October 2021 by The Walleye Magazine

FILM FREE ARTS Vol. 12 No. 10 MUSIC OCTOBER FOOD 2021 CULTURE thewalleye.ca

Nor'Wester Mountains Explore, Connect, Protect

NORTH OF NASHVILLE CHICKEN 25

THE ART OF LUKE NICOL 44

BACK WITH A BANG 80

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Contents ■7

TheTOPFive FEATURES

■9 ■ 10

Editor-in-chief Darren McChristie Editor Adrian Lysenko adrian@thewalleye.ca Assistant Editor Rebekah Skochinski Senior Editor Tiffany Jarva Copy Editors Amy Jones, Bonnie Schiedel

Editorial Assistant Sara Sadeghi Aval Marketing & Sales Manager Alaina Linklater alaina@thewalleye.ca Photographers Patrick Chondon, Kevin Dempsey, Damien Gilbert, Aelin Foster, Chad Kirvan, Dave Koski, Kay Lee, Shannon Lepere, Marty Mascarin, Darren McChristie, Sarah McPherson, Laura Paxton, Keegan Richard

■ 30 ■ 33

■ 34 ■ 37 ■ 38

From the Page to the Screen THE SECOND MOST PLEASURABLE THING WE DO IN THE DARK. A COLUMN ABOUT MOVIES Confessions of a Drag Dealer Lunenburg Terror in the Bay

GALLERY’S COLLECTION

OUTDOOR

■ 48

Back to Basics

CITYSCENE

■ 51 ■ 52 ■ 55

■ 56 ■ 58 ■ 60

Superior Outdoors Inc. 242 - 1100 Memorial Avenue Thunder Bay, ON P7B 4A3

THE GRINNING BELLY DRINK OF THE MONTH BREW IT YOURSELF The Smoothest “Booch” SUPERIOR SIP North of Nashville Chicken Sarah & Dipity’s Wildwood Café

■ 40 Northwest Woolies ■ 42 Hymns to Silence ■ 44 The Art of Luke Nicol ■ 47 FROM THUNDER BAY ART

Copyright © 2021 by Superior Outdoors Inc. Editorial and Advertising: Submissions must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Superior Outdoors cannot be held responsible for unsolicited material.

■ 18 ■ 19 ■ 21 ■ 22 ■ 24 ■ 25 ■ 26 ■ 28

THE ARTS

Ad Designers Dave Koski, Keegan Richard, Miranda van den Berg

Reproduction of any article, photograph or artwork without written permission is strictly forbidden. Views expressed herein are those of the author exclusively.

FOOD

FILM&THEATRE

Art Directors Steve Coghill, R.G.D., Dave Koski, R.G.D. production@thewalleye.ca

The Walleye is a free monthly publication distributed on racks throughout Thunder Bay and region.

Nor'Wester Mountains How Did the Nor’Westers Get Their Name? ■ 12 Anemki Wajiw ■ 13 The Great Tear ■ 14 The Nature of the Nor'Westers ■ 16 Hiking the Nor’Westers

THIS IS THUNDER BAY Learning from Loons GO LOCAL Thunder Bay Country Market Lisa Laco The Canvas Inn That Sweet Smell

■ 62

WALL SPACE: Inspired by the Lake ■ 64 EYE TO EYE: With Mayor Bill Mauro ■ 66 STUFF WE LIKE ■ 68 Rolling Out the Welcome Mat ■ 71 A Kind of Darkness ■ 73 CANNABIS CORNER

MUSIC

■ 74 Tumblestone ■ 76 Gonna Get Loud ■ 77 Ready to Take Back the Stage

■ 78 The Simulation Isn’t Broken ■ 80 Back with a Bang ■ 82 BURNING TO THE SKY ■ 85 Having a Lark ■ 86 Patrick Horn ■ 88 After the Fall ■ 90 OFF THE WALL REVIEWS ARCHITECTURE

■ 92 Poulin-Built Log Homes ■ 94 Tbaytel OCTOBER

EVENTS GUIDE

MONTHLY TOP 30

■ 95 LU RADIO'S HEALTH

■ 97 Keeping Schools Open, Safe, and Happy

■ 98 Breast Cancer Screening Through the Decades

GREEN

■ 101 How to Enjoy a Low-Waste

Spooky Season

THE WALL

■ 102 The Last Giants ■ 104 HOROSCOPES ■ 105 THE BEAT ■ 106 THE EYE

Telephone (807) 344-3366 Fax (807) 623-5122 E-mail: info@thewalleye.ca

TheWalleye.ca Where can I find The Walleye Magazine? thewalleye.ca/where-can-i-find-the-walleye/ Ad Deadline October 13th

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From Our Instagram Feed

The Lights on Anemki Wajiw

he first time I pulled into Thunder Bay it was already night. My parents and I drove from southern Ontario so I could start school at Confederation College. Because of the dark, I didn’t see Lake Superior or the Sleeping Giant. Instead, I saw the lights on Mount McKay (Thunder Mountain or Anemki Wajiw in Ojibway) from the hotel parking lot where we were staying. The next day, seeing the mountain in the daylight was truly a humbling sight. Even though I was new to the area, I had a sense of déjà vu, like I’d returned somewhere I’d been before, somewhere truly special. In the following months, I would visit Mount McKay and the other peaks of the Nor'Wester Mountains, which make up the natural beauty of our area. For our October issue we’re exploring the Nor'Wester Mountains. Sara Sadeghi Aval talks to Elder Gerry Martin, local Elder-inresidence at Lakehead University, and knowledge keeper in the Fort William First Nation community about the legends, myths, and his memories of Anemki Wajiw.

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From peregrine falcons to sugar maples, we look at the unique natural elements of the range. Bonnie Schiedel presents some facts about the history of the mountains, and Tiffany Jarva uncovers their geology. Also in the cover story, Jesse Milani scouts the hiking trails that the area has to offer. Keeping with our theme, film columnist Michael Sobota shares his favourite films with mountains, Michelle McChristie rediscovers mountain biking in our outdoor section, and Stuff We Like features some perfect ideas for a fall hike. Also in this issue, we chat with Mayor Bill Mauro for Eye to Eye, pommelier and sommelier Jeannie Dubois serves some toddy drink ideas for fall, and just in time for Halloween, Kris Ketonen gets a sneak peek at the 5th Annual Terror in the Bay Film Festival. Speaking of coming back to somewhere special, this issue marks my return to the editor’s chair after my paternity leave. Big thanks to interim editor Matt Prokopchuk for doing a stellar job! - Adrian Lysenko

Featured Contributor Jesse Milani

Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Jesse Milani is a freelance photographer who focuses on capturing stories that inspire humans to consider their relationship with nature, while promoting the preservation of wild places everywhere. Jesse is currently pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Science in forestry at Lakehead University, specializing in forest health and protection. In his spare time he enjoys rock climbing, canoeing, surfing, hiking, reading, backcountry camping, road trips, and foraging for mushrooms. Check out Jesse’s story on hiking the Nor'Wester Mountains on page 16.

On the Cover The Fall Colours of Mount McKay (Anemki Wajiw) by Jesse Mlani

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my child’s education” You belong here 6

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DefSup Birthday Gala & Appreciation Party

October 8 & 9

Definitely Superior Art Gallery

DefSup is holding a glittery opening reception the first weekend of October! For 33 years, DefSup has been merging art, music, and performance in eclectic, electric, and exciting ways. The weekend event series will include three gala opening receptions featuring musical guests, multimedia performances, the Creator’s Project 7, and international video screenings that push the limits of art, culture, and interaction and transcend genre definitions. Plus, there will be birthday cupcakes, catered refreshments, champagne, and more! To attend, you will need to register for tickets via Eventbrite and follow all COVID-19 regulations. Sign up for the newsletter and stay tuned to their Facebook page so you don’t miss any of the action. The exhibition runs until November 13. Admission is by donation, all ages are welcome. definitelysuperior.com

Mozart and More!

October 16

Virtual

The magic returns! Now in their 43rd season, Consortium Aurora Borealis is offering a new hybrid format and an extended season into the spring—which means even more wonderful Baroque music for us all to enjoy. Their October concert promises to be an enticing evening of chamber music featuring an unusual yet captivating combination of clarinet, viola, and piano. Repertoire for this livestreamed concert will include Mozart’s charming Kegelstatt Trio, selections from Max Bruch’s Eight Pieces, Op.83, and an arrangement of a Piazzolla Tango by Consortium’s own Patrick Horn. Horn, a violist, will be joined by pianist Mariko Kamachi Cosbey and clarinetist E-Chen Hsu. Tickets are $15 and the concert runs from 7–8:15 pm. Check their website for more ticket purchase details. consortiumab.org

in the Bay 4 Terror Film Festival

October 20–24

Maple Tops Paramount Theatre Slasher films, supernatural thrillers, slow-burn suspense, creature features, gothic, or comedy horror is what Terror in the Bay film festival is all about. This year’s killer lineup will include films from 2020 as well as official selections for 2021 for a total of 65–75 films screening for your viewing pleasure. In addition to showcasing a wide range of indie horror flicks from around the world, a local film, Happy Anniversary, will be making its world premiere. Plus there will be a full concession stand, vendor tables and a red carpet photo shoot. What are you waiting for? The box office is open and you can get more info plus a link to purchase tickets on their Facebook page at the link below. facebook.com/terrorinthebay

Waasaashkaa: A Gathering of the Great Lakes Surfers

October 16 & 17

Terrace Bay

Surf and turf! Waasaashkaa: A Gathering of the Great Lake Surfers is now in its fifth year, and everyone is super stoked. What began as a dream and a house party is now a free gathering that unites surfers of all stripes from all over North America—from newbies to the highly skilled. It also attracts kite boarders, sea kayakers, and spectators who just want to vibe. In addition to the epic surfing from the gorgeous shores of Terrace Bay, it’s an opportunity to connect with other like-minded souls. And win amazing prizes. And groove to DJ Wurlwind who will be spinning tunes. See you there for some sweet October swell and the most epic 24 hours imaginable! Follow along on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates. facebook.com/waasaashkaagathering

Richard Main Photography

Pumpkinfest

Weekends until October 31

Gammondale Farm

We can feel it in the air—it’s Pumpkinfest time! Head to beautiful Gammondale Farm to visit some farm animals, ride the Bronco train, wander through the monster forest maze, take in the amazing pumpkin displays, and snap some pics for the photo contest. Tickets are $16 for ages two to 92, under two and over 92 get in for free without a ticket. Buy tickets online (they are non-refundable but rain checks will be offered if some activities are cancelled due to weather) from now until Halloween, and including Thanksgiving Monday. Organizers recommend bringing your own snacks and drinks and having a tailgate picnic. Please note that all guests visiting the farm who are 12 and older must show proof of vaccination prior to coming. gammondalefarm.com/pumpkinfest

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where ever you find yourself, be ready with our fall collection

A portion of all clothing sales in OCTOBER is donated to isthmus thunder bay 7 10 BAL MORAL S TREE T

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F RE SHAIR.LOC AL LY.C O M

CoverStory

Nor'Wester Mountains Explore, Connect, Protect

The beauty of the Nor’Wester Mountains is something we appreciate in every season, but there’s something extra-special about a mountain range when the trees and foliage make their autumnal shift. In this cover story we tell you the best places to hike, and we delve into the history of the formation as well as some distinctive natural features and inhabitants (Peregrine falcons! Maple tree stands!) of the various mountains— from the sacred peaks of Mount McKay (Anemki Wajiw) to the views from Mink Mountain. We also speak to Elder Gerry Martin about the personal significance of the tallest Nor’Wester and the importance of protecting its future.

