and McNairLandry will lead a group of 100 students on a voyage through the Arctic. It’s part of the program Students on Ice, which takes youth from around the globe on polar expeditions.
Both builders are very excited that 33 students from the Canadian Arctic will be with them.
When the students get to see this part of their culture, “it sets them up for a big feeling of pride” McNairLandry said.
He said kayaks originated in the northern regions of Canada, Iceland and Greenland, and that the original building methods are still the best.
“Really what we’ve added to modern kayaks is plastic and beer holders,” he said. “We think that we’ve done a lot over the years, but Inuit have been doing this for over 1,000.”
The pair completed a 1,000-km journey in a similar style of kayak two years ago.
McNair-Landry said the idea to team up with Students on Ice came on that trip, when they ran into another group of students while hitching a ride on a passing boat.
“We hadn’t seen anyone for, like, 10 days, and all of a sudden we see all these students pouring off this ship,” he said.
Before long, they’d got in touch with the people at Students on Ice, and eventually got involved with the Museum of Nature when the museum asked them to build the kayaks on site.
The reception at the museum was great, says scientific interpreter Annie Belair. Most of the kids just want to touch them, she said, but at least once a day someone comes in and says, “I’ve built my own boat!”
One bearded and bespectacled man, in yoga pants and a blue windbreaker, stood chatting with the pair for well over 30 minutes, showing them a few books he’d brought with him.
Neither builder seemed to mind, their eyes lighting up when the topic of conversation was kayaks.
“Kayaking is really a vibrant par of Canadian culture,” McNair-Landry said. “This group of people, Inuit, have inspired an Olympic sport. Not many groups can say that.”