Announcer: Welcome to "Joseph Rosendo's Travelscope"... [Thump thump] All: Whoo!

Announcer: where you join us as we accept the world's invitation to visit.

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Joseph, voice-over: Today on "Travelscope," I follow the watery path of the French voyageurs through Northeast Ontario and explore Canada's canoe culture, a consensus in cooperation.

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Joseph, voice-over: Bordering the province of Quebec, Northeast Ontario is more than 114,000 square miles and stretches from Lake Huron in the south to James Bay in the far north.

Sudbury, with 160,000 people, is by far its largest urban center and illustrates the region's evolution from resource exploitation, which once denuded and blackened the land, to a more ecologically conscious utilization of its natural predators and a revitalization of the wounded landscape.

At Dynamic Earth, home of the Big Nickel, visitors are given a taste of its mining past and present.

Welcome to the mine.

Hmm.

Joseph, voice-over: 19th-century mines were lit by candles bought by miners.

Wages were $1.75 a day, and boys of 12 pushed ore carts.

Conditions improved in the mid-20th century.

Our first piece is the pilot stick.

It has the fuse in it, so be very careful with this one.

And you're gonna put the pilot stick right in here.

OK.

Perfect.

And the cushion stick.

This would lessen the extent of the explosion.

OK. Now you're going to take the long wooden pole and push everything back as far as it goes.

We use wood instead of metal because if the metal created a spark... Boom.

That would be a problem.

It would.

We'd be gone.

Finally what you're going to do is seal everything up with clay.

It'll stop the dynamite from just falling out.

Now I'm taking off?

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Ha!

All clear?

All clear!

Fire in the hole!

[Explosion] I only counted 8 blasts that went off, and there should have been 9, so what the miners would do at this time is draw straws.

Whoever gets the shortest straw gets to go back and see what happened.

Oh, I have a better idea.

Let's get out of here.

Sounds good.

Joseph, voice-over: While Dynamic Earth strives to illustrate the evolution of mining and mining safety in the Sudbury area, Science North, an interactive science center... Ouch!

Joseph, voice-over: fires the imagination and educates visitors about Northeast Ontario and Canada's natural world.

Man: Joseph, what I want to show you is what makes Science North really special and unique.

OK.

The very landscape that Science North is located on is some of the oldest rock in the world.

It's the Canadian Shield, 2.4 billion years old.

Wow.

And this gorge... Mm-hmm.

it's really an earthquake fault.

What?

We didn't know this was here.

This was covered in sand and gravel, and as we started building the building around this place, this emerged.

The architects panicked.

Our science director, who is a geologist, had to convince them, "Don't panic.

This is an extinct fault."

But the beauty of this is, it's a natural exhibit that we can use to explain to visitors how earthquakes work by looking at this.

The science center is built on what Northeast Ontario is built upon.

Exactly.

And the other neat thing about Science North is, you see this lab coat I'm wearing?

Yeah.

You, as a visitor, are going to encounter other staff that are wearing blue coats... Yeah.

and you could talk to them about the science of Northern Ontario as long as you wish.

It's like having my very own scientist.

That's right.

Huh.

[Chatter] These guys are also an endangered species.

He's 7.

He's very friendly.

And for this demonstration, I get to be a Science North bluecoat.

[Laughter] Whoo!

Joseph, voice-over: Northeast Ontario's natural world and historic heritage is not far from Sudbury.

It's just 46 miles to the French River, one of Canada's most culturally significant waterways.

My explorations along the watery path of the First Nations people and French voyageurs began at the French River Provincial Park Visitors Center.

Joseph: In 1986, the French River was declared the first Canadian heritage river, which seems to indicate to me that this river and the life on it and the relationships that were forged here had a lot to do with the creation of Canada.

10,500 years ago, the glaciers that covered a good portion of the North American continent melted away.

The aboriginal people followed that ice sheet and colonized the area, and they used the French River to travel and eventually to trade food goods, stone tools from other aboriginal people.

Of course, then the French come in the early part of the 17th century.

The connection between those two people are the animals that live here.