Jesse Mlani

-Rebekah Skochinski

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CoverStory

How Did the Nor’Westers Get Their Name? Adrian Lysenko

Some Fast Facts About the History of the Mountains Story by Bonnie Schiedel

View from the Kamview Nordic Centre lookout trail

he naming of the Nor’Westers, so the story goes, began aboard a flight over the city in the early 60s, when a passenger asked the flight attendant the name of the mountain range and didn’t get a concrete reply. Fellow passenger Daily TimesJournal publisher G. B. Macgillivray overheard the conversation and began a two-year quest. After much newspaperly debate and correspondence between various federal, provincial, civic, district, and historical society organizations in Canada and the U.S., the decision to name the mountains the Nor’Westers— after the North West Company and the 19th century fur traders who headquartered at Fort William and Grand Portage—was authorized by the Canadian federal government on August 15, 1962. Other names that had been put forth included Lakehead Ridge, Thunder Mountains, Gunflint Mountains (or Hills), Animikie Mountains (or Hills) and Kaministikwan Hills. (Characterizing the mountain range

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as “nameless” was, of course, a pretty typical blind spot of the era, as the Indigenous peoples of the area surely had named it, but a name did not appear on federal maps nor was it part of the geographic name database at the provincial or federal level.) On the first weekend of February 1963, the city of Fort William threw a “baptism” party to celebrate the new name, coinciding with the opening of the annual winter carnival. Celebrations included torch lighting at Paterson Park, a party at the Gardens, six bottles of Hudson’s Bay whisky smashed on rocks symbolizing the range, the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment firing a salute to mark each peak, smoke signals issued from the top of Mount McKay (Anemki Wajiw) and thousands of people attending a parade in the bitter cold. Chief Frank Pelletier of Fort William First Nation “in full regalia proclaimed the naming on behalf of his people,” according to coverage in the Times-Journal. Some of the nine peaks in the

Nor’Westers range did have their own names on local and federal maps well before the naming of the range. According to the Ontario geographic names database, Mount McRae, Mount Hurlburt, Mount Johnson, and Mount McQuaig were all officially named in 1936 at the suggestion of local resident E. E. Freeland, either in memory of longtime residents who lived near the mountains, or after local lakes of the same name. Squaretop Mountain also got its official name in 1936, based on its shape. Mount Godfrey, Mount Rose, and Mount Matchett, on the other hand, were officially named in 1971, although those name origins aren’t recorded in the database. For Mount McKay (also called Anemki Wajiw or Thunder Mountain, an Indigenous sacred site), you can take your pick of two name stories. It could have been named for brothers Alexander and William McKay who were fur traders and partners in the North West Company in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Or, as suggested by a 1921 report by the

Thunder Bay Historical Society, the peak became locally known as Mackey’s Mountain in the mid 1840s, when a free trader also named William McKay who lived in Fort William from 1821 to 1857 would climb the mountain every day in the spring to see if he could spot much-needed supplies coming in from the east. (The 2019 article, “The Meaning of Mount McKay: Anemkiwaucheau and Settler Colonial Reterritorialization in Thunder Bay, Ontario” by LU historian Dr. Travis Hay, published in the academic journal Social History, is definitely worth a read.) The name Mount McKay, while locally used for many years, was not adopted by the geographic names database until 1956. With thanks to Dr. Michel Beaulieu, professor of history, Lakehead University; Andrew Turnbull, archives assistant, Thunder Bay Museum; Amanda Stubbs, geographic names support clerk, Office of the Surveyor General; and Richard Mastrangelo, archivist assistant, Thunder Bay Archives & Record Centre, for their research assistance.

CoverStory

137 length, in metres (449 feet) of the longest jump at Big Thunder Ski Jumping Centre on Mount McRae at the 1995 World Championships. The jump was made by Norwegian ski jumper Tommy Ingebrigtsen, then 17 years old6

1 http://www.tartansauthority.com/tartan-ferret/display/1067/norwesters-district 2https://www.facebook.com/photo.

php?fbid=10217225129168094&set=p.10217225129168094&type=3 3https://web.archive.org/web/20090816030432/ http://www.fwfn.net/energy/pdf/Loch%20Lomond%20-%20Water%20Resource.pdf 4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_ Ingebrigtsen 51932: Year the now-defunct Mount McKay Ski Area opened, eventually offering seven lifts and 25 runs 6https://www.chroniclejournal.com/sports/local_sports/skiing-is-in-fabric-of-areas-city/article_06ebd068-5fe7-11eb-acf9e78fab9a5516.html

Number of ski runs located at Loch Lomond Ski Area, based between Mount Johnson and Mount McRae5

57,100 Estimated cubic metres of underground spring water that contribute to the Loch Lomond natural recharge level daily3

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Jesse Mlani

The year a small plane crashed on Mount Godfrey in foggy conditions. According to a local newspaper article “The plane struck the mountain five feet from the top, hit the trees and spun in a circle, chopping the trees in a buzz saw fashion.” All the passengers—three American hunters plus a dog—survived2

Length of Loch Lomond, in kilometres. It is 1 km wide at its widest point and about 106 m (350 feet deep). The lake is about 100 m (350 feet) above sea level and is said to be named after the famous lake in southern Scotland4

Thunder Bay Museum

1966

The Nor’Westers have their own tartan pattern. Designed by Evelyn Halliday in 1963, the colours represent various aspects of the mountains: green for coniferous trees, brown for the farmlands, yellow for sunlight and autumn leaves, white for snow, red for sunsets, blue for Loch Lomond’s waters, black for the roads that lead to the area1

Thunder Bay Museum

DID YOU KNOW?

CoverStory

Anemki Wajiw Legends, Myths, and Memories of the Mountain

Marty Mascarin

By Sara Sadeghi Aval

National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration

Lakehead University Credit Aboriginal Cultural and Support Services

 Gerry Martin

“I

f you miss Mount McKay, you’ve missed Thunder Bay” reads the iconic sign leading towards the stone giant. The tallest of the Nor’Westers stands at 1,585 feet above sea level, just south of the Kaministiquia River. Enveloped in Indigenous history, its only physical rival is the Sleeping Giant. Elder Gerry Martin, local Elderin-residence at Lakehead University and knowledge keeper in the Fort William First Nation community, pours both of us a cup of coffee and we sit down at his kitchen table to speak about the legends, myths, and his memories of the mountain.

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“You know it came to be ‘Mount McKay’ later. Anemki Wajiw; it means Thunder Mountain,” Martin begins. He reminds me that with each thunderstorm comes a sight that makes it clear how the name was created. Thunder clouds wrap around the peak of the mountain, both protective and intimidating. Martin tells me about the Thunder Birds, protectors of the environment enlisted by the Creator to take care of the land and to stop its misuse. “Our way of life stems off the land, and you can sense the ancestors when you look at the mountain,” he says. “It’s completely surrounded by Anishinabek communities, before and beyond the borders.” For 11,000 years, the Ojibway people would use the Kaministiquia River and portage to the border— Pigeon River as it’s now known. Legend has it the Thunder Birds would also protect these waters, keeping the mythical snakes that lived in the waters at bay. Communities around the Rocky Mountains have similar legends, believing these birds exist to protect

sacred land. The Thunder Bird is used as a totem and a figure to worship—a force he says that “no humans can stop.” “What do you think is the biggest threat to Anemki Wajiw?” I ask, trying to imagine birds circling over the cliffs. “Protecting the environment, I think,” he replies. “We’ve seen particularly this summer the effects of the forest fires, mining, forestry, and cottage development. They all impact the balance.” Elder Martin spends his time educating young Anishinabek and non-Indigenous folk about the natural and spiritual aspects of the land. On the mountain’s plateau pow wows are held—a time to dance, feast and celebrate the Anishinaabe culture. Young people embark on personal vision quests guided by mentors, and medicine walks occur frequently to learn about the vegetation and uses of the greenery on the mountain. “We must remember that we didn’t make these lands,” he says. “We don’t own them. But we must protect them and act as guardians.” Martin shares concerns about

human intervention changing the chemistry of the natural environment, like the water surrounding the land. He believes industries that are looking to use resources from this land must work hand in hand with local Indigenous communities to ensure it is not mistreated or unnecessarily taken from. “Can you remember your favourite moment on the mountain?” I ask. “It was probably about 15 or 16 years ago. I took my daughter and grandchildren up. My grandson fell over and bumped his head on the rocks. You can see his little head in the pictures from that day still,” he says. “My granddaughter wanted to throw rocks off the edge of the cliff, and she was speechless at the height. Just to share the view and the land with my family was memorable for me.” Elder Martin has been in the community for nearly 12 years and is currently teaching a humanities course at Lakehead University. He also works with the law faculty to discuss the issues of First Nation communities with students.

CoverStory

The Great Tear Exploring the Geology of the Nor’Westers Mountain Range By Tiffany Jarva

Mount McKay's exposed rocks are gently tilted layers of sedimentary shale and igneous diabase

he iconic flat-topped mountain landscapes that peek over the largest freshwater lake in the world are beautiful results of a continent nearly splitting in two. “Over 1.1 billion years ago, North America tried to tear itself apart along Lake Superior,” explains Dr. Pete Hollings, a geology professor at Lakehead University. Because of the ancient Midcontinent Rift, younger (1.1 to 1.8 billion years old) igneous and sedimentary rock contribute to the irregular escarpment of the Nor’Westers in the Thunder Bay region—a contrast to the relatively flat Canadian Shield landscape. Unlike older (over 2.5 billion years old) metamorphic and granite rock that erode at similar rates, the mountain range consists of layers of sedimentary shale and thick dark igneous rock. As a result of volcanic forces in the Earth’s mantle over a billion years ago, an ancient rift valley was created, magma rose and spread horizontally into the layers of shale deep underground, and sheets of resistant igneous rock known as diabase sills were created when everything cooled. About a million years ago, the shale and the thick igneous diabase sills at the surface began to erode,

shaping what we now know as Mount McKay (Thunder Mountain, or Anemki Wajiw, in Ojibway) and other tablelands making up the Nor’Westers. “The harder diabase sills form caps that protect the shale beneath from erosion,” explains Dr. Hollings, saying that he believes that the Nor’Westers stretch approximately from Mount McKay to Kamview, reaching south to the United States border. “The Sleeping Giant is also a result of those hard diabase sills—resistant caps on the top of shale,” he adds. It is these thick layers and extremely hard diabase sills that protect the softer sedimentary rock that form the high vertical cliffs in the region. The geology of the region is not only striking but has also shaped economic growth for centuries, such as in the 1870s when Silver Islet was the richest silver mine in the world. “The silver was deposited as a result of the same magmas that formed the Nor’Westers,” says Hollings. And in the modern day, geologists and companies continue to actively explore for, study, and process a wide range of rocks and minerals in the region including nickel, copper, and platinum.

