Board Update
In this latest issue you’ll notice a few small changes which we hope you’ll both appreciate and
understand. The first and most obvious is the addition of a photo on our front cover – we thought
this would be a great way to freshen up the image of the journal, while providing our
contributors another prominent spot to showcase their photography. We’re always looking for
content, and hope this encourages new and old members alike to send us their stories, reviews,
articles, trip reports and photos to be included here. The second change was one out of necessity.
As I’m sure you’re aware, the costs of nearly everything have increased over the past several
years, printing & postage included. In light of rising publication costs we have, for the first time
ever, begun to include advertisements in Nastawgan. Our hope is that by partnering with a small
handful of highly relevant paddling industry brands that we can generate sufficient revenue to
maintain our current membership fees and quarterly printing frequency. Our promise to you is
that we will only include advertisers of relevance to the club, and that we’ll limit them to the
bare minimum required to cover our printing costs. We do not want the journal to be overrun
with ads from unrelated businesses, and will work hard to partner only with those which we
know, trust and would recommend to our friends and family. With that in mind, please do us a
favour and be sure to mention the WCA if using the services of our advertisers – it will help us
ensure they buy in for future ads, and ultimately sustain this truly special publication which has
been in continuous production for 50 years.
Thanks for your understanding & support
-WCA Board of Directors
Barren Grounds
Documentary Film by Matthew Boyd
You may have learned about Matthew Boyd’s documentary “Barren Grounds” in the follow-up
email to 2023 Wilderness & Canoe Symposium. Matthew recently wrote to tell me that the film
is currently mid-production. Original 16mm film has been transferred to 5K HDR format.
Preliminary interviews with surviving expedition members, Creigh Moffat and other principal
cast are completed. Matthew Boyd, Fred Pessl and Creigh Moffatt traveled to Baker Lake in
August 2023, reconnecting with the Inuit community and rehabilitating Moffatt’s gravesite.
Matthew and Fred followed the final path of the journey by prop-plane. A journey to Stoney
Rapids, Saskatchewan is in the planning phase. You can follow this story and learn more about
the project at www.barrengrounds.com website.
David Pelly on “70 Minutes”
David is a good friend of WCA and an occasional contributor to “Nastawgan.” We are looking
forward to reading his story about Thelon River and Alex Hall in the next issue! Many of us
know David personally from his many presentations at the Wilderness & Canoe Symposium.
In 2023, David Pelly was asked by his university graduating class (5 decades ago!) to share with
them the story of his career in the Arctic. Classmate John Hills produced an excellent 36-minute
video featuring some of the stories and lessons learned along the way. David describes how he
came to the Far North, why he stayed, his work with Inuit, how it became his life, and how it
changed him forever. After watching the video, another classmate, former astronaut Marc
Garneau, said “Your story is inspiring.” You can watch the video titled “Into the Arctic” on
YouTube – it’s a worthy investment of your time.
You can find more about David and the books he wrote at www.davidpelly.com