Champlain was very aware of the importance of his aboriginal allies, and incentive to trade was very high for the First Nations people.

You can imagine that a birchbark vessel to boil water in with hot stones is not quite as efficient as a copper kettle.

The voyageurs-- they were the transportation arm of the companies that were sent up here.

Sometimes they're called the truck drivers of the, uh--of the 1700s and the 1800s because they moved all of the goods.

These were tough, short, wiry guys.

They paddled and portaged all of those items great distances.

The native technology of birchbark and spruce roots and sap was easily translated from a two-person canoe into 10-person canoes.

The Montreal canoe could carry 3 tons of goods, all of the men, and all of their own personal gear.

Dave, in honor of the voyageurs, we're all dressed up today.

What are these used for, and why do they look the way they do?

They were bold guys.

Yeah.

They liked to speak out with their clothing.

Now, what about this sash on my arm?

That's to keep your sleeves in place so that they could be paddling 50 to 55 strokes per minute.

The sash around my waist-- was that just for being a flashy kind of guy?

There was a decorative purpose for it, but also they kept the voyageurs from getting hernias when they were lifting 180 pounds of packs.

Man: Mais oui!

Un, deux, trois!

Whoo!

[Thump thump thump] All: Yay!

Joseph, voice-over: Dressing up as a voyageur is fun, but to paddle the French River route of the voyageurs is a 65-mile canoe trip from Lake Nipissing to Georgian Bay.

At Hartley Bay Marina, we shortened the journey by catching a ride to the head of the old voyageur channel.

Joseph: Thank you guys for paddling, by the way.

Nothing better.

Wow.

Here comes the portage guys.

We're gonna be pulling up to the rock here.

Nothing to it, eh?

Joseph: No.

Nothing to it.

That was fun.

Yeah.

[Rushing water] Joseph: What are we gonna do?

We're gonna-- We're gonna walk.

Well, we've got a little dilemma here.

It's called the how do you get over a portage you didn't expect?

Perfect.

Oopsy.

Joseph: You OK?

Yeah.

Whoopee!

Joseph: It was a beautiful day on the French River.

It was lovely being paddled down here, as if I was an executive of the North West or Hudson Bay companies, and, of course, now's the time for the most important part of a canoe trip on the French River-- the shore lunch.

Joseph: Now, when the voyageurs came through the French River and ended up here at Georgian Bay, at the mouth, what kind of meals were they eating for a shore lunch?

Their meals pretty much every day consisted of peas and fatty ham in a stodgy goo.

Ooh.

Joseph, voice-over: Thankfully, they voyageurs had wild blueberries to sweeten their stodgy goo, just as we still do.

They're really good for you.

Lots of energy, antioxidants.

Yeah.

I just like them because they taste good.

[Chuckles] The Group of Seven, they founded the Canadian School of Painting here in Canada.

The whole philosophy behind the Group of Seven was finding someplace that's really beautiful and immersing yourself in nature, and it stood for all the arts of Canada, including theater, dance, poetry, but to get your inspiration from nature.

Joseph: It's almost like a tradition with artists, because I'm thinking about Yosemite.

In the early days, when they were trying to make it a national park, artists came out and depicted these amazing scenes, and that was a way to publicize it to people who couldn't see it, that this is a place that needs to be protected.

Joseph, voice-over: The greatest ally of the fur traders and voyageurs was the First Nations people.

On Manitoulin Island, I entered their world and began my cultural explorations.

And as a symbol of our gratitude of your sharing with us your people's culture and traditions and--and spirit, I would like to give you some tobacco.

Uh-huh.

[Speaks native language] And that's the good and proper way of how you offer and share with one another.

So we'll actually be using this tobacco when we actually head into the tree line.

In the books, this is known as Cup & Saucer, but to our people, this is known as [speaks native language], the barbed fishing spear, and when we actually go up along this part that is said to be the saucer, I'll actually show you.

Falcon: We're on limestone, and we're gonna go with the natural flow of the area.

Falcon: Just pick and choose your spots where it looks like it's gonna work best for you.

Joseph: Basically it's like a little natural staircase.

Natural.