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CoverStory

Exploring the Unique Natural Elements of the Mountain Range By Adrian Lysenko

Darren McChristie

The Nature of the Nor'Westers

A sugarbush in Municipality of Neebing

rom peregrine falcons to sugar maples, many natural elements make the Nor’Wester Mountains special to our area. With unique flora and fauna calling the range home, the Nor'Westers are an important ecosystem. “It provides habitat for at least 32 provincially rare species, most of which are restricted in Ontario to this range of mounts,” says Wasyl Bakowsky, community ecologist with the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry. “The plants here have distributions that are primarily centred elsewhere in

North America, such as the Rocky Mountains, arctic, and prairies. [It] also provides critical nesting habitat for peregrine falcon.” Peregrine falcons require a vertical cliff face to nest on and this, along with the excellent hunting areas adjacent the shoreline of Lake Superior and Slate River Valley, makes the mountains an ideal location for these birds of prey. The peregrine falcon is considered a species of special concern in Ontario— and was formerly an endangered species—but through successfully breeding and reintroducing them to the wild, the species has shown an

amazing recovery in terms of their population numbers. “There have been peregrine falcon surveys conducted every five years since 1970 in Ontario. The last Ontario peregrine falcon survey was completed in 2010. At that time, the Nor'Wester Mountains had the highest concentration of peregrine falcons in Ontario,” says Brian Ratcliff, wildlife biologist and project coordinator of Project Peregrine. As for the flora, the forests of the Nor'Wester Mountains can be

described as a transitional zone between the boreal forest in the north and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence (GLSL) hardwood and mixed wood in the south. Special to the mountains are sugar maple stands, which are more typical of a GLSL forest. Although sugar maples are common farther south, they’re rare around Thunder Bay. Some of these stands are located on Mount McKay (Anemki Wajiw), Candy Mountain, and other hills south of town. Other than maples,

Falcon chicks near Copper Cliff Road

Brian Ratcliff

Peregrine falcon

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there is also yellow birch on the Nor'Westers, which are rare in our neck of the woods as well. Another unique aspect of the mountains is the geology. “The steep cliffs and flat tops [...] make them remote and tough to get to,” says Gary Davies, retired northwest program director for Nature Conservancy of Canada. With hiking trails offering views of Lake Superior

CoverStory

on one side and Slate River Valley on the other, the mountains provide people with a perspective to something that came long before us and will hopefully remain untouched for generations to come. “We live in Slate River and look up at the Nor'Westers every day outside our window,” Davies says. “It’s just a really special place.”

Darren McChristie

Rare Plants on the Nor'Westers Maple trees of the Nor’Westers

is a provincially rare arctic-alpine species, in Ontario only known in the Nor’Westers and the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Numerous arcticalpine species lived along the cold margins of the glaciers that once covered much of Canada, including this species. As the glaciers receded northward (circa 14,000 yrs ago in Northwestern Ontario), these species followed the glacial retreat. However, they were able to persist in some areas—which have remained open since glaciation—for a variety of reasons. In the case of the Nor'Westers, the shallow soils prevented the establishment of forests on the cliff rims and portions of the cuesta tops, and the diabase bedrock provides a relatively rich source of nutrients which these plants require.

Wild heliotrope

is a provincially rare prairie species, and is mainly found on the Nor'Westers. Thousands of years ago, there was a period of global warming in North America known as the Hypsithermal Period. During this time of much warmer and drier conditions, numerous western prairie species migrated eastward. While most of this region was forested, again, the open habitats found on the Nor'Westers combined with the nutrientrich diabase bedrock provided suitable habitats for the establishment and maintenance of this species for thousands of years.

Darren McChristie

Purple reedgrass

Other arctic plants occurring on the Nor’Westers are long-lived arnica, sedge (grasslike plant), and mountain firmoss. All of these species are provincially rare. -Wasyl Bakowsky, community ecologist with the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry

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CoverStory

Will Gregorash photography

Hiking the Nor’Westers Exploring the Beauty the Range has to Offer By Jesse Mlani

Lost Falls

he Nor’Wester Mountains are a group of ancient mountains immediately south of Thunder Bay. The highest and most northern, Mount McKay (Thunder Mountain or Anemki Wajiw in Ojibway), has been a gathering place for ceremonies for many generations. Anemki Wajiw stands as a

 Rock cliff on Big Trout Bay landmark for the region, serving an important role for the city of Thunder Bay and the Anishinaabe community of Fort William First Nation. The range extends from Mount McKay south towards the Minnesota border, with iconic trails such as Lost Falls, Big Trout Bay, and Kamview that make for

Brittany Hope/Nature Conservancy of Canada

Big Trout Bay peninsula

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View from the water on Big Trout Bay

Some Other Hikes in the Nor’Westers Finger Point Trail Length: 5 km

Experience level: Difficult Although this out and back trail starts off easy, the last uphill stretch can be a little bit difficult, but worth it for the view. Good hiking shoes are a must for this trek.

Mink Mountain Length: 5.6 km

Experience level: Moderate to difficult This loop trail has a bit of a steep start but the lookout contains breathtaking vistas of Isle Royale, Sturgeon Bay, and Pie Island. Make sure you pack a lunch on the lakeshore trail to stop at the aptly named Picnic Point.

Brittany Hope/Nature Conservancy of Canada

excellent hiking. Throughout the range, trail systems have been slowly developed that offer gorgeous panoramas with the accessibility of being within 40 minutes of the city. The Lost Falls trail system at the end of Coppin Road offers hikers and rock climbers a beautiful view of the range. Talk with anyone that has explored this trail system and you will understand why it is fittingly named. The James Duncan Nature trail, located at Big Trout Bay Nature Reserve, has seen recent development from the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), gives hikers views of Lake Superior and the important coastal boreal forest habitat. “[It] provides a challenging hike with spectacular views of the Lake Superior shoreline,” says Wendy Cridland, director of conservation in Ontario, NCC. “From cliffs to wetlands to cobble beaches, you can hike the 9-kilometre length from one end to the other, or choose a shorter walk such as Memory Road to the cobble beach on Big Trout Bay.“ Kamview Nordic Centre is a non-profit organization with over 30 kilometres of groomed trails for cross country skiers and hikers. Following the 6.8-kilometre lookout trail brings you to a breathtaking view of the entirety of the Nor’Westers mountain range. The peak of Mount McKay stands 299 metres above Lake Superior and 483 metres above sea level. Standing atop Mount McKay, you are presented near 360-degree views stretching from Pie Island to Candy Mountain. Whether you want to wake up early to catch sunrise or stay atop for sunset, Mount McKay offers hikers beautiful views of the entire Nor’Westers range. The Nor’Westers can be seen from just about every area within the Thunder Bay region. With hundreds of kilometres of hiking trails, the range can be thoroughly explored whether on skis, snowshoes, or with hiking boots. Protection of the range is paramount for future generations to enjoy, especially with future developments evident. These areas are incredibly fragile, therefore packing out what you pack in is extremely important.

Brittany Hope/Nature Conservancy of Canada

CoverStory

Candy Mountain Length: 2.3 km

Experience level: Very difficult The out and back trail is short but for the more experienced hiker. Ropes that are tied on the route make things a bit easier climbing the steep grade, but still be cautious. Offers a beautiful view of Slate River Valley at the top.

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Food

Brown SugarMaple Cookies

THE GRINNING BELLY

Makes 28-ish cookies

2⅓ c all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (substitute Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour for gluten-free) 1 tsp baking soda

Sift together in a small bowl and set aside.

½ tsp salt ½ c butter, room temperature

Brown SugarMaple Cookies By Rachel Globensky Bayes

(substitute Melt Butter Sticks for dairy-free) 1 c packed dark brown sugar 1 egg, room temperature

Add and beat again. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

⅓ c maple syrup (the real stuff)

Add and beat well until everything is combined. Pour dry ingredients in and mix again.

1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp maple extract 1 c chopped pecans

ver the summer, as I was editing my final thesis draft, I took on a couple of small catering jobs. Lunches for 14? No problem. Vegetarian, gluten- and dairy-free? Hmm, sure. Making things that are naturally free of whatever foods people are trying to avoid is a fun challenge. Buddha bowls, hearty soups or salads, and stuffed sweet potatoes are great options that allow for much creativity and use of whole foods. But making things with food analogs—you know, the manufactured food products that imitate the real thing, like soy cheese or plant-based deli meat? As a lactose-intolerant person who has dabbled in vegetarianism over the years, I can attest to the fact that to me, the analogs usually taste like sadness and disappointment. In fact, my friend Emily once commented that my campfire-cooked veggie dogs tasted like erasers. She wasn’t wrong. I haven’t had much success with gluten-free (GF) baking over the years, but then again, I haven’t had much practise. So, why not practise

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on catering clients? My lunches featured local produce, so I wanted to feature local maple syrup in a triedand-true, regular-flour-regular-butter cookie recipe. I can make a dairy- and gluten-free version that’s tasty, right? The GF flours I’ve tried in the past have left my cookies with somewhat of a kinetic sand texture. My friend Nat has been GF for years and makes awesome cookies; she uses Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour (in the blue bag). For this recipe, I also used plant-based Melt Butter Sticks, and Nor’wester Maple Company syrup. They were pretty yummy and got rave reviews from the catering clients! So, if you want to try this recipe, you can rest assured that you can adapt it to fit most dietary needs. I even doubled the recipe with no weird outcomes. The icing dries well, so you can stack the cookies without having a goopy mess, too. Please note that due to the extra liquid in the dough, you do have to chill the cookie pucks for at least two hours before baking.

Cream together with a mixer.

Add and mix again until well incorporated.

While the dough is soft, portion about 1½ Tbsp dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Refrigerate at least two hours before turning the oven to 350°F. Throw the pans right into the oven from the fridge and bake for about 12–13 minutes. The centres will look soft, but the edges will be lightly browned and firm. Remove from the oven, and if the warm cookies look slightly puffy, lightly bang the pan on the counter. This will help deflate the cookies, leaving little cracks on the top (that will fill with the lovely icing!). Cool the cookies at least five minutes in the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. The icing will take five minutes to put together and will set up once cooled, so don’t make it too early in the cookie cooling process.

Maple Icing 2 Tbsp butter ⅓ c maple syrup (the real stuff) 1 c sifted icing sugar

Melt together in a saucepan, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk into butter/syrup while it’s still warm. Drizzle over cookies. Icing will set after about an hour, at which time you can store them in an airtight container on the counter or in the freezer.

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Food

The Hills are Alive with the Taste of Lager

BREW IT YOURSELF

By Josh Armstrong, PhD, Certified Beer Judge

even years ago in the early fall, my wife and I left Canada for a honeymoon exploring the Alps by train. The Alps are a large mountain range that crosses the middle of Europe through France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and other countries. We first flew into Zurich and embarked on a winding route through a few Swiss towns, into the valleys of Austria, capping off the trip with some quality time in Vienna and Munich. The focus of the honeymoon trip really had nothing to do with beer. We were thinking more about scenic train routes, castles, cheeses, and mountain spas. However, it wasn’t long before I realized that those towering mountains were alive with the taste of fresh, well-crafted lager beer. Our first overnight stop was in Gruyères, Switzerland. While I did pick up some cans of Swiss craft beer and visited the strange but glorious HR Giger Bar, the beer scene wasn’t too exciting—the Gruyères cheese was truly the star. However, as we continued looping back east through the mountain range, the lager beer got more interesting. Some of our alpine beer experiences included a Calanda Dunkel at the brewery in Chur, ceramic mugs filled with Helles straight from a barrel at Augstiner Bräu Gastgarten in Salzburg, cold pints of Schladminger Zwickl after hiking on the Dachstein Glacier, and even more Schladminger lager in a courtyard of an old castle in Moosheim. This adventure through the Alps made me realize that lagers—beer made with Saccharomyces pastorianus and matured in the cold—can be much better than the domestic lagers that I had tried in Canada. Lagers could be crisp, clean, and

refreshing, while Canadian lagers tend to be sweet and boring. Imported lagers brought into Canada from Europe are usually pasteurized and can be quite old after being shipped across the Atlantic. Having fresh lagers directly from these experienced producers in the Alps forever changed my perception of what lager could be. Soon after arriving back in Canada, I wanted to learn how to make better lagers at home. Here are some tips that I came across: To homebrew a good mountain lager, you must start off with good clean water. While we don’t have Alpine springs to draw water from, here in Thunder Bay we do have access to some of the best water in the world from Lake Superior. However, if you are using city water, it is important to use a filter to remove the chlorine. Chlorine is reactive and can produce compounds that taste medicinal or like bandaids and plastic in your finished beer.

