Nahanni and the Moosehide boat project

The Headless range, Funeral range, Murder Creek, Hell Roaring Creek…..some of the names in the Nahanni river valley (Northwest Territories, on the Yukon border) are pretty forbidding. They remind us of the many desperate stories from the explorations of the first half of the twentieth century, at the tail end of the gold rush.

But the landscape is magnificent with its deep canyons and highly unusual rock formations. (All of this brings to mind the poetry of Robert Service.) With Virginia Falls – twice the height of Niagara Falls – Nahanni is an icon of the north and a jewel in the Canadian parks system. The river itself is a paddler’s paradise, with almost 300 km of fast-flowing water interrupted only by one portage – the one that takes you around the falls.

Invited by Parks Canada and the Deh’cho (Dene) nation, I just spent a week on the river, ending with a short visit to the community of Nahanni Butte where I met some community representatives and some of the elders. I visited the community of Fort Simpson already last March, and am now back there again. When I first came here 25 years ago, after finishing a shoot for my film Uranium, there was no Internet, and no bank machines!

With a mandate from the Deh’cho First Nation and Parks, I’m exploring the very exciting possibility of making a film about the expansion of the Nahanni Park, the co-management of the park built around the reconstruction of a traditional moosehide boat, and its – inevitably dramatic – trip down the river.

This is the way the Deh’cho used to bring furs and people down the river to Fort Simpson (via the Liard) after the winter harvesting season. The moosehide boat reconstruction has been discussed in the communities for several years, and would be a great learning experience for the Deh’cho youth.

I have great admiration for what the Dene people of this area accomplished, paddling is my favourite sport, and I think this could make a great film. So I am very privileged to be a part of this project.

Thanks to Tobi Elliott for her help with this post.