RESEARCH SUMMARY Picturing the Thelon Natures, Ethics, and Travel within an Arctic Riverscape

August 2012

Picturing the Thelon was a research project carried out between October 2009 and December 2011. The project was led by Bryan Grimwood as part of his Ph.D. program in geography at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, .

Source: H. Wiedemar Source: P. Albrecht Source: Anonymous Canoeist Source: Anautalik

Chipewyan Dene left the area in the late Among nature-based tourists, including Background eighteenth century. While Dene and recreational canoe travellers, the traditions and use of the Thelon are remoteness and naturalness of the Thelon With headwaters in Canada’s Northwest different, the river has remained an River mark it as an ideal wilderness Territories, just east of the height land important place for both peoples for destination. The first modern recreational that separates the and many generations. At caribou water canoe trip down the watersheds, the Thelon crossings, for example, hunters and occurred in 1962. Since then, hundreds of River flows out of the boreal forest and families would drive or wait for caribou independent and commercially guided east across the tundra and into to cluster and become vulnerable while canoeists have travelled portions of the (Figure 1). The river stretches swimming. Stone tent rings, chipping river on multiple-day expeditions. Many approximately 900 kilometres across sites, inuksuit, caches, and kayak stands of these canoeists are motivated to visit habitat that is ideal for migratory herds of are currently located at these places. Both beautiful landscapes, encounter wildlife, caribou and other large mammals like the Dene First Nations in Lutsel K’e, and experience first hand similar muskoxen, grizzly bear, wolf, and . NWT, located on the east arm of Great journeys as the early Euro-North Slave Lake, and the Inuit of , American explorers. Recreational This territory is the homeland of various Nunuavt, located at the eastern terminus canoeing along the Thelon has also been Aboriginal societies. Archaeological of the Thelon, have indicated that their encouraged by various conservation records show that, for close to 8000 years, knowledge, subsistence practices, and initiatives. For example, the Thelon human occupation of the area has been cultural memory are firmly connected to Wildlife Sanctuary, which was established linked to caribou as the main source food, the Thelon River. In addition, there is an in 1927 by the Canadian government to clothing, shelter, and tools. Current increasing awareness of the Thelon’s protect muskoxen and caribou, represents inhabitants include descendants of the historical and contemporary significance one of the nation’s largest and earliest , who moved inland from to Métis Peoples. established protected areas. Canoeists the Hudson Bay coast after the want to experience at least a small

Bryan S. R. Grimwood 1 Figure 1. The Thelon River (Source: Will Van Hemessen) portion of this 56 000 km2 nature document knowledge about the Thelon, shared responsibility to and for the preserve. More recently, a section of the and to share this knowledge within and Thelon River among its visitors and Thelon was designated under the between participant groups. By inhabitants. These outcomes are Canadian Heritage River System to documenting and sharing different important in order for people to work celebrate the watershed’s natural, knowledge, it was expected that the together and respond to the many social cultural, and recreational values. One research would a) celebrate the different and ecological changes occurring in intention of this initiative was to uses and meanings of the Thelon River; b) northern regions. persuade more nature-based tourists to raise cross-cultural awareness and visit the Thelon region. understanding; and c) cultivate a sense of Research Approach

Study Purpose The study employed community-based and participatory research approaches. The Thelon River is a special place that This style of research entails working means different things to different people with communities (in this case Inuit and and is used and experienced in multiple canoeists) and involving them as much as ways. The purpose of the study was to possible in all aspects of the project. For work with river tourists (wilderness Baker Lake Elders shared knowledge Picturing the Thelon, participants helped canoeists) and river inhabitants (residents during this project (photo by B. Grimwood) to clarify project objectives, determine of Qamani’tuaq/Baker Lake, Nunavut) to and collect data, and analyze and

2 Picturing the Thelon interpret data. A number of community members supported the project by working as research assistants, community liaisons, or interpreters. Research Methods

Three methods were used in the research: photographic interviews, experiential river trips, and community workshops. An summary of these methods is presented in Table 1. It is important to note that these are all qualitative research methods, which focus on trying to understand human behaviour and experiences in depth, rather than identifying facts.