In addition to clean water, it’s always important to use quality ingredients. When taking such a simple approach to making a clean lager, every single ingredient will shine through in the final product, as there is nowhere for off-flavours to hide. Try using German pilsner malt (e.g. Weyermann) and German noble hops (e.g. Tettnang) to create flavours that you might find in the Alps. A third essential component to brewing good lagers at home is fermentation temperature control. You need to be able to ferment your lagers at lower temperatures, and then raise the temperature to help the lager yeast complete fermentation and metabolize any diacetyl. This can be achieved with a temperature controller (e.g. Inkbird Temperature Controller) combined with a fridge or freezer and heating pad. Having temperature control for your fermentations will drastically improve any homebrewed beer, but especially lagers.

It’s always very important for lager beer that you pitch enough yeast into your wort. This allows for a clean fermentation profile minimizing any esters that might be produced, reducing diacetyl, and limiting fusel alcohol formation. If you are using liquid yeast, make sure you either buy enough vials or have the ability to build large enough yeast starters for your batch size. One good guideline is to pitch double or triple the amount of yeast you might add to an ale (ale: 6 million cells/L; lager: 12–18 million cells/ml). A final important element to making good lager beer at home is that after fermentation is complete, be patient and take the time to lager (or cold store) your beer for a few weeks. Using a maturing process at near-freezing temperatures will aid in clarity and allow the flavours of the malts and hops to blend into a harmoniously delicious lager brew. Próst!

The author enjoying a beer in the Alps

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Food

The Smoothest “Booch” Home Grown Kombucha By Chiara Zussino

“R Shannon Mackey

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evitalizing your health”—this is an extremely relatable sentiment for most given that we are currently living through a global pandemic. It is also the premise of Shannon Mackey’s business, Home Grown Kombucha. Handcrafted with the utmost attention to detail in order to support overall health, Home Grown Kombucha started out as a passion project for Mackey. “I grew up in Ignace and I moved out to Calgary for ten years for school where I studied personal training, holistic nutrition, and nutrition science. While I was studying nutrition that’s when I learned about the gut biome and was first introduced to kombucha.” For those of you who may be unfamiliar with kombucha, according to Mackey the simplest way to describe it is “fermented tea.” “Typically it’s a green or black tea or even a combination used as the base that, through the fermentation process, becomes a powerhouse of digestive enzymes, B vitamins, and organic acids that support the bodymind connection.” Mackey will be the first to tell you that for her, kombucha was not “love at first sip.” Nevertheless, she was determined to create the smoothest “booch” she could. Having dealt with her own personal digestive issues and knowing that kombucha would be a great aid, Mackey found a local kombucha

company in Calgary and would drive 45 minutes to the farmers market to refill her containers. Realizing that this was not sustainable, Mackey decided to learn how to make her own kombucha, putting to use her own educational background and help from a friend who had made kombucha for a decade. In 2017, after moving back home to Ignace, Mackey launched her kombucha venture while also running a personal training business. Within a year, what started as a side hustle became a full time job. In fact, the business grew so quickly that in 2018, Mackey officially purchased a kombucha brewery space, moving the operation out of her house all together. While Mackey is currently based in Ignace, she sells her kombucha throughout Northwestern Ontario and it can be ordered for delivery or pick-up at select locations with retailers in Kenora, Dryden, Sioux Lookout, and Ignace. You can also find her at a variety of markets such as The Craft Revival. When asked about plans for the future, Mackey says she intends on increasing production this fall/winter with the hope of expanding to Thunder Bay, so be sure to keep an eye out. You can find Home Grown Kombucha at 210 Main St, Ignace, ON and homegrownkombucha.com, or on Instagram @ homegrownkombuchanwo.

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Food

SUPERIOR SIP

Mugging for Autumn By Jeannie Dubois, Certified Pommelier and Sommelier

Portly Chai Toddy

So-Co Cider Toddy

he dappled tones of a beautiful autumn palette are beginning to make their mark in shining golds and russets here in our haven on the North Shore. Fall is well underway and all the soft aromas of windfallen apples and dry, drifting leaves whisper that the shortening days are taking us towards the restorative sleep of winter (ah! I said it!). There is a distinctive nip in the air now, and if your hands need some warming, what better way than to wrap them around a fortifying mug of something both hot and fragrant this fall. Think:

Hot Ginger Toddy

Hot Cocoa Toddy

Ingredients:

(makes 4 mugs)

Ingredients:

(makes 5 mugs)

1 chai tea bag

Ingredients:

1 oz Irish whiskey

Ingredients:

3 oz boiling water

3 c hard apple cider

1 bottle ginger beer

1½ oz ruby port

1 c cranberry juice

1 Tbsp honey

1 ½ c grated dark chocolate (65–75%)

½ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 Tbsp honey

1–2 lemon wedges

¾ oz banana liqueur

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Method:

Optional: cinnamon sticks or dehydrated orange slices

1 c Southern Comfort

Method: In a heatproof mug, combine the tea bag and boiling water. Let steep for 5 minutes. Strain out the tea bag and pour in the ruby port, lemon juice, and banana liqueur. Gently stir to combine. Garnish with cinnamon stick or dehydrated orange slice.

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15 cinnamon sticks Optional: 1 tsp vanilla extract or orange twists Method: Add all ingredients except for the Southern Comfort to a non-reactive pan and simmer for 15 minutes until well blended. Add Southern Comfort for 1 minute, just enough to warm. Pour into mugs and add additional ingredients if you wish.

In a mug add whiskey and honey. Gently heat in the microwave, just to warm. Use a spoon to mix the honey into the whiskey until gently dissolved. Pour in the bottle of ginger beer, stir to combine. Gently heat in the microwave until warm. Serve immediately with a lemon wedge garnish (squeeze one into the mug as well if desired).

½ c dry milk powder 4 c whole milk 4 Tbsp Armagnac Whipped cream or marshmallows Method: In a medium bowl, mix grated chocolate and dry milk powder. In a medium saucepan, heat whole milk over medium heat. Once heated, stir in chocolate mixture and whisk until chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour 1 Tbsp Armagnac into each of the 4 mugs, then fill each mug with smooth, hot chocolate mixture. Garnish with whipped cream or marshmallows as preferred.

Food

North of Nashville Chicken

Bringing Authentic Southern Flavour to the North By Sara Sadeghi Aval

hris Bliznikas, owner of 5 Forks Restaurant, is bringing authentic Nashville flavour to the north, starting with Thunder Bay. With the opening of North of Nashville Chicken in the existing 5 Forks South Sports lounge, he has perfected his fried chicken recipe after 12 flavourful months of adjusting and trying spice combos. Nashville-style chicken, referring to the spice element, originated

in the southern United States. Bliznikas is aiming to stay authentic to the flavours that became popular 30–40 years ago while making the recipe his own. “My favourite things about fried chicken are the simplicity and the history around it. It was a simple and delicious way to prepare chicken and it spread. Restaurants in Los Angeles, for example, have a different spice profile than places in

Nashville,” Bliznikas says. “There’s this cult following around having the best fried chicken.” “Our seasoning is under lock and key,” he adds. Worried about having too much heat for your northern tastebuds? You can customize their spice level to your liking with each order. North of Nashville Chicken has also created a one-of-a-kind dip, aptly named Forks Sauce, to go with your order.

Although they had their soft launch in June, Bliznikas hopes to create a stand-alone location for the full experience. “This isn’t just a menu item, it’s its own brand,” he says. You can currently try the North of Nashville flavour inside the South Sports Lounge, or as take-out.

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Food

Sarah & Dipity’s

Homemade, Nostalgia-Inspired Snacks Review by Susan Pretty, Photos by Keegan Richard

alling all snack enthusiasts! Sarah & Dipity’s is a new, home-based business that makes homemade nostalgia-inspired snacks. And they do not disappoint. Owner Sarah New says that she “always wanted to start her own business.” At almost every opportunity she had, she would “make homemade food to bring to an event. After every dish, there would be talk about making it for others because everyone enjoyed it so

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much.” New is another example of a budding entrepreneur who, due to COVID, had an opportunity to think about her true calling. “Time off [during] quarantine made me think about what I really wanted to do,” New says. “I decided to take the leap and start Sarah and Dipity’s in March of 2021, and we opened two months later in May.” Just the name alone is serendipitous! “The name Sarah and Dipity’s is inspired by two concepts,” she says. “The ‘Dipity’ is a play on words.

Of course we use it for the dips part of our menu, but there’s also a more sentimental aspect to the name. When my sister and I were kids, my dad would call us Sarah and Dipity—her name is Brittany.” Of course, the whole family pulls together to make the business work. Brittany takes care of the social media, another sister Megan designed the logo and packaging, and brother-in-law Ben, who is a software engineer, built and maintains the website. “We’re an online-only food business, and we have a custom-built website that is the fastest and easiest way to order for pickup,” Sarah says. “Our system also lets us bake everything fresh for customer’s pick-up times.” So, what exactly is on the menu? “Our menu has a variety of different snacks. They can be individual, or party-sized,” she says. “Our concept is homemade, nostalgia-inspired snacks and we love coming up with new and enjoyable snack ideas! Our fan favourites are our sprinkle dip box, [a play on Dunkaroos with both mini-donuts and mini-butter

cookies with a side of sprinked frosting], strawberry shortcake ice cream bars, and our dip boxes. Spinach dip and chips sells out often.” And why shouldn’t it? Homemade pita wedges, with a container of absolutely loaded spinach dip topped with shredded cheddar, is literally impossible to stop eating until the whole serving is done. They also have soft pretzels. “Pizza, and cinnamon sugar seem to be the most popular,” New says. And after trying the pizza pretzel, one doesn’t have to wonder why. The soft, fresh pretzel with seasoned tomato sauce and melty cheese really hit the spot. “The response to our business has been terrific. We took a risk opening up and the city of Thunder Bay has not disappointed,” she says. “We have had a lot of positive feedback and plenty of people asking when we are restocking products, sometimes we can’t keep up with the demand! It’s been great.” Find Sarah & Dipity’s on Facebook @sarahanddipitys or sarahanddipitys.com.

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Food

Wildwood Café Toy Sense Adds Café to May Street Location By Wendy Wright

hat could you possibly add to a shop that already has over 20,000 unique products on hand to choose from? How about a new café? The family-run Toy Sense on May Street has added just that. An in-person shopping experience at this fun business will now include the chance to satisfy your taste buds along with your youthful enthusiasm. Daria and Darryl Boyer have been in business for nearly two

decades, selling all manner of toys and related items to Thunder Bay and area. Adding a café was the next step in providing an all-around shopping destination. Children have always been the main focus of the store, and are encouraged to stay and play while their caregivers browse. Now, they are able to do that while sipping a latte, having lunch, or enjoying a local pastry at the new Wildwood Café. Providing a homey feel is on the Boyers’ mind as the world comes

back to in-person shopping. The aroma of freshly baking cookies is a bonus. Having food and beverage available encourages customers to visit with other shoppers and allows for extra time for the little ones to play and try out new items. There is something for everyone at Toy Sense, young or old, and now there’s no reason to rush off if you get a little hungry. “We want to offer people something that is relaxing and convenient and enhances their experience with us. Like a meeting place for parents, a destination, and a place to gather,” says Daria. Wolfhead Coffee and Donut Run are two local products available at the café, and there are fun drink options like the Sunrise, which is made from an all-natural juice with grenadine added. “There will be something on the menu for

everyone, adults and children alike. Some fun and healthy options are available, and we’re always open to suggestions,” says Daria. Serving the needs of their customers is of the utmost importance to the Boyers, and they strive to have something on the menu for everyone, including options for those with dietary restrictions. Come down and visit the Boyer family at Wildwood Café inside Toy Sense at 447 May Street North, and sip on a beverage while you get your holiday shopping started. Please check the website for business hours as they change through the seasons. For more information visit toysense.ca or @Wildwoodcafe on Facebook or @wildwoodcafe.tbay on Instagram.

