Canoe expedition retraces historic 1,200-kilometre fur-trade route to James Bay

Vanna Blacksmith · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 05, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

A tiny squad of paddlers has acceptable disconnected this spring, travelling 1,200 kilometres by canoe and portage from Tadoussac, Que., to James Bay. They'll beryllium reviving an past way traced by fur traders and Indigenous guides centuries ago.

"We don't person large governmental statements successful this expedition. We conscionable privation conscionable people," said Bruno Forest, an author, canoe guide, lawsuit organizer, and taste mediator who's starring the expedition. "We deliberation that the canoe is simply a mode that First Nations and ourselves tin conscionable connected that ground."

The "À La Mer Du Nord" squad includes a halfway radical of 8 individuals from antithetic communities and with assorted skills: a fisher, a cook, a veteran, a journalist, and Indigenous onshore guides. Other paddlers volition articulation the radical astatine assorted points on the way.

Their travel began last Saturday and they're aiming to scope Waskaganish, a bluish Quebec Cree community, by mid-August, making stops successful respective Indigenous communities. 

For Forest, simply traveling the way is not capable — he wants to deepen the transportation to aged knowledge, reminiscent of the fur traders. To execute this, helium collaborated with Lionel Tremblay and Allain Gallant of Les Canots Tremblay to conception accepted cedar canoes.

"The clip of woody canoes is passed. But the artisans that built them, the youngest of them is 80 years aged today, and the oldest is 95. So it's a precise aged and precious knowledge," said Forest. 

The canoes are heavier and much fragile, but they determination silently connected the water, which does not scare distant fish.

"It is specified a portion of art. There's thing that we can't quantify… with the wood, with the quality of the canoe, of nature. And there's a poesy and that, and I deliberation that's a worth successful itself," said Forest. 

George Diamond, who's primitively from Waskaganish and is portion of the section elders' assembly there, appreciates the group's efforts to retrace the aged fur commercialized route. For him, watching others instrumentality up the paddle offers an accidental to bespeak connected the tone of shared paths and shared pasts.

"The mode I looked astatine this canoe trip, it could beryllium a reconciliation project," said Diamond. He plans to signifier a invited lawsuit for the brigade successful Waskaganish. 

Proud bequest of canoe-making

Diamond says the journey shines airy connected the taste pridefulness and bequest of canoe-making successful his region.

"We're precise arrogant of our past arsenic canoe makers of James Bay, due to the fact that that was the main means of proscription successful the past. Our radical utilized our rivers arsenic highways," said Diamond. 

Waskaganish was location to the Rupert House canoe factory, a Cree-operated installation that thrived successful the mid-20th Century. This mill produced ample wood-and-canvas freighter canoes.

"All these paddling routes, our ancestors and voyageurs took together. There are truthful galore of them. And this happens to beryllium conscionable 1 of the main ones. They paddled each implicit Quebec," said Diamond. 

"This way was thing that our radical had to larn to past connected [during] the fur trade,"

Diamond besides emphasized the often-unrecognized labour and cognition Indigenous peoples brought to the commercialized networks.

"A batch of Cree radical who came down the stream were guides — they guided the archetypal fur traders, and the Cree did each the dense lifting," said Diamond. 

To scope inland areas, the fur traders had to spell done Rupert House, wherever the Cree men collected supplies similar sweetener and flour. They would past transport these goods to Nemaska Post and Mistissini, something they did for a agelong clip in the aboriginal 1900s, according to Diamond.

He said he's looking guardant to proceeding astir the expedition group's experiences this outpouring and summer.

"It's not an casual trip…there is going to beryllium immoderate hardship, but they look to beryllium truthful ready. I anticipation that they volition beryllium successful," said Diamond. 

He besides hopes the speech is communal — that the paddlers volition instrumentality backmost not lone memories but a deeper knowing of the onshore and its people.

"We should larn from each other. I'm definite that these paddlers are gonna larn rather a spot astir our past arsenic they paddle down," said Diamond, adding that tea, bannock and berry jam volition await them erstwhile the brigade arrives successful Waskaganish. 

The terrain is precise antithetic from what it was 200 years ago, according to Forest. He anticipates that the astir challenging parts of the travel volition beryllium the waves of acold brackish h2o from James Bay and winds beardown capable to halt the group. 

Additionally, almighty upstream currents whitethorn unit the squad to portage instead. Since immoderate portage trails nary longer exist, the squad volition request to chopped down trees on the way.

"I spot an expedition arsenic a choreography. When you are successful the expedition, you conscionable execute what was planned and woody with the things that were not programmed," said Forest. 

The squad volition invitation assemblage members to a time of activities during their stopovers. Children and younker tin effort retired canoes, trial portage gear, and larn astir the aged fur commercialized routes.

"We ever anticipation that radical from antithetic communities volition travel to articulation america and stock their stories. We bring what we have, but we privation to larn from radical determination too," said Forest.

"We volition beryllium capable to larn each astir this agelong past that the Cree Nation has with the canoes, brigades and nomadic travels." 

Forest expects it volition beryllium a "changing experience" for the paddlers.

"It's conscionable reconnecting with truthful overmuch important things successful quality and successful the culture," helium said.