Nunatsiavut to Nunavut Expedition 2024: Update One
Leading up to the 2024 Nunatsiavut to Nunavut Expedition, youth arrived in Ottawa from all across Canada and abroad for pre-expedition activities. For many of us who had long travel days and were adjusting to a new time zone, we enjoyed an afternoon exploring Ottawa. Some went on a bike riding tour along the Rideau Canal to Hog’s Back Falls Lookout, while others explored the Canadian Museum of Nature or toured Parliament Hill.
“When I first arrived I had a moment of ‘wow, this is actually happening’ and was feeling a bit overwhelmed but once I saw everyone laughing and smiling I knew that we would quickly form a little expedition family.”
– Sunny, Douro-Dummer, ON
That evening we played the “SOI Amazing Race” game as a way to get to know each other and practice some team building skills. It was a fun way for us to be creative and get to know some fun facts about the SOI (Students on Ice) education team.
We kicked-off our first full day together and headed over to Camp Fortune in Chelsea, Quebec where we traversed the treetops in an aerial park and went zip lining. The activity was amazing for building confidence, each of us challenged to try something at new heights, all with support and encouragement from our new Expedition family. We climbed ladders, navigated across zigzag bridges, balanced over tight ropes and flew through the air on zip lines. During orientation, the SOI expedition motto “Flexibility is key” was shared with the group and we were quickly tested when an unexpected thunderstorm blew in just as we were finishing the zip line course. We all headed for shelter and celebrated our collective bravery!
“Zip lining and climbing up in the trees of the camp made me feel like I was some sort of squirrel. It was really fun!”
– Meekai, Iqaluit, NU
We ended the day at the NCC River House where we had an engaging workshop from Ottawa Riverkeeper educator Maxime Chaumont-Lessard. We learned about the Ottawa River’s health, water quality, water testing, and some of the organization’s current research projects. As we gather observations along our expedition route and the many places we will visit, we will be sure to keep in mind the various components of the observations we learned from the workshop. We capped off the day with a fun sunset swim.
“Being able to share the experience of swimming, playing games and learning at the Riverkeeper with so many new people made me really realize how cool of a communal space it is in Ottawa to experience at home.”
– Fenna, Ottawa, ON
Our second day together was a full travel day. We had an early bus ride that departed Ottawa for Montreal to catch our flights to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador before hopping a flight to our final destination in Nain, Labrador. For many of us it was our first time seeing Labrador from above and also for many of us, it was our first time flying in an DHC-6 Twin Otter airplane, a Canadian short takeoff and landing aircraft. Nain Airport is one of the shortest runways in Canada and has a gravel surface. We were grateful that good weather was on our side.
The views from the flight made us all feel in awe of the Labrador landscapes and made us even more excited to see and board the Polar Prince which we will soon call our expedition home base.