Derek Green of Toy Sense and Wildwood Café

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FilmTheatre

Katie Boland as Finn in We're All In This Together

Martha Burns as Kate

Katie Boland as Nicki

From the Page to the Screen We’re All In This Together Soon to be Released By Adrian Lysenko

udiences will soon be able to see the dysfunctional Parker family on the big screen. We’re All In This Together (based on the book by bestselling author Amy Jones) has finished filming and will be screening at upcoming festivals.

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The film is directed by Katie Boland, who also adapted the screenplay, served as producer, and plays two roles. Boland first became aware of the book through her and Jones’s shared literary agent, and was immediately drawn to the

source material. We’re All In This Together follows the eccentric Thunder Bay family after the matriarch goes over Kakabeka Falls in a barrel. The event is captured on video and soon goes viral. “I loved it. I was blown away by

Amy’s talent as a writer. I thought it was startlingly emotional, whipsmart, and very, very funny,” she says. “I was also excited that it took place in Canada, specifically Northern Ontario, because I saw a path for funding the film.” Boland says she was struck by the relationships between the characters and how the book was able to balance heavy material with biting comedy. “[ Jones] says so much about generational trauma, and the pain along with enormous love within families,” she says. “I felt that Amy and I had similar voices as writers. I believed I could adapt her work with a natural understanding of the big themes she was trying to communicate.” After talking at length with the author, Boland started adapting the book. “As I worked on the script, I focused mostly on the relationship between the twins,” she says. “During that time, Amy and I would often talk over Instagram or Twitter. She was very supportive as I was writing the script but she also gave me the space and freedom to make it my own. I’m very excited for her to see the film.” Aside from her many roles behind the camera, Boland also plays twin sisters Finn and Nicki Parker. She says the experience was challenging but also very exciting. “I have been working in film for almost my whole life at this point, and if I don’t feel creatively challenged, I get very bored,” she says. "This was a dream project for me. On weekends, I felt like my brain was melting from having to play so many roles in a day other than Nicki and Finn Parker.” Although most of the novel takes place in Thunder Bay, the film was shot in 16 days in Hamilton, Ontario. “We didn’t film in Thunder Bay strictly for budget reasons; we couldn’t afford to bring everyone there and put them up,” she says. “I have filmed in Thunder Bay before and loved it, so I was a bit disappointed, but it all worked out. We recreated Kakabeka Falls in visual effects because they truly are one of a kind and we could not double anything else for them. Northern Ontario is a wonderful place and I hope to make a movie there in the future.” Follow Boland on Twitter @katieboland or Instagram @katieboland13 for details on the film’s release.

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Mountains and Movies By Michael Sobota

Old Brokeback got us good, don’t it? What’re we gonna do now? - Jack Twist (Jake Gylennhall) in Brokeback Mountain

have often thought our Nor'Wester Mountains would make terrific location scenery for locally produced movies—like The Secret of the Peregrine Falcons, an extinction mystery, or The March of the Wind Turbines, a cross-border Green collaboration. The closest footage that showcases our mountain scenery may be the opening sequence in Andrew Cividino’s Sleeping Giant, which swirls around Thunder Cape and moves majestically over the giant cliffs, tricking viewers into thinking the movie is about Nanabijou rather than another sleeping giant. Here are four films that use mountains as platforms, as metaphors, and as physical challenges.

Seven Years in Tibet (1997) Let’s start with the greatest mountain range in the world, the Himalayas. Becky Johnston crafted this screenplay from Heinrich Harrer’s memoir about his time spent in India and Tibet, and director JeanJacques Annaud and the great cinematographer Robert Fraisse use the mountains as both background and foreground. Harrer (Brad Pitt) had been climbing in India until World War II broke out, when he was arrested and imprisoned. He eventually escapes, and makes his way to Lhasa, the holy city in Tibet. Here he meets and befriends the young Dali Lama, and teaches him about the western world, from books to food to movies. The film (and Harrer) has a somewhat inflated sense of itself until it moves into the invasion of Tibet by China, causing the Dali Lama to flee the destruction and deaths the Chinese military wrought on the mountain country.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) These mountains are in Canada— Alberta, to be exact—but pretending to be Wyoming. Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana’s Oscar-winning screenplay is based on Annie Proulx’s short story. Director Ang Lee, who also won the Oscar for this film, assembled a powerful ensemble of young Hollywood actors: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, and Anne Hathaway, who were all under 25 when they began working on the movie. The story is about Jack and Ennis (Gyllenhall and Ledger) who spend a summer in 1963 herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain. In their isolation they become intimate. When the summer finishes, they part with stoic reluctance, each going on in the coming years to marry and have children yet never forgetting their shared intimacy. Over the ensuing two decades they continue to see each other clandestinely. Lee orchestrates the story with natural simplicity, aided by Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography and Gustavo Santaolalla’s guitar-based score. It’s one of the most powerful love stories ever put on screen and a genuine masterpiece.

FilmTheatre

THE SECOND MOST PLEASURABLE THING WE DO IN THE DARK. A COLUMN ABOUT MOVIES

Force Majeure (2014)

Free Solo (2018)

These mountains are the French Alps. A Swedish family is on a ski holiday at an Alpine resort, and director Ruben Östlund takes the time for us to be comfortable with this family doing casual, natural things together. Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) seem to have a happy marriage. The family poses for a photo-op. They all sleep in the same bed together. Then, when they are having lunch on an outdoor deck, alarms go off and an avalanche appears rolling down hill and engulfs the deck. Ebba instinctively moves to protect the children. Tomas disappears, moving away to protect himself. When the avalanche proves no more than a snow shower, the rest of the film zeroes in on deeper truths in the family relationship, enhanced by rich humour from side characters. I loved this film upon first seeing it and it holds up magnificently re-watching it.

This is the amazing documentary made by directors and cinematographers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin about the first free solo climb of El Capitan. The climb is accomplished by Alex Honnold. El Capitan is located in Yosemite National Park in Mariposa County, California. The mountain provides a challenging 3000-foot vertical rise from the floor of the desert valley. Honnold makes the climb with no technical equipment, including no safety ropes. He uses only his hands and feet to reach the top. The documentary includes Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi discussing what to do should Honnold slip and fall: Should they continue filming? There are moments during the climb where, watching Honnold’s straining efforts, we are holding our breath. The filmmakers also capture intimate discussions between Honnold and his girlfriend, Sanni McCandless. Honnold completed the climb in the summer of 2017. The movie was released in 2018. Last September, in 2020, Honnold and McCandless married.

Here are six more mountain view movies: Lost Horizon (1937), K2 (1991), Alive (1993), Everest (IMAX, 1998—yes, they took cumbersome IMAX cameras to the top of Everest), Touching The Void (2003), and Meru (2015).

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FilmTheatre

Amber Ail

Confessions of a Drag Dealer Drag Shows 101 – Part 2

By Jimmy Wiggins, Photo by Rachel Macsemchuk (Amber Ail)

rag is high art. It’s all about creativity and self-expression that combines fashion, makeup, and performance. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, but there are certain styles that stand out more than others. From classic to modern to alternative, the endless variations are what make drag so interesting—there’s something for everyone. Drag is always evolving and we’re finding fresh takes on modern standards all the time, so let’s talk about a few styles of drag you might see at a show. Fair warning: the following is one person’s opinion and is not meant to be taken as any kind of rulebook. I’ll also be focusing mostly on drag queens but will be circling back to talk about drag kings in a later issue.

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Pageant One of the most traditional forms of drag is pageant drag. Styled after traditional beauty pageants designed for cisgender women (Miss America, Miss Universe, etc.), drag pageants have given space for drag queens, transgender women, and more recently, drag kings and transgender men, to compete for crowns and titles. There are hundreds, if not thousands of drag pageant systems out there with some of the biggest being Miss Gay America, Miss USofA, Entertainer of the Year, and Miss Continental. Drag pageants are the height of female impersonation, with immaculately styled wigs, larger-than-life personalities, some of the most beautiful gowns you’ll ever see, and extravagant performances that you

can’t find in any bar or nightclub. It’s glamour, elegance, and polish. Notable pageant queens include Alyssa Edwards, Roxxxy Andrews, Kennedy Davenport, and Vanessa Van Cartier. Camp No, camp drag is not throwing on a wig and heels and dancing in the woods. It’s a very theatrical, over-the-top, offbeat, and sometimes crude style of drag that often involves comedy and satire. For many, camp is considered “oldschool” drag. Camp queens don’t necessarily intend to be female impersonators as many of them incorporate clown-like elements into their makeup and costuming. Camp drag is exaggerated by design, intentionally ridiculous, and usually involves a razor-sharp tongue and quick wit. Whatever the audience throws at her, a camp queen will throw it right back three times harder. Camp queens are known for having a great sense of humour and are able to deliver insults or be brutally honest while simultaneously making you laugh until you cry. Notable camp queens include Divine, Lady Bunny, Bianca Del Rio, Dame Edna, and Tammie Brown. AFAB This one’s a bit

controversial but we’ll touch on it because I think it’s important. An AFAB queen is someone who identifies as a cisgender woman or a nonbinary person who was assigned female at birth. AMAB (assigned male at birth) drag kings also exist but are much less common. In the old-school mentality of drag, there was a heavy focus on the gender binary of men and women with little room for anything in between. The belief was that to be a drag queen you had to be a gay man or a transgender woman. But in more recent years drag has evolved and that belief system has started to dissipate which allowed for drag to be practiced by anyone, regardless of gender. Other terms like “bio queen” or “faux queen” were once used but are now considered offensive as they downplay and insinuate that AFAB queens aren’t at the same level as their cisgender male counterparts. Even using the term AFAB seems to be fading as more people are realizing that gender does not play a role in what makes a queen. Notable AFAB queens include Creme Fatale, Victoria Scone, Hollow Eve, and Bionica. Alt There’s no denying RuPaul’s Drag Race has put drag into the mainstream and exposed the masses to some extremely creative and talented queens. However, Drag Race is but a relatively small piece of the huge pie when it comes to the kinds of drag out there. Alt-drag is often used as a catchall term for the styles that don’t quite fit into traditional styles of drag. From the club queens who take inspiration from the NYC club kid scene of the 80s and 90s, to the goth queens who embody all things filth, horror and glamour, to the bearded and androgynous queens who further twist and mock what a lot of people think drag and gender should be, to the queens that make you say “WTF did I just see,” alt-queens take a subversive art form and further bend or break the rules. Many of these styles sway away from or completely ignore the gender binary to create unique and queer-centric art. Notable alt queens include The Boulet Brothers, Leigh Bowery, Hungry, Imp Kid, Conchita Wurst, and Christeene.

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FilmTheatre

Lunenburg

Rom-Com Hits Magnus Stage By Sara Sadeghi Aval

hat would you do if your partner had a secret life? Within Iris Oulette’s inheritance, left to her by her late husband, lies a mystery that will take her and her best friend from Ontario to the East Coast in search for answers. In a small town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia stands a house Iris never knew existed. Why had her husband kept it a secret? And what was he doing all the way out here? The answers lie on the stage. Norm Foster’s rom-com about

relationships after 40 originally premiered in 2019 and is a part of Magnus Theatre’s newest season. Thom Currie, artistic director of the theatre, spoke about the upcoming show and the goal of having the audience experience early spring on the East Coast, even while sitting in a theatre in Thunder Bay in November. “We’re really going to evoke the East Coast during this show, and our new stage will allow the audience to really feel as if they are there with

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the characters,” says Currie. “Our new season will feature a traverse, or alleyway, stage. Essentially the show will happen right in the middle of the audience.” Half the seating will be moved, and the social distancing measures will still be in effect for patrons. However, this new stage concept allows the audience to experience the show closer than ever before. With the use of lighting and flooring choices, the audience will enjoy both an ocean view and the cliffs of the coast.