Photographic Interviews: This aspect of the project involved 38 individual participants (ten Baker Lake residents and 28 canoe travelers). Each of these participants was asked to share up to 12 Thelon River images that they had taken and which represented to them their Thelon experiences and their idea of responsibility. A total of 492 photographs were contributed. Individual participants also discussed Community Workshops: responsibility in relation to the Thelon their photographs in a face-to-face A series of community workshops were River. Because these objectives are broad, conversational interview or an email implemented so that information from the research materials collected could questionnaire. Many stories filled with the photographic interviews could be have been interpreted, synthesized, and vast knowledge, meaning, and experience shared with broader Baker Lake and reported in many ways. In writing his related to the Thelon River were canoeing communities. At these Ph.D. dissertation, Bryan focused communicated. workshops, participants examined attention on three thematic outcomes. photographs and used these to analyze Experiential River Trips: and interpret the experiences and 1. Engaged Acclimatization: An This component of the project involved meanings associated with the Thelon Bryan’s participation in river journeys River (i.e., their own and those of others). approach to responsible research in with Inuit and canoeists. A total of seven Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Nunavut journeys using various types of only one workshop occurred with a transportation over a range of distances group of canoeists. One of the challenges of the project was were documented using photography, the fact that Bryan is not a resident of field notes, and GPS tracking. Six of these Baker Lake. When people are ‘outsiders’ trips started in Baker Lake and ranged Outcomes to a community, they can often be from half a day to a full day in length. unknowingly disrespectful. Bryan The routes of these journeys are The purpose of this research was to work wanted to ensure that his interactions displayed in Figure 2. One trip with with canoeists and Inuit residents of with participants and other residents of canoeists was 11 days long. This journey Baker Lake, Nunavut to document Baker Lake were positive, courteous, and was guided by Alex Hall of Canoe Arctic knowledge about the Thelon River, and to fair. Inc. and involved travelling through the share this knowledge within and between heart of the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary these groups. The research was intended The approach that evolved as Bryan (Figure 3). to describe different perspectives, foster developed responsible research understanding, and cultivate

Bryan S. R. Grimwood 3 d) Activism: engaged acclimatization facilitates change by orienting researchers to the capacities within a community. When doing research is about relationships, learning, and immersion, the focus shifts from discovering true facts to working with others towards positive futures. 2. Nature-Culture Values: Commonality across different cultural practices

Values are often separated into “natural” and “cultural” categories. For example, the Canadian Heritage River System distinguishes natural and cultural values in their designation of nationally celebrated rivers. A limitation of this approach is that one value type often gains Figure 2. River trips departing from Baker Lake (Source: Will Van Hemessen) preference over the other. We see this in tourism related materials that promote the Arctic as an exotic natural relationships with Inuit was called researchers immerse themselves in the place that is pristine, vulnerable, and in engaged acclimatization. The process communities with which they seek to need of protection. These nature-based involves direct experience in new settings learn and work. and values exploration, reflection, care, creativity, and uncertainty as fundamental to research. Four aspects characterize engaged acclimatization. a) Building Relationships: the intention of engaged acclimatization is for a researcher to continuously seek out and be open to new ideas, other cultures, and different places. b) Learning: the approach of engaged acclimatization contrasts research driven by expertise, certainty, and efficiency. Instead, a researcher adopts the perspective of a learner whereby humility, ambiguity, and the willingness to adapt to change characterize the research process. c) Immersion: to practice engaged acclimatization, a research must engage with place-specific experiences and ways of knowing. This requires that Figure 3. The Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary River Tirp (Source: Will Van Hemessen)

4 Picturing the Thelon Thelon River travel practices of Inuit and canoeists are deeply connected to

knowledge of, and encounters with, caribou. Source: Bryan Grimwood

Source: Joedee Joedee Source: Bryan Grimwood

Source: Gabriel Joedee values can overshadow the cultural a) Emplacement: the value of being • When people document travel activities practices of Inuit and other northerners and becoming connected to the Thelon using photography, journaling, story who continue to rely on their River as a special place. Emplacement is telling, and by collecting mementos. environment for subsistence (e.g., expressed in many ways, for example: b) Wayfaring: the value of “knowing as hunting and fishing). This leads to • When people anticipate Thelon River potential conflicts between ecotourists travel by organizing clothing and you go”, or perceiving and engaging the and hunting peoples like Inuit, thus equipment, preparing food, reading Thelon River with multiple senses as an deterring cooperation between groups. literature, or practicing skills. The integral part of travel. Wayfaring is word for this “getting ready” expressed in paddling, motor vehicle, and The documentation of experiential river activity is pagnatiit. walking practices. For example: • Using paddles as extensions of their journeys was used to compare the Thelon • By physically sensing the environment River travel practices of canoeists and through touch, sight, sound, smell, and arms, canoeists work their bodies in inhabitants. The intention was to analyze taste. These sensations also allow tandem to position their canoe relative these different cultural practices as relationships to be made with the to current or wind for a desired effect. expressions of underlying and potentially heritage of the Thelon. A canoeist, for When winds pick up or river obstacles shared values. The result of this analysis example, tried making stone are encountered, canoeists position was the identification of three value- arrowheads. Smelling trees near themselves for more calculated and based metaphors that show how nature brought back fond concentrated strokes. and culture are not distinct, but rather memories for an Inuk Elder of her life • Oriented by river corridor or eskers, deeply interrelated. As research as a young girl. and unfettered by extended hours of Arctic summer daylight, canoeists outcomes, these metaphors provide ways • Through the accumulation of place- for thinking about the commonalities that based ecological knowledge and skills. walk, individually or in small groups, to explore campsite surroundings, exist between different uses and • By conveying meaning and ecological perceptions of the Thelon River. understanding through interpretation, follow animal tracks along the beach, or stories, and place names. examine glacial deposits upon a hill.