All right, so here we are at the first level-- the saucer part, or the end of the barbed fishing spear.

To prepare for doing a tour like this, is there a certain kind of training you have to go through?

Well, in my community, I hold a number of cultural responsibilities, so to speak.

I'm one of our community storytellers, I'm one of our community fire-starters or fire-keepers, and I also work with traditional herbology with an elder, and the whole time I wasn't allowed to record anything-- audio or visual or handwritten.

Everything had to be learned by experience and through your heart, your mind, your soul, your spirit, and that way you actually know what you're doing instead of trying to memorize something.

Wow.

So as we walk along this edge line, we'll notice that the rocks, they crop out in these triangle formations, and these are said to be the barbs on a fishing spear.

Falcon: This is all raw and natural, so here's an example right here to the left, and it's just an indent of the rocks, and it's straight down, so... Joseph: Whoa.

So you've got to watch where you're walking.

Definitely.

Anytime we're dealing with our First Nation spirituality or traditional teachings, you'll always hear that common number of 4 come up, and when we look at the plant life, there's also 4 different uses, so the cedar tree we use for spiritual medicine, which we're actually gonna take part in a little bit later on when we get to the top.

There's medicinal, physical.

The actual wood is a lot more resilient to the elements than any other type of wood.

We use it in its edible form, and we use it in practical use.

We make our torches.

We use the barks for our lodges.

So this tree falls under all 4 of those different headings.

This is our last bit.

Just take your time.

Use all fours if need be.

But once we get past here, we'll be at the top.

Joseph: All right!

Joseph: The rock is beautiful up here.

It certainly is.

Here you'll actually feel the temperature change between the rocks, eh?

And here we are.

We're coming out to our main lookout, the east lookout of the highest point of the island.

There's the barbed fishing spear, all those jagged edges, so that's where we walked.

It's pretty dramatic to be standing here right on the edge.

When we have anybody come into our homes or into our communities, we always want to make sure that they feel warm, welcome, so this is a type of bannock made on a cast-iron frying pan.

Wow.

I'll take two.

All right!

Yes.

So the topping is made from berries right from here on Manitoulin Island.

What a treat.

This is a tea that we make.

There's cedar, mint, and some strawberry.

So our people believe that we are originally from the spirit world and we come into this physical world for the short time that we're here and we're here to experience this gift of life, we're here to experience Mother Earth, you know, the abundance that she provides.

We're here to experience one another, whether it be good times, trying times.

It's all an experience.

It's all a gift.

So the easiest way to explain what this is is just like we have soap and water to wash our physical bodies, this is sort of like a spirit soap, so to speak.

[Music playing] So there's always one thing that we always like to share with people, and these here are known as our grandmothers or grandfathers-- this giant rock.

But we call them that because, you know, they've been here since the world started, so they are much, much older than we are.

So, what this tobacco is, it's a teaching of humility, and humility is knowing ourselves as a sacred part of creation.

Anytime we take something from Mother Earth, we always put something back in honor or gratitude.

We're gonna--take some of this tobacco in your left hand, because they say it's a little bit more closer to your heart than your right.

[Speaking native language] We hold this tobacco in our left hands, closest to our heart so that our prayers may be true.

We are laying this tobacco in honor and gratitude for Mother Earth and all the plant life that, uh, is sharing a little bit of their knowledge with us, a little bit of their medicine, their life force.

So with that, we say... [Speaking native language].

Touch Mother Earth.

[Speaking native language], and then you can just sprinkle it around anywhere you feel comfortable.

We stand here thankful and grateful for this place that surrounds us that is still filled with the spirit of life.

Thank you for the people that surround us and share with us their hearts and souls and everything is working for our good in this forest and these people and this rock, and this place reminds us of that.

Falcon: So here's a couple of our guides here.

They're now preparing dinner for us.

Joseph: Hey, how you doing?

I'm good.

Joseph: Good.

Nice to see you.

Nice to meet you.

Mark.

Mark.

Nice to meet you.

He'll be joining us.

Keep cooking!

So a lot of the foods that you see here is a lot of our traditional diets.

