Norisle founders at Manitowaning dock

by Michael Erskine

MANITOWANING-The ferry Norisle went down on the weekend-well almost. Although the vessel's bottom was resting on bottom and the venerable historical site had begun to heel over, dangerously straining the inch-thick cables that held it to its berth, town workers and members of the fire department soon had it back afloat.

The sinking of the Norisle would have been a significant disaster had it occurred during one of its innumerable crossings to Manitoulin through the decades, but as it was, the relatively benign foundering at its berth in the Manitowaning marina left many of the town's more literate citizens making reference to Stephen Leacock's 'Sunshine Sketches' and the sinking of the Mariposa Belle.

The vessel had appeared to be all right at 8 am in the morning, but by 8:30 am it was clearly in trouble, as it had begun to list over on its starboard side.

"It was probably leaking slowly over the course of the summer," suggested town foreman Ron Cooper. "But because nobody was on board much this summer, it wasn't noticed."

A number of drains along the side of the vessel are normally well out of the water, but once the slowly settling ship had reached that point, the water would have rushed in.

Mr. Cooper cautions that his musings are just that, however, and that the exact cause of the sinking has yet to be determined. "We have not had a chance to inspect it yet," he said. A recently conducted sonograph of the hull bottom had indicated that the hull itself was structurally sound, and that report, said Mr. Cooper, indicated the hull was "good for another 15 years or so."

The Norisle was brought back to the surface by the application of numerous pumps, and at one point fire officials estimated the flow from the pumps exceeded 800 gallons of water a minute.

While the electric pumps sucked water out of the hull faster than it could rush back in, a snorkeling diver helped stem the in-rush of fluids by patching up vent and drain holes with pieces of plastic foam passed by volunteers in an inflatable boat.

The foundering of the vessel was particularly poignant in light of recent discussions (reported on page 3 in the September 13 edition of the Expositor)  by the municipal council about the tourist attraction's fate-discussions which included sinking the vessel for use as a diving destination, albeit not in its current location.

"They've been talking about what they should do with it for years," noted Mr. Cooper. "This may force their hand."

Museum stalwart David Smith said he was saddened by what appears to be the endgame in a project he still feels has a lot of positive impact for the region. "I don't think people realize just how many people the Norisle brings into the town," he said, suggesting the loss of the attraction would have a bigger negative impact than most people realize.

Wiky joins Mutual Aid

by Michael Erskine

WIKWEMIKONG-In a meeting at Manitoulin Secondary School tomorrow (Thursday) evening, the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve fire department is set to join the Island Mutual Aid association. With the inclusion of Wikwemikong, all of the Island's communities will be part of the organization.

"We are absolutely happy," said Wikwemikong Fire Chief Bernie Brant as he expressed his department's view of the move. "It's going to make everything just that much greater." 

Although the practice of coming to the aid of nearby communities has been a long and treasured tradition in rural life, the mutual aid pact between Island communities establishes the protocols and procedures so important to a world dominated by laws, regulations and liabilities.

"You have to meet certain standards to be able to be part of this thing," said mutual aid coordinator Allan Elliott. "With mutual aid you can call in help from a neighbouring community when your own manpower and equipment have exhausted their capabilities."

This way, communities don't have to have 40 fire personnel on call along with five or six trucks to meet a once-in-30-years eventuality.

Further, notes Mr. Elliott, the legal ramifications of attending a fire call are covered through insurance and compensation for qualified departments-those qualifications are routinely checked every few years to ensure everyone is in compliance.

Each of the departments must meet strict training requirements for their personnel as well, ensuring that a fire chief can be confident that those attending the fire have been trained in the proper fire-fighting techniques.

As an added note, should Assiginack's fire equipment be attending a fire in Wikwemikong, for instance, the departments of Little Current and Tehkummah would be on notice to cover the Assiginack area-essentially watching their backs.

Each of the communities on Manitoulin have joined in the mutual aid pact, now that Wikwemikong will be entering the fold.

Bark canoe eddies back to Little Current

by Jim Moodie

LITTLE CURRENT-The last birch bark canoe built by local craftsman Norman Middaugh will soon be berthed in the Little Current Welcome Centre, thanks to a thoughtful donation from the late canoe builder's daughter.

"I had two of his canoes," explained Norma McIvor. "I gave one to the canoe museum in Peterborough, and I wanted to give the other one back to the Island." A third canoe had earlier gone to her sister, Ilene Bodnar of Echo Bay, but this one unfortunately was reduced to ashes when a shed caught on fire.

Mrs. McIvor, a Haweater now residing in Skead, offered the sole remaining canoe to the Centennial Museum in Sheguiandah three years ago, but was told that there was no room in the facility to accommodate the exquisite craft, so it remained in her basement.

Until last week, that is, when local boat enthusiast Bill Caesar came knocking. Mr. Caesar has been compiling information on the Island's boat building history for a booklet he plans to publish, and was curious about the work of Mr. Middaugh.