Bryan S. R. Grimwood 5 • While safe motorboat routes up rapids tea, fresh and/or dried caribou meat, The tracks and traces theme directed a are inscribed into local Inuit knowledge bannock, and store-bought snacks. second level of analysis whereby the systems, everyday navigation demands physical contents of the photographs and an ability to read the river for deep- 3. Tracks and Traces: Natures, other research materials were interpreted water channels, obstacles, and slower Responsibility, and Identity for underlying meaning or symbolism moving micro-currents, and to related to responsibility. This analysis manoeuvre the motorboat in response The 492 photographs contributed to the revealed that both canoeists and to river features encountered. The project by canoeists and Inuit were inhabitants intentionally make certain driver of a motorboat tends to stand to analyzed by coding and counting the traces present upon the landscape, while scout the river, scan the shoreline for different elements presented in the intentionally trying to make other traces guidance in the form of inuksuits, or images (i.e., the photograph contents). absent. For example, the canoe guide watch the happenings of other vessels. “Tracks and traces” emerged as a involved in the study would reveal to It is a subtle but well-rehearsed skill of thematic category in these photographs. canoeists wolf dens or ancient stone manipulating the steering wheel and/ These images depict various signs of arrowheads that likely would have or applying the appropriate amount of human and/or wildlife presence within otherwise gone unobserved. Inuit Elders throttle that enables effective and safe the Thelon River watershed. They include explained that signs from a caribou navigation. things like snowmobile tracks, trapper harvest would be removed from the cabins, stone arrowheads, shed antlers, landscape so that caribou migration paw prints along an esker, and even the patterns would not be altered. Each of wake behind a canoe. The tracks and these activities contributes to making the traces theme was made up of various Thelon River appear a certain way. components. “Structures that signal,” for example, consisted of human created Source: Kevin Carter markings that highlight a particular river feature, activity, or moment. Examples include inuksuit, cairns, graves, or tent Source: Bryan Grimwood rings of former Inuit encampments. These contrast images coded as “human c) Gathering: the value of bringing settlement,” which include buildings together or building up social bonds. fixed in location for long-term shelter The Thelon River is a place that inspires (e.g., hunting cabins or houses). people to have shared experiences and Photographs coded as “tracks” include develop a sense of community. foot prints or paths created on land or The analysis also showed that certain Gathering is expressed through water by humans (and our machines), activities of making traces present or invitations, creating camps, and sharing grizzly bear, wolf, caribou, or geese. making traces absent expressed food. For example: “Remains” refers to antlers, eagle responsibility to and for others. In other • An Inuk Elder’s invitations to join her feathers, or skulls that linger upon the words, the activities of canoeists and at her cabin led to several episodes of land. It is interesting to note that tracks inhabitants that shape what Thelon looks inter-generational and inter-cultural and traces allow us to read something like are sometimes performed in a spirit knowledge sharing. about events or activities that have of care, concern, and respect for other • Canoeists often seek out others to join occurred along the Thelon. They tell river travellers. An inuksuit, for example, them on evening walks along eskers or stories of landscape history or memory. is a trace left by an Inuk hunter to on the tundra. identify to other Inuit the direction from • On the days with little wind, canoeists which caribou travel. Alternatively, assembled a mesh tent so that they canoeists may avoid leaving fire pits, or could enjoy meals in relative bug-free other visible scars, so that subsequent comfort. The bug tent had the effect of groups of canoeists can discover the enclosing the group within a bounded Thelon River as a pristine waterway. space, the comfort of which was Importantly, these expressions of responsibility are often related to how reflected in the ease that informal Source: Carolyn inhabitants and canoeists see themselves conversation transpired. Cahill • While on the land, canoeists and Inuit as stewards of the river. Responsibility to congregate and converse around hot and for others can be an expression of personal and social-cultural identity.