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The theatre is also keeping a close eye on COVID regulations, and ready to adjust to any new rules. All of the actors in the first show of the season are “hyper local” as Currie puts it, to reduce the need for travelling actors, and auditions are currently being held for Lunenburg. The show runs from October 21 to November 6. Currie wants to remind everyone to grab a ticket, have some laughs, and enjoy the mystery. Follow @magnustheatre on Instagram for upcoming show details.

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Happy Anniversary featuring Christine Klim

Terror in the Bay

Thunder Bay’s Horror and Thriller Film Festival Returns By Kris Ketonen

hunder Bay’s annual Terror in the Bay film festival is bringing the scares back indoors this year. After moving outdoors to Interstellar Outdoor Cinema last year due to the pandemic, this year’s festival is returning to Maple Tops Paramount Theatre, where dozens of films will be screened from October 20 to 24. And festival director Chris Borgo says every precaution is being taken to keep festival-goers safe. “Everyone in attendance, including staff, will have to wear face masks,” Borgo says. “There will be

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plenty of hand sanitizer stations placed throughout the theatre.” Theatre capacity will be reduced as well, and Borgo says all attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination, in line with a recent provincial directive. Staff will also ensure the theatre is sanitized between screenings. There will be plenty of screenings at this year’s festival, with between 65 and 75 films being shown on the big screen (the selection process was still ongoing at the time of the interview), covering all manner of horror and thriller subgenres

from slashers to found footage to supernatural. “We've seen a slight decrease in submissions because of the pandemic,” Borgo says. “But the biggest change we've seen in the past year and a half is ‘pandemic-made’ films.“ Those, Borgo says, are “basically films made with a skeleton crew and only one or two actors,” showing how creative filmmakers can be in terms of telling a good story despite limited resources. Organizers are very excited to see this year’s Terror in the Bay return. “People message us all year

long and tell us how much fun they had and how well organized it is,” Borgo says. “We wanted to create a laid-back, comfortable and friendly atmosphere. I truly believe we have done that. In fact a few of our guests have even showed up in their jammies and pillows to curl up with their loved ones to watch horror movies!” Tickets can be purchased online through Eventbrite, and will also be sold at the door until capacity is reached. For more information, visit terrorinthebay.com.

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TheArts

Northwest Woolies Needle Felted Wool Animals and Handmade Fibre Art By Marcia Arpin

t is a magical fairy tale experience to explore Thunder Bay artist’s Christina Meadwell’s work. Meadwell has been showcasing her fibre art on Instagram and other social media platforms for several years. Although she playfully snapped photos of her needle felted creations initially, the photos show how with time the woolly creatures evolved into incredibly lifelike animals. It may have started as a hobby for Meadwell, but now it has grown into a collection of adorable animals with many followers and fans. This passion project has blossomed into a small business, Northwest Woolies. These one-of-a-kind works of art make fabulous decorations and keepsakes. “I've always enjoyed crafting, drawing, and painting. I discovered needle felting when I was pregnant with our second child,” Meadwell says. “It was a great way to revive my love for art making. It combines my two longest standing interests

40 The Walleye

in life: animals and creating art.” A holder of a Honours Bachelor of Fine Art from Lakehead University, Meadwell was never super passionate about traditional mediums. “I love textiles and wool (my

grandmother was a talented knitter) but could never get the hang of following patterns and instructions,” she says. “I discovered felting in 2018 by chance online and thought it was something I had

to try. I was immediately hooked. I started making simple ornaments and it snowballed from there.” This local artist develops each of her creations with wire inside to develop their pose, and sometimes

small stones for weight to prevent tipping over. Whimsical additions of dried flowers, objects made from polymer clay, or whiskers made from horsehair add instant personality. Although the animal sculptures vary in height, some are only as tall as 6 inches, making the detail of every animal that much more incredible. “I think the medium really lends itself well to making furry animals,

but I've always had a healthy obsession with nature and creatures. I draw most of my inspiration from our northern wildlife.” Northwest Woolies will make appearances in local craft shows and has been invited to Auburn Gallery of Fine Art in Gravenhurst, Ontario this holiday season. For more information, find Northwest Woolies on Instagram and Etsy.

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TheArts curator. “Itee challenged himself to make great art out of the unlikeliest of subjects: a fuel tank, a table lamp, a section of linoleum, or a corner storage room. His gift for formal composition, so quickly honed in his short, decade-long career, is nowhere more in evidence than in these drawings, where colours vibrate, and the eye rejoices.” Itee’s work is an honest, even quiet depiction of the life he lived and observed around him. His landscapes are described as “unconventional” and “modern” capturing the

vast, open horizon between land and sky. Dorset Fine Arts describe him as “an inventive landscapist.” Campbell says she is excited for the exhibit to be shown in Thunder Bay. “The city has a large Indigenous population and this exhibition speaks to the possibilities for Indigenous artists and communities, but it also serves to educate and expand positivity to all,” she says. For more information, visit theag. ca/itee-pootoogook.

 Rear of Canoe, 2011, coloured pencil and graphite on black paper, 50.2 x 66 cm

Hymns to Silence Art Exhibition Captures Modern Northern Life By Kim Latimer

tee Pootoogook’s artwork depicts daily moments locked in time—points of view that seem to stand still. His graphite and coloured pencil drawings include images of buildings, landscapes, objects, and people on the land, bearing modern witness to genuine daily life in Nunavut. The national touring exhibit Itee Pootoogook: Hymns to Silence, organized by The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, opens at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery on September 22 and continues through to November 21. This retrospective includes 60 of Pootoogook’s drawings. Pootoogook was born in 1951 in Kimmirut on Baffin Island then moved to Kinngait as a child. He was the son of artists Ishuhungitok and Paulassie Pootoogook, and the cousin of Annie Pootoogook (1969– 2016), the well-known contemporary artist of the early 2000s who also worked in pen and coloured pencil. Annie’s work also captured realistic, modern moments of Arctic

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life, although many focused on the struggles she depicted. An active member of Kinngait Studios, the art arm of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset), Pootoogook produced his first published print in 2008, and in 2010 and 2011 he had his first one-person shows, at Vancouver’s Marion Scott Gallery and Toronto’s Feheley Fine Arts. In 2013, Pootoogook was the first Inuit artist to have a solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver. Private and institutional collectors have acquired his work, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Pootoogook died in 2014 from cancer at the age of 63. “Itee’s ability to manipulate colour to describe light, particularly in his works on black paper, is another of his gifts. In some works, he seems to revel in twilight, while others reduce light to a single searing streak of orange at day’s end,” says Nancy Campbell, exhibition

 Untitled (Man with Hoodie and Sunglasses), 2012, coloured pencil and graphite on paper, 49.5 x 64.8 cm  Four Women Working on the Polar Bear Skin, 2011, coloured pencil and graphite on black paper, 56.2 x 76.2 cm

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TheArts

Luke Nicol painting at Pukaskwa National Park in 2011 as part of his artist residency

Forest

The Art of Luke Nicol

Thunder Bay Artist Reflects on Relocating to Finland Story by Leah Morningstar, Photos submitted by Luke Nicol

s a child, Luke Nicol was always drawing and painting and creating. “My interest in the arts allowed me to cultivate an identity as the class artist in high school, and I kept that identity going beyond high school right into university,” he says. Nicol studied visual arts at Lakehead and has been working full time as an artist, mostly painting, since 2007. Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Nicol often looked to Lake Superior and the northern scenery for inspiration. No matter how many times he left, whether for school or travel, he always came back to the comforting embrace of the trees and the rocks and the waters of Northwestern Ontario—that is, until recently. It was 2015 when Nicol and his family decided to move to Turku, Finland. His wife was pursuing post-doctoral work as a historian

44 The Walleye

in Finland (and later began working at the immigration institute) and it seemed like a feasible plan. After all, an artist can be an artist anywhere, and Nicol’s wife and children have dual citizenship, so the move from Thunder Bay to Finland wasn’t difficult. The plan was to stay for a year. But then there was a setback, then a change of plans, then of course, a global pandemic. Nicol says it took him a while to find his footing as a Canadian artist living in Finland. He worked from home for several years and continued to take commissions from Canadian customers. A couple years ago he was able to find a studio space outside the home and has been making more of an effort to find a Finnish customer base. “I do a lot of commissions for Canadians still, but now that it looks like we’re staying (at least for a while), I need to try harder to get involved in the

 Sleeping Giant

Skateboarding

Farming

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Lumenpeitto 4 Snow Cover local art scene here.” Securing a studio space was the first part. Then the art shows started. Nicol was able to take part in a multi-artist show earlier in the spring, and that led to an exciting opportunity to have a solo show in June 2021. He displayed 21 original small paintings at an artist-owned facility called B-galleria. His paintings explored themes such as consumerism, industry, and climate change. It ran for three weeks and was well received despite the slower pace of pandemic times. The exhibit was called Sum of the Parts. “The series juxtaposes the diverse imagery of natural and artificial landscapes, machines,

Offshore Oil Rig infrastructure, and consumer goods to address a wide range of human activities and to provide an opportunity to reflect on their interconnection and ecological impact,” he says. Will Nicol and his family be back in Canada any time soon? It’s hard to say. They have a home, employment, and school, not to mention new opportunities in the Turku art community. If they decide to come back one day, Thunder Bay will be happy to have them. In the meantime, Nicol will keep representing the thriving and diverse Northwestern Ontario art scene. Find Nicol on Instagram and Facebook @lukenicolart.

Reflection 2

 Elk

 Luke Nicol

 Pow-Wow

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TheArts

Barrette By Penelope Smart, Registrar and Curatorial Assistant, Thunder Bay Art Gallery

Artist: Helen Burning Title: Barrette Date: 1980 Medium: Wood, leather, beads, rhinestone, and thread Dimensions: 7 x 18 cm

his barrette is ablaze with fall colours, and the black, white, yellow, and red of a medicine wheel. This striking, beaded accessory would add individual flair to any hairstyle or look. Helen Burning (1917–1998) was an Onondaga artist from Six Nations near Brantford, Ontario, and a member of the Deer Clan. Burning made beaded adornments and jewelry, including necklaces, hair accessories,

and headpieces. This richly coloured “hair stick” barrette features an ornamental overlay piece with a wooden stick to secure the hair. Beaded accessories such as this barrette might have been worn as part of a special outfit, or as part of a woman’s modern style. Today, Indigenous fashion accessories are at the forefront of style, beauty, and digital entrepreneurship. In a New York Times article, “Indigenous Beadwork Flourishes on Instagram” (2021), writer Anna V. Smith looks at how Indigenous beadwork—including the designs of many Anishinaabe artists—found new online audiences during COVID19. With many art markets, pow

FROM THE THUNDER BAY ART GALLERY’S COLLECTION

wows, and craft events moved online, Indigenous artists and bead workers began to sell their designs, including earrings, barrettes and other accessories on Instagram and other online platforms. Suddenly (as things go on social media) many artists were navigating a surge in followers and sold-out “drops” of their new collections. In the wake of swift exposure, new conversations around the quickness of online sales and beading as a form of “slow work” tied to personal expression and generational knowledge are part of a bigger picture of contemporary Indigenous beadwork and design. Burning’s barrette is one of four beaded works, including necklaces

and a headpiece, by the artist in our Permanent Collection. Her work is also in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. The barrette is one of several pieces from our Permanent Collection featured in the fall edition of our Art + Nature River Walk map. Available online at theag.ca and as a PDF, or as a free printed map outside our main doors, the map will help you explore the fall colours along the bike paths and walking trails near the gallery and discover natural materials, textures, and colours that inspired many pieces in our collection.

