Q&A
How Canada’s most iconic craft helps Shelagh Rogers navigate life’s choppy waters
Shelagh Rogers, OC, is a celebrated broadcast journalist, whose voice is a national favourite on CBC Radio, and the Founding Ambassadorat-large for The Canadian Canoe Museum. She is always happy to share her passion for Canada’s best-loved boat.
Where is your canoeing happy place?
A lake in Quebec’s Gatineau Hills. My connection to it goes back to childhood, and to my late father, who first took me out in a canoe.
Why is The Canadian Canoe Museum important to you?
One Sunday morning, in November 2010, I drove to Peterborough to visit an elderly friend at the hospital. But, upon arrival, I learned she had died just ten minutes before. I felt so sad, so lost. Without thinking, I drove to the ccm. It was closed that morning, but the door was open. At the desk, I explained where I had just come from and they kindly allowed me to wander through. It wasn’t long before I heard running and laughing — the place was crawling with kids carrying foot-long paddles. I later learned that they had spent the night in the museum (surely every kid’s dream!) and carved those paddles the day before. On that “hard portage” morning, I was reminded of the solace that comes from being around canoes, and the kids’ unbridled enthusiasm was gravy.
How can people across Canada support canoe education and heritage?
The ccm website is a great resource. You can certainly find canoes in the literature of this country: from the poetry of the late E. Pauline Johnson to newer poems by Melanie Siebert; in the stories of Susanna Moodie, Margaret Atwood, Roch Carrier, Elizabeth Hay, Richard Wagamese, and Alison Pick; in the non-fiction of Bill Mason, James Raffan (the ccm’s director of external relations), Sanford Osler, and Shelagh Grant; and so many more.
Why is the canoe such an enduring symbol of Canada?
The canoe is a vessel, beautiful in form and function, that allows us to move on all kinds of water. Our paddles dig in and we pull forward, which is best done together.