We have a lot of fish, and we also have some moose meatloaf.

Also some wild rice, moose meat, and peas.

How do you say "bon appetit" in the Anishinaabeg language?

Well, we don't really have a word for "bon appetit," but what we do say, let's eat, we say [Speaking Anishinaabeg language] [Speaking Anishinaabeg language] I'm taking the tail.

That's the best part.

You're taking the tail?

Yup.

That's the best part?

Yup.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

I cheated.

I didn't tell you.

Ha ha ha!

You did.

Joseph, voice-over: There are 8 First Nations communities on Manitoulin Island, and all are invited to the annual cultural festival and powwow at Wikwemikong, which is open to the public.

[Drumming] [Singing in native language] The 54th Annual Wikwemikong Cultural Festival is a celebration of culture and festival, and at the heart of it is the powwow.

This is a competition powwow where dancers, drummers, and singers from all over Canada come to compete for prizes.

But whether it's a competition powwow or a traditional powwow, at the heart of every First Nations celebration is spirit.

[Man singing in native language] [People singing in native language] Joseph: Lorralene, that dancing was beautiful.

Thank you.

I loved the jingle dance.

[Loud singing in native language] And I understand that the jingle dress has a story that relates to somebody who was ill and then they danced for them and they got better.

This dress is a medicine dress, and it's made for healing.

When we dance to the song, sick people can heal.

Now tell me about your fan.

My fan is an eagle tail.

It was my grandmother's fan.

My grandmother's proud that I use it.

She's really proud.

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

It was such a gift you gave us in your dancing.

It was beautiful.

Oh, thank you.

[Loud singing in native language] Joseph: Adam, that was incredible, and it was the chicken dance, right?

Yeah.

We're mimicking the mating dance of the prairie chicken, or the grouse.

They mark their territory, and then they dance for it.

If there's another male trying to come in, rather than going over there and trying to fluff up and kick him off the territory, he picks up his dance.

It's really just trying to get that attention of the females.

Now, the regalia you have on-- are there significance to the designs that you've chosen?

Um, my beadwork is actually my grandfather's.

You have a fabulous necklace.

Yeah.

This was my grandfather's as well.

The claws look small, but it's the back claw of a grizzly.

My grandfather, of course, kept the major claws.

The claws are longer than my fingers.

So you have all that energy with you when you're out there dancing.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

[Shouting] Man: ...round of applause.

[Applause] Whoo!

[Person whooping] Joseph, voice-over: Northeast Ontario is a vast land of trees, water, and rocks that has served many.

It has been home to aboriginal people for more than 10,000 years.

To the voyageurs, its lakes and rivers were a highway to prosperity, and to the lumber and mining industries, its trees and rocks an abundance of riches.

It is an inspiration to many, including artists, who capture its dramatic landscape to showcase Canada's natural beauty.

And to outdoor enthusiasts, it is a source of never-ending pleasure.

To me, most importantly, its historic interactions and modern-day partnerships formed here between diverse interests show a spirit of cooperation that distinguishes Canada.

Theirs is indeed a canoe culture, where each respects the contribution of the other and strive to pull together for the common good.

Until next time, this is Joseph Rosendo reminding you of the words of Mark Twain: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

Happy traveling.

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Falcon: And this tree we talked about on our hike.

The spruce?

That's right, so what we're after is that gum that we talked about, so if you can see all that white stuff that's dripping down-- that's the gum that we want.

So that's what you want for the torch.

You want this soft stuff.

So this bark from the cedar tree is gonna act like that wick for our torches.

These threads, these fibers-- we're going to mix this in with our other ingredients.

Falcon: All these little cedar shavings like little mouse nests, and you're gonna get this gum here, and you're just gonna mash this all up in your hand.

Mash it forward and backward, and you got to mix it up real good and just sort of pack it on like a snowball.

Roll it so it'll burn from the top and down.

That way it'll last longer.

Joseph: Now we can light our way home.

What do you say at a moment like this?

Ohh!

[Laughter] Man: Oh, man.

He makes a big splash.

Different man: That was a little bit of belly right there.