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Outdoor

Rediscovering Mountain Biking By Michelle McChristie

Anna Buske

Back to Basics

The start of the Shuniah Forty Miner 12-kilometre race

“I

should have bought a road bike instead!” I uttered with a mixture of frustration and humility. I was mountain biking in Shuniah Mines for the first time in over a decade and struggling to maneuver the tight, bumpy singletrack trails on my new full suspension bike. I had bought my last mountain bike as a grad student in 1997 and was just starting to understand how much bikes had changed. For starters, the wheels are much larger (29 inches compared to 26 on my old bike) and the new-fangled dropper

post allows the rider to drop their seat while riding and adjust their body position to handle gnarly sections and downhills. On that first ride, I was super hesitant to ride over anything that looked sketchy (which was most of the trail) and I don’t think I ever had my seat in the optimal position. I crashed. A lot. “Michelle, you’ve ridden these trails hundreds of times [in the 90s], you can do this,” said my husband, Darren, who was not having any problems despite the same hiatus and a new bike. But, I

was struggling—maybe this wasn’t for me and I should stick to long rides on the country roads around my house, where I can put on some tunes and lose myself in the scenery and predictable cadence of my pedal strokes. I waited a few days for my scrapes and bruises to fade and then headed back on the trails, skipping a few that had plagued me on my first ride. I felt a little more confident—which I later realized was actually overconfident. I took a couple of dramatic spills (I say dramatic

because I almost always make some kind of noise, leading Darren and anyone else within earshot to assume I’m seriously injured). The injuries were nothing serious, just a few more scrapes and bruises. “Maybe you should get longer shorts and knee pads,” suggested Darren. Nah, that’s overkill. I settled on longer shorts and gloves (I had already purchased a slick helmet to protect my most valuable asset). A friend suggested a few different YouTube channels that offer tips for newbies, so I checked them out.

48 The Walleye

Jonathan Portinga

Crossing the finish line and looking a little more relaxed

All of the videos seemed to feature a pro teaching another pro who was trying to polish their skills for one reason or another. “Where are the videos of a pro teaching a middle-aged mom suffering from trail trauma?” I wondered. I couldn’t find any that suited my style, but I did pick up a few tips and some new lingo, like trail trauma, which can mean a mild form of PTSD caused by previous crashes or the roots and rocks on a trail that my bike was designed to absorb. I was motivated to get back on the trails and push myself a little harder. It turned out that Darren was right. I could ride those trails. I just needed to focus on riding instead of thinking about what irritated me at work earlier or what I was going to make for dinner. And I needed to look further ahead, just like driving a car. My most painful (and stupid) crash occurred when I rode off a boardwalk, probably because I was thinking about writing this story and simultaneously singing a Rolling Stones song in my head (Charlie Watts had just passed away, can you blame me?). When Darren suggested we enter the Blacksheep Mountain Bike Club’s Shuniah Forty Miner race— our first race since 2007—I was a little apprehensive. I figured I would get in the way of other, faster, more skilled, and more competitive riders. But, I’ve always liked to support local events and there was beer and live music involved. We entered the

Darren McChristie

Outdoor

 Riding a smooth section of Shuniah Mines' singletrack—the Blacksheep Mountain Bike Club builds and maintains the trails

 A 29-inch wheel, a.k.a. 29er and front suspension

12-kilometre race—one lap consisting of the beginner and intermediate trails I’d initially feared and grew to love over about ten rides since July. My goal was simple: finish without crashing or causing a crash and get a personal best. I checked all three boxes and brought home a nice little award for finishing in third place, and I won a sweet draw prize—a bag of beans and a swanky cap from Wolfhead Coffee. Plus, I learned that Thunder Bay’s mountain biking community, despite having some seriously impressive riders and appearing pretty hard core, really does welcome all ages and abilities. I think I’m ready to try a few of the advanced trails, as soon as I get some knee pads.

Darren McChristie

Cruising along Peekaboo in Shuniah Mines

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CityScene

This is Thunder Bay Interviews by Nancy Saunders, Photos by Laura Paxton

AJ: I’m going to go with the unpopular vote—it’s candy corn.

Nat: DOTS. The tiny little mini boxes of DOTS. And when you get the mini ones, you usually get more pink ones than yellows. It’s a better ratio.

This month, we asked The Walleye readers to tell us about their favourite Halloween candy.

Kiersten: I would say for me, it’s anything chocolate. Stick to the basics.

Raymond (and Carter): For him, everything. I like the toffees with the cats on the wrapper; and he likes pretty much every candy because he’s a kid.

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CityScene

Learning from Loons

Children’s Book Shares Life Lessons Story by Pat Forrest, Illustrations by Sally Burns

ally Burns has always loved life on the water, and grew up in Northwestern Ontario, paddling, fishing, and swimming every summer on the lakes around Atikokan. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree and eventually returned home to work and live on the edge of Quetico Provincial Park, serving as one of the first female portage crew members in the park in the 1970s. It was there that she developed her fascination with loons. “I remember seeing as many as 120 loons gathering in Bayley Bay on Basswood Lake on the

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Canadian/U.S. border, diving and feeding on some food source there,” she says. Burns has a log cabin on Eva Lake with a great view of the longest stretch of lake. One day about six years ago, she was on the porch watching a pair of loons with their newly hatched chick. An artist long before she was a writer, she started drawing them, and soon began following their lives closely, using binoculars. She quickly realized that life for the baby loon was full of perils, and that this was a story she wanted to tell. Once the pandemic hit, she says she “really buckled down” to finish the project. The Way of the Loon tells of a spring and summer in a loon family’s life on a lake in northern Ontario, viewed through the eyes of two young boys who live near the lake. The loon couple, LaLa and Dapper, come back home to raise a family and they are soon the proud parents of little Chortle, who learns to swim and hunt for food. He also must figure out how to steer clear of the many predators in and around the lake, including hungry eagles and even a fish. As he grows, Chortle

learns that his parents will soon leave him for the south and he will have to learn to fly and make his journey without them. The book is beautifully illustrated by Burns herself, who says she has drawn and painted since she was a child and has been a lifetime lover of well-illustrated children’s

books. She has dedicated the book to her two-year-old granddaughter, Iris, who is already a keen loon watcher. The Way of the Loon is available at Entershine Book Shop on Algoma in Thunder Bay and is also for sale through Friesen Press.

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CityScene

GO LOCAL Thunder Bay Country Market

Kayla Wallace, sales and marketing with Sleeping Giant Brewing Co.

Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. By Sara Sadeghi Aval

etail and taproom manager Elke Cullis for one is very excited to bring Sleeping Giant Brewing Co.’s “fresh, high quality, and local ingredients” to the Thunder Bay Country Market. After a lengthy process, the company has been cleared to sell their craft brews alongside fan favourite products. Located on the first floor of the Coliseum building, right across from Superior Bakes, you can find a variety of their flagship and seasonal brews. Quantities of single cans, four packs, and some eight packs are available. You can even mix and match any pack to try all their new flavours. “The Country Market not only has our usual customers, but new faces for us as well. People who may not have thought of us can see that everything is made here in Thunder Bay,” Cullis says. The brewery began in 2012 with an idea to share local craft brews with friends. Since then, they have opened a taproom and retail front, expanded their location, and

collaborated with local businesses to create new products like glassware, clothing, mustard, dog treats, and even biscotti—all with a touch of the Sleepy beer and all available at the market as well. “You can do so much with beer,” Cullis says. With October’s autumnal mood, you can be sure to see their seasonal brews in the spotlight, including their pumpkin ale, their new additions of Oktoberfest beers, and two more new brews as part of their Sour Season Series this year. Their Thunder Bay-birthed “Port Arthur Fog” is also making a comeback. Looking to give a loved one the gift of beer? You can preorder the brewery’s annual Christmas advent calendar, which includes 24 unique beers, right at the booth. “The market is such a community, and we are so happy to be a part of it,” Cullis says. You can catch Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. at the market Wednesday evenings from 3:30 pm to 6 pm and Saturdays from 8 am to 1 pm.

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Leah Morningstar

CityScene

Lisa Laco

Remembering a Friend By Gord Ellis

met Lisa Laco early in her career at CBC Thunder Bay. I was already an occasional freelancer and columnist and had come to the station to do a pre-taped interview for Morningside. She met me at the door with the smile and twinkle in her eye that would greet me for the next 27 years at CBC. Lisa came to Thunder Bay as a producer and was instrumental in developing what would become the Superior Morning outdoor column. In 1997, she became the host

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of the CBC Thunder Bay morning show and for the next 23 years was my foil, comic relief, and co-conspirator. I had done the column for a few years before Lisa hosted, but she brought it alive. It worked so well because she was so invested in it. Lisa understood how much people in the north connected with the outdoors. And she did too, although she had to be talked into trying things. For instance, Lisa was terrified by the idea of being on ice. Yet somehow, she was talked into

driving onto Lac des Mille Lacs, then going for several kilometres to the place where we would fish and have an on-ice shore lunch. She had fun, but it was the first (and last) of her ice fishing adventures. We also chased owls, tried to find her a live beaver (an iconic animal she had never seen), hooked her up with a chainsaw and crossbow, and even got her into a moose skinning session. Then there were also the 14 years or so of Christmas tree hunts. She was a total gamer and rarely said no to anything. Lisa and I also rarely mapped these outdoor adventures out. We did them, recorded them, and they ran with minimal edit. There was no real script. Even in the studio setting, we mostly just chatted with each other on air. Working with her was as natural as breathing and it has been the highlight of my career. A couple of years ago, the idea for pop-ups was floated at CBC Thunder Bay. The concept was to take Superior Morning out to the places in Thunder Bay that defined the community. So Lisa, Mary-Jean Cormier, and myself, along with our then-boss Michael Dick and various other CBC peeps hit the road. I would argue this was Lisa’s favourite thing to do in her long career. She shone at the pop-ups and loved being in new places every morning, meeting people where they worked and drank coffee and played hockey and even dispatched buses. She was at her very best, and this is where many people got to see her at work for the first time. People came to the pop-ups to see Lisa—to meet her in the flesh, this iconic queen of the morning. She was unfailingly awesome with them, while managing to do a show in a different place, and on the most simple equipment, for weeks in a row. Lisa always looked the part as well, fashionable and ready to go. I think we were all in awe of her energy. Lisa was no shrinking violet and would hilariously offer her opinion on any number of subjects, most notably music. Lisa loved music and had extremely good taste. She did not, however, like some singer/ songwriters of a certain vintage that I came to call the “Canadian icons.” To the best of my knowledge, this

dislike went back to her days as a rock disc jockey in Newfoundland, where CanCon meant certain songs were played more frequently than she approved of. Her musical no-fly zone also happened to include just about everyone I really liked, which would lead to good-natured ribbing. We did find common ground with Blue Rodeo, Bruce Springsteen, and Prince. Lisa also really liked promoting local musicians. She went out of her way to make sure regional talent got played. One of her favourites was The Honest Heart Collective and they did several in-studio sessions, much to Lisa’s delight. Then there was Leonard Cohen. Lisa adored Cohen. If a new Cohen song was released, Lisa was on it. She would close her eyes and smile as the studio speakers rumbled with Leonard’s deadpan delivery and deep voice. She was in heaven. Lisa loved the CBC and her colleagues. She was the queen bee, making interns feel at home and even feeding them turkey dinner if they couldn’t get home for Thanksgiving. Her long-time friend and colleague Mary-Jean became extended family, and they were virtual sisters. They laughed and cried together, often on air. Lisa was a proud Newfoundlander as well and would get teary-eyed talking about it. But her family was her great love. She absolutely adored her husband Brad and doted on her boys John and Andrew. There was nothing she liked better than to be home with her family. This past year, I’ve been approached by many people who wanted to share their concern and love for Lisa. Some of these people listened online from far-flung places because she was such a calming, caring voice. One woman told me she came to northern Ontario from the south with no friends here, but had Superior Morning on every morning before work. She told me Lisa was “her first friend” in the north. I did my best to share these stories with Lisa by text while she was battling ALS, although it was tough to keep up with them all. Lisa connected with people and they loved her back. She was family. God bless you, Lisa. We love you and miss you.