"I phoned Mrs. McIvor, who said she'd be thrilled if her dad was in the little book," said Mr. Caesar. "Then she said, 'Do you want a boat?' I was just flabbergasted."

"I wanted a home for it," said Mrs. McIvor. "So when Mr. Caesar said he was interested in it, it sounded okay to me."

Mr. Caesar drove over to Skead last week to collect the immaculate little craft, which is just 11 feet in length and weighs scarcely 35 pounds. It had never been used, and Mrs. McIvor had kept it carefully preserved, so the condition of the canoe is excellent. "I had it all wrapped up in tarps to bring it back over here to the Island, because you sure don't want to have it ruined," noted Mr. Caesar.

The canoe is presently resting in a garage at White's Point, awaiting installment in the Welcome Centre. "We're putting in some hooks (in the ceiling) to suspend it," said Mr. Caesar. "It should be in there soon."

The Algonquin-style canoe (properly referred to as a 'wabanaki chiman' design) was built by Mr. Middaugh in the mid-1960s, when the builder himself was in his mid-60s (he was born in 1901). But the skills used to construct the boat were acquired much earlier, when, as a young man, Mr. Middaugh lived and trapped among the Algonquin people of Golden Lake, on the edge of Algonquin Park.

"He left the Island when he was about 18," said his daughter, "and moved down to the Golden Lake area. From there he went trapping with the Algonquin people, and, as far as I know, that's when he learned how to build the canoes."

Mrs. McIvor said that her father rarely spoke about his early years among the Algonquin people, but "I believe those were the happiest years of his life." It is known that he lived in temporary shelters in the Algonquin woods (a photograph survives of one of them, which Mrs. McIvor calls a 'wikiup,' a word for a Native American hut), trapping with a Native friend from Golden Lake named Joe Tenesco. According to some accounts, Mr. Middaugh became known as 'the blue-eyed Algonquin.'

Eventually the woodsman, who was born at Big Lake, moved back to Manitoulin, where he married Grace Coventry and settled in Little Current. He was 30 by this time. "The story I'm told is that my mother made him promise that he would never go back to Algonquin to trap. And so he promised," said his daughter.

Mr. Middaugh laboured, instead, as a carpenter throughout the remainder of his working life, building houses in Little Current as well as camps in the North Channel and Fraser Bay. But he retained an interest in bark canoes, making models as a hobby, and following retirement from the construction trade, he began building them in earnest.

"He sold quite a lot of them," noted Mrs. McIvor. "As my dad got older, my husband, Ronnie, would help him to collect the bark and do some of the lifting, but mostly he built them on his own."

The bark came from stands of birch near Elliot Lake, as local trees weren't large enough to supply the broad sheath required for a canoe. Planking, ribs and gunwales were crafted from white cedar, with spruce root used as lashings. A layer of pitch was applied to the seams to make the boats watertight.

In an assessment of the 12-foot canoe that went to the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, an evaluator writes that "the construction of this canoe displays the precision and skill of the builder....It is a completely functional craft, which displays great attention to detail."

Both this 12-footer, and the 11-foot beauty that will soon be on display at the Welcome Centre, are notable for the triangular pieces of bark used as decks at either end of the craft.

The canoe museum appraised the value of the canoe it received at $5,000, so a receipt in that same amount, for income tax purposes, will be provided to Mrs. McIvor for the recent donation to the Welcome Centre.

Mr. Middaugh died in 1966, shortly after completing this final work of functional beauty. His daughter, Mrs. McIvor, had kept it in her Skead basement ever since.

"It was very sad to part with it," she admitted, "because it was the last thing of dad's that I had. But I'm also very happy because I wanted it to go back to Manitoulin, and I know it will be cared for now, long after I'm gone."

EDITORIAL

Freedom of information is a vital safeguard of democracy

There are a number of key elements that make up a free and democratic society, and it is with good reason that freedom of the press is paramount among those elements. Even with the constant vigilance of an unfettered press, the actions of the unsavoury elements often attracted to the halls of power have resulted in gut-wrenching abuses like those revealed in the recent Gomery Inquiry. Imagine, if you will, what abuses the jackals of power would engage in if left unguarded.

Among the tools that are vital for journalists to do their jobs is the Freedom of Information Act and access to the bureaucrats and civil servants who are charged with the execution and delivery of government policy.

There has developed in this country a tradition of separation of the legislative political branch, i.e. the politicians, from the front-line bureaucrats and their political flackies, and this separation is vital if we are to continue to develop a civil society with guarantees of equal access for all. We don't have it yet, but we should always be moving toward that ideal.

It is with deep foreboding that we read of the dismissal of a scientist emeritus-an unpaid researcher working for the love of science under the auspices of the government-for rightly refusing to mouth the new-speak dictated by the political operatives of the Harper government. A directive had instructed him to answer the phone with the phrase "new Government of Canada." He resisted, by his own admission perhaps a little too vehemently, but most correctly nonetheless.