6 Picturing the Thelon “It was a very social atmosphere and people seemed to feel like they were welcome to come into camp and chat and share food and drink and stories”

Source: Anautalik

Arctic tourism. It demonstrated, for homeland. Nor has the project integrated Conclusions example, ways in which touristic and the perspectives of relevant land, water, inhabitant practices are indeed different, and conservation institutions and Engaging the perspectives of canoe but also how they have much in common. government departments. Ongoing and tourists and Inuit residents of Baker Lake, Third, and most importantly, these future research initiatives will attempt to Nunavut, the aim of this study was to understandings were achieved in involve partnerships with these diverse document knowledge about the Thelon partnership with tourist and Inuit stakeholders. River, and to share this knowledge within research participants. This models a and between participant groups in order learning-centred, knowledge sharing, and to cultivate enhanced responsibility to inclusive approach to research that is and for the Thelon as a special and highly relevant in light of contemporary changing place. In addition to the contexts of Arctic change. Specifically, it is outcomes described above, the research an approach that can help create safe as a whole has made at several innovative spaces for cross-cultural and inter- contributions. regional dialogue, a prerequisite for cooperation, partnership, and responding First, the research drew attention to the effectively, and responsibly, to change. multiple uses, perspectives, and relationships associated with the Thelon Of course, Picturing the Thelon is not River. Second, the research contributed without limitations. To date, the project Different practices along the Thelon can inspire elation and a sense of feeling “at interdisciplinary insights and real-world has not engaged with Dene and Métis home” (photos contributed by Anautalik and J. descriptions that are novel to the study of communities that, like Inuit, have long Langdon) tourism ethics, nature-based tourism, and histories of knowing the Thelon as a

Bryan S. R. Grimwood 7 Acknowledgements Picturing the Thelon was made possible because of the support, knowledge, and generosity of many individuals and organizations. Thank you (ma’na) to the following:

Research Advisors Cheryl Cook Hans Wiedemar Donna Smallpiece Itsarnitaqarvik Inuit Heritage Dr. Nancy C. Doubleday Rebecca Kudloo Diane Vanden Boomen Carol Soper Centre Dr. Claudio Aporta Dianne Iyago Jesika Reimer Gertrude Bezner Nunavut Arctic College Dr. Gita J. Ljubicic Adam Noah R. W. Donaldson Howard Lyn Gallery Dr. Doug King Joedee Joedee Carol Ritchie Don Reid Kivalliq Inuit Association Dr. Fiona Mackenzie Vivian Joedee Erica Boone Natalie Pressburger Nunavut Research Institute Dr. David A. Fennell Gabriel Joedee Charlie Boone Elsie Clement Innirvik Support Services Thomas Qaqimat Jim Boone Dr. Michael Brklacich Canoe Arctic Inc. Individuals Lucy Tuguaq Bernice Slotnick Dr. Sylvie Blangy Vera Avaala May Haqpi Jim Fischer Morgan Ip Funding and In-Kind John Avaala Hugh Tuluriaalik Andrew Cumming Dr. Shawn Donaldson Contributors: Kiah Hachey Irene Kaluraq Kevin Carter Kelly Karpala Social Sciences and Hilu Tagoona Julie Tuluqtuq Tom Mayberry Carmelle Sullivan Humanities Research Joan Scottie Thomas Oovayuk Carolyn Cahill Dr. Emilie Cameron Council Susan MacIssac Ada Kingilik Jon Stuart Dr. Tom Hinch International Polar Year Alex Hall Rose Mary Tuluqtuq Judy Langdon Dr. John Walsh Carleton University and the David Pelly Peter Albrecht Barry Cull Brendan Haley Department of Geography Patsy Attungala William McIlroy Taras Gula Jessica Dunkin and Environmental Studies Alexander Attungala Joan Raskin Chris Podetz DIAND’s Northern Student Valerie Pudnak William Cumming Malcolm Jones Organizations Training Program Andy Parker Bart Bailey Gail Wilcox Baker Lake Hamlet Office Tourism Cares Eva Noah William O’Driscoll Kent Wilcox Baker Lake Hunters and First Air Tammy Mansbridge Peter Regan Betty Ann McKenzie Trapper’s Organization The Canadian Canoe Ray Didham Judy Watts Sue Young Qillautimiut Museum David Ford Bruce Fleming Margaret Wells Bob Henderson

Bryan S. R. Grimwood, Ph.D. Born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario, at the southern point of Lake Huron and the mouth of the St. Clair River, Bryan now resides with his family in Kitchener, Ontario, a short hike to the shores of the . In addition to being prominent features in the landscapes Bryan has inhabited, rivers are also central to his personal and professional travel experiences as a canoe tripper, outdoor educator, and guide. Over the last decade, rivers have assumed another layer of meaning as a context for carrying out research (i.e., learning with others) about geographically informed notions of nature-culture, ethics, and mobility. During his Master of Arts degree (2005) in Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brock University, Bryan explored the nature experiences of river travel guides. His PhD dissertation (2011) in Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University extended from this work by considering culturally diverse uses, relationships, and responsibilities associated with recreation/tourism and inhabitation along the Thelon River in Arctic Canada. River systems continue to be centre stage in Bryan’s current research and teaching role as Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo. Contact Information Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo 200 University Ave., W., Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Phone: (519) 888-4567, ext. 32612 Email: [email protected]

8 Picturing the Thelon