Expeditions

Kitturiaq expedition

Documentary filmmaker and writer Frank Wolf and a fellow canoeing enthusiast travelled 620 km kilometres from Nain, NL to Kangiqsualujjuaq, Que., documenting their journey through film and articles. The duo plans to share the Inuit perspective of the land through interviews with members of the communities of Nain and Kuujjuaripik. Wolf’s award-winning film projects have aired on CBC and at various film festivals in Canada and around the world.

Read more:
Canadian Geographic blog
Frank Wolf’s website

A rainbow frames the team’s camp at the base of Helen Falls on the George River in Nunavik, Quebec. (Photo: Todd McGowan)

Bitten, but not beaten

Innu Elder Elizabeth Ashini shares stories of the land at Mushuau-Nipi. (Photo: Todd McGowan)

Inuit elders in Nain warned Wolf and fellow canoeist Todd McGowan that they didn’t know what they were getting into, that the swarms of blackflies along the 500-metre climb to the top of Labrador Plateau and the waterways they would paddle from there would eat them alive. But the duo always knew the portage would be brutal, says Wolf, and the challenge excited them.

The Inuit, he quickly learned, weren’t exaggerating. With 30°C heat and almost no breeze, the air was thick with hungry blackflies.

“I put a shirt on my head and DEET on my face,” says Wolf, “but the DEET washes off with your sweat.” His face was soon pockmarked with bugs, and his blood-crusted chin was so swollen with bites, he could feel it jiggle. “I was perpetually itchy everywhere. But when you’re focusing on picking the right route up the mountainside, the bugs become secondary.”

Todd McGowan and Frank Wolf prepare to ride through some serious whitewater on the Natikamaukau River in Nunavik. (Photo: Frank Wolf)

For the first two weeks on the plateau, the only signs of humanity on the treeless, moonlike landscape were the occasional remnants of wooden sleds and a couple of mossy inuksuit that blended into the rocky terrain. But then, by luck, they stumbled across an Innu encampment and archaeological site known as Indian House Lake, or Mushuau Nipi (“country of the treeless land”). There, they filmed a traditional caribou hunt and the subsequent gutting and meat preparation.

The traditional knowledge it takes to survive in an inhospitable region, Wolf realized, is what it really means to be connected to the land.

“Nothing worthwhile is easy,” he says. “When you’re out on the land and moving forward, trying not to run out of food and making decisions based on what’s safest, difficulty becomes the norm. You’re tapping into your ancient self, and it’s a very engaging way to live.”

— Samia Madwar, Canadian Geographic, December 2012, Inside Story

For updates on the expedition documentary, visit www.frank-wolf.net.