It speaks well of Mr. Harper and his minions that they drew back from the precipice in the 11th hour and rescinded the firing of one of Canada's top scientists in the name of propaganda-but that it was even an issue is disturbing.

Mr. Harper can be forgiven for trying to distance himself from the corruption that plagued a Liberal government too long in power, but he makes a dangerous mistake if he believes the Conservative Party of Canada is inherently immune to such diseases.

Power breeds corruption, it is a universal truth of politics that has been noted by philosophers for millennia and is the reason electoral victories come with term limits-and Mr. Harper has no magic bullet with which to slay that beast. Like every national leader before him, he can only hope to keep the beast controlled and to limit its depravations upon the public purse. To that end the media can be an uncomfortable, but necessary tool.

The temptation to blind the press, especially if you view it as inherently biased against you-which the media is by the very definition of its role as public watchdog-is immense, but it must be resisted.

Mr. Harper was elected largely on a platform promise to change the corrupt ways of the Liberal government. Since being elected, however, his commitment to open and transparent government has evaporated like a dust-bowl puddle in the prairie wind-leaving behind a salty, bitter tasting substance that looks to be worse than what came before.

Mr. Harper must keep his party and its ideological hounds in check if he wants to win a majority when the country next goes to the polls, and that may be fair game when it comes to love and politics, but when those same muzzles are strapped onto the bureaucracy and media, he goes too far.

Journalists need access to information if they are set themselves to baying like hounds at the first signs of government corruption and deceit. If Mr. Harper continues on his current path of censorship and opaque governance, the jackals of political corruption will come instead to breed in the darkness he thus creates-and the result will be that corruption will become as much a synonym for the Tories as it has for the Grits.

Bus service for Manitoulin is appalling

Let's hope our retirement commnunity prompts improvements

To the Expositor:

As a permanent resident of Manitoulin Island-near Gore Bay-I am absolutely appalled at the bus service (or should I say, lack of service) that is provided to the residents of Manitoulin Island and the North Shore.

To go to Sudbury, we have the option of leaving Espanola at 7:15 am or 10:40 pm. With Espanola being over an hour's drive from many parts of Manitoulin Island, this means leaving home before 6 am or driving home after 11pm-great for deer spotting but not for driving with a purpose!

Upon arriving at Espanola, there's no guarantee that there'll be room for you on the bus.  What are you expected to do, come back the next morning-maybe for a seat-or sit on the floor? This level of service is inexcusable and I'm ashamed that I paid for two tickets to connect in Sudbury for Ottawa; but I had to get my son and new bride back to Ottawa (she managed a seat; he, at 6'5", sat on the steps at the front door, resulting in a nasty back pain for several days.

"First come, first served" is a great motto for fast food outlets, but not for a twice-a-day bus service which many people rely upon. Certainly, Greyhound has the market-we have no one-way car rental service, and we have limited taxi or shuttle services. More frustratingly, we can't even reserve a seat on the bus. Maybe we should just move south.  Fortunately for the bus company, we love living here and are obliged to use its services on occasion.

Let's hope that our retirement communities that are being so widely promoted prompt this company to better serve the citizens of the North.

Clare Addison

Ice Lake

Writer disputes claims of fine beef

Let's create safe, profitable, ecological agriculture

To the Expositor:

While I respect Dave Wood ("A farmer responds to McDermid criticism," letters, September 13) and all the farmers on the Island, I feel it necessary to reply to some of his responses for my call to an end in dirty farming practices. Dave Wood claims our beef is fine because it meets Canadian safety standards, while the Europeans ban our beef because of its known carcinogens. Our present system is outdated, inefficient, money losing, wasteful, and a polluting agricultural business. We waste hectares of land to produce a juicy poisonous steak. Even Dave Wood admits to the lack of funding to build adequate fences around our brooks and streams. Let's create a safe, profitable, ecological agriculture. How about "Manitoulin Island/All Organic." Think how great the label; think how great the rivers and streams; think how great how the eco-tourism, fishing, and even the beef would be!   Let's make healthy produce! We are what we eat!

Scott McDermid

Toronto

Writer questions Parry Sound funding announcements

An attempt to ensure re-election or just punishing those ridings that did not vote Conservative?

To the Expositor:

An editorial in your recent issue states that Northern Ontario funding will be cut back by the federal Conservative government. This funding is administered by the member for Parry Sound, Minister Tony Clement. Incidentally, the Parry Sound riding is considered by the federal government to be part of Northern Ontario.

The August issue of the Parry Sound North Star indicates that the following grants will be given to the West Parry Sound area: $352,500 to the airport; the Community Business and Development Centre will receive $870,000; and $150,000 for funding small economic growth, for a total of $1.37 million.

It would seem to this writer that certain ridings in the North will receive funding while others will not. Is Mr. Clement attempting to ensure his re-election by more than the 26-vote majority he received last time, or is he just punishing those ridings that did not elect a Conservative member?

W. Lawrence

Providence Bay