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CityScene

The Canvas Inn Unique Accommodations for an Outdoor Adventure By Sarah Kerton

he waft of wood smoke, the scent of cedar and pines blowing in the breeze, the peace and quiet of the woods, the hustle and bustle of a campground—who can deny the pleasure we all take in camping? A summer activity for most, this return to living in the woods brings a primal enjoyment and some of our best memories. And yet, the older we get the less attractive sleeping on the ground seems. Enter The Canvas Inn, a new local glamping experience. Imagine all the enjoyment of camping, with a comfortable bed and enchanting tent to spend the night in, all set up for you. Jason Earl and Shawna O’Beirn, both born and raised in Northwestern Ontario, have recently begun offering their beautiful canvas bell tents to those looking for a unique experience.

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The idea came to the two entrepreneurs as they were anticipating the upcoming camping season on a warm March afternoon. “Creating our own glamping set-up as a solution to counter the less comfortable aspects of camping was something that evolved naturally,” O’Beirn says. ”Maybe COVID had something to do with it, but this was the year we decided to commit to purchasing our four-season canvas beauty to create a space that would mimic a hotel room in the woods.” Earl thought that offering this experience to others could be a neat business idea and from there they expanded to all the opportunities that a pop-up glamping service could serve, “which of course included camping, but also weddings, parties, events, staycations and the list goes on,” adds O’Beirn. The tents are five metres in diameter,

212 square feet, and can fit up to two queen beds or four single beds. They come fully furnished with beds and linens, some extra decor items, reading materials, a game or two, as well as other little surprises. The four-season tents can also accommodate a wood stove for winter-camping cosiness. For Earl and O’Beirn, the Canvas Inn has met with lots of positive feedback, which is great, as it is their first business together (although Earl has experience running his own company). “The best feeling is watching

how people react when they see the set-up for themselves. From the feedback we’ve received, wedding bookings will be very popular for us and we are excited for next year’s wedding season,” O’Beirn says. ”It is our goal to provide our tents yearround with fall and winter packages to make things extra comfortable. We are looking forward to experiencing winter glamping this year for ourselves and will be sharing our adventures on our social pages.” Visit thecanvasinn.com for more info.

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CityScene

That Sweet Smell

Inspiring More People to Connect and Get Outside By Ayano Hodouchi Dempsey

oanne Ryan, Paige Fortier, and Deana Renaud, three friends living in Red Rock and Nipigon, have spent countless hours together on the trail. A strong friendship grew out of all the hikes that they have gone on together, and the trio decided to make a Facebook page earlier this year, hoping to inspire others to connect to the outdoors and to each other in the same way. “Being outdoors gives us so much joy, and benefits our well-being and our kids’ well-being,” Renaud says. The Sweet Bush Adventure Society was born out of a desire to share those benefits with a wider group of people. A familiar scent on their hikes inspired the name of the group. “When you’re out hiking, sometimes on a nice sunny day, you get to a spot, and you smell this smell. It’s what we think is from juniper, or maybe some pine—a really earthy sweet smell,” Fortier

60 The Walleye

explains. “We call it the sweet bush smell.” With the help of an artist that Renaud liked, they created a logo and made hoodies for themselves. Almost as an afterthought, the three opened up ordering to the public, thinking that some of their friends and family might humour them by getting a hoodie. “We never anticipated the kind of response we got,” Fortier says. “Often when we were out, we’d post on our own personal social media places where we’d been, and we’d get messages asking, ‘Where is that?’ ‘How do I get there?’ ’Can I bring my kids? ‘Is it dog friendly?’” Fortier says. They decided their experience and knowledge of local hikes could benefit a lot of people. The three wanted “to have a sense of community in a time when it was really hard to find that,” she says. So far, the group has organized several online events. For

CityScene National Indigenous History Month, they livestreamed a talk by David Thompson, the land-based education coordinator at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School. At the event, he discussed water and how sacred it is in his culture. “It’s been really interesting, because you start out as a group of women who are moms, but we expanded to include something that’s more reflective of the population that exists in Northwestern Ontario,” Renaud says. “People have also connected through Sweet Bush,” Renaud says. They’ve noticed people connecting with each other over the livestreamed events and arranging to meet in real life to go on hikes together. “I think the voice of women, the voice of Indigenous peoples, and the voice of mothers, within the outdoors community is not always super strong,” she says. Sweet Bush Adventure Society wants to change that by giving those demographics an avenue to make themselves heard and to connect. For more information, find the Sweet Bush Adventure Society on Facebook.

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CityScene

WALL SPACE

Inspired by the Lake

Vik Wilen’s Art and Yoga Studio Story and photos by Adrian Lysenko

s she is heavily inspired by the Canadian wilderness and the Great Lakes, it’s no real surprise that Vik Wilen’s art studio is located just off the shores of Lake Superior. The self-taught artist has converted a garage in Shuniah into an art space and a yoga studio. With its long windows facing the lake, the work area is accented by the vibrant colours found in many of Wilen’s pieces. “We moved in about a year ago

and had big dreams to sort of turn it into something for the community,” she says, “As a painter, I wanted my own space to move freely and make as much mess as I possibly could. This area is sort of that space for me.” Aside from her art, the studio also features products like leggings, buffs, sauna thermometers, and yoga mats that the artist will be selling at her new boutique-studio at the Goods & Co. Market starting this month.

 View of the lake “The space where I actually paint has windows facing the lake,” she says. “That’s a big inspiration for me as an artist. I love the lake, so it couldn’t get any better with that view.”

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 Leggings “Because I’m opening up a little space in the Goods & Co. Market, I needed product to fill that boutique,” she says. “As a yoga teacher I love leggings, and I thought it would be really cool to put some of my art on leggings. That was sort of a winter project, figuring out which pieces of art would be good as fabric. Eventually I came up with six different designs.”

CityScene

 Surfboard “My friend is a surfer from Terrace Bay, so she’ll let me know when the waves are good and I’ll take the time to drive out there. And that’s a big part of what I like to paint too; that movement and energy when you’re in the water.”

 Paints “I really like using metallics or shimmery types of paint. When they hit the light in a different way it just kind of evokes something different every time. The colours I like are really vibrant, like bright lime greens, peaches, beiges as well, just to match people’s homes. Because you can make very vibrant art but then a lot of the time it doesn’t go with people’s decor, so there’s a balance you have to find. So I experiment with bright colours but tone it down with more common neutral tones.”  Sauna thermometers “My partner and I really love to sauna—my partner more than me, but he’s definitely encouraged me to get in there a lot more than I ever had. So I was kind of bored and tired of the really common Finn sauna thermometers we have here,” she says. “I wanted to add something a little bit more contemporary and creative to the region. So I created these designs of women but in a cute boho kind of way with images of the boreal forest and Lake Superior waves.”

 Mural “Because we wanted something to sort of evoke presence and inspiration from the water, I painted one of my infamous, swirly waves and then the quote ‘Be here now.’ It’s a quote from Ram Dass, who is this well-known spiritual yogi who me and my partner both really like,” she says. “That’s something that he’s always referenced saying, and it’s also a really good reminder when you’re being creative: to kind of forget about all the worries of life and be here now. And also to funk up the garage a bit more. We needed some colour.”  Artist’s nook “It just felt cosy. It just felt right and it was very conveniently positioned for the view of the lake. I put all my supplies under here,” she says. Along with the view, natural light makes it an ideal spot. “Lighting is key when you’re painting.”

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CityScene

EYE TO EYE

M With Mayor Bill Mauro As told to Adrian Lysenko, Photo by Kay Lee

64 The Walleye

ayor Bill Mauro is no stranger to politics. From 2003 to 2018, he was the Member of Provincial Parliament for the Thunder Bay–Atikokan District, and prior to this he served as a city councillor from 1997 to 2003. Mayor Mauro also served as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, and Minister of Northern Development and Mines. We spoke with him about what he’s reading these days, his long-term vision for the city, and what’s been the hardest during the pandemic. On running as a pastime: This period of the last few months has probably been the first time in 35 years that I have not run at all, but that was more by choice. I do have a chronic, sort of recurring injury with my calves when I start to run. With more frequency it reoccurs and stops me. It’s been going on now for about 15 or 20 years and the frequency between injuries is getting shorter and shorter, but I’m completely committed to restarting again and seeing how far I can get before the next injury occurs. As I tell people, ‘You can wear it out or you can rust it out,’ and I’m going to try and wear it out. On the books he’s reading: I’ve usually got three on the go. I’m reading one right now called—I honestly don’t pay too much attention to the titles—Doughnut Economics [by Kate Raworth]. I just read another one called Hype by Gabrielle Bluestone. It was sort of okay. I’ve gone through about four or five in the last six months. Another one called Humankind [by Rutger Bregman], which was pretty interesting. And a good read that I would recommend to people is Could It Happen Here?: Canada in the Age of Trump and Brexit [by Michael Adams]. On what’s been the hardest during the pandemic: [One thing is] certainly the restrictions in place on all of us in terms of our availability to see family and friends. We’ve all had that challenge. But I suppose in terms of the political context, you know it really did dominate your time and energy, and you worry greatly about the state of the city. You worry greatly about the ability of our hospital to accommodate the needs of Thunder Bay and our region.

On his long-term vision for the city: We’re like a lot of northern, rural cities. We have our challenges when it comes to the economy, when it comes to youth outmigration, and for me—I guess it’s a general question so I’ll try and address it in a general way—it would be to try and get the community to appreciate that as a city we are in an incredibly competitive environment with every other city out there for people and talent. Every municipality, every province, every leader of a community in terms of a mayor and every council are trying to attract economic development, and they’re trying to retain talented people, they’re trying to maintain and keep their young people. And younger people today are much more portable than they were in my generation, meaning they can live and work just about anywhere they want now. Many of them have post-secondary education, which helps make them portable and they can easily move to other areas. So my hope is that people in the city will appreciate the competitive nature of the work, as political leadership, that I’m trying to infuse into council and into the community—in that how do you position your city to be attractive to people to want to work in, to want to live in, to stay in, and to move their families to. On if he has a message to his critics: No. I really, honestly spend very little time on social media so I don’t pay much attention at all. But you do hear about it. People will tell you about it, and that’s fine. You’re not upset by criticism; it's part and parcel of the job. Anybody that is in a decision-making position will always have critics, because when you make a choice you invariably are going to disappoint somebody who does not agree with your choice. That’s just the nature of it—it doesn’t matter if it’s public life or a boss in any other workplace. So the criticisms are expected. Many people, though, are fine with that. They’re still supporters of yours even though they don’t always agree with everything that you do. The only thing that you might say is that you would really hope that just the public generally—that people in general as Canadians—that we do not lose the ability to disagree with each other in a civil and respectful manner. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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CityScene

Stuff We Like For Fall Hikes By Amy Jones

244 Pearl Street We love the retro summer camp feel of this super roomy, comfortable, and durable Camp Sherman backpack from Wilderness Supply. With its large internal pouch and multiple interior zip pockets, adjustable, padded contoured shoulder and chest straps, air mesh back panel, and cord-lock cinch and flap closure for the main compartment, it’ll be your best friend forever (unlike your bunkmate in Cabin 7 back in 1996).

Leki Micro Vario Carbon Trekking Poles Gear Up For Outdoors

894 Alloy Place A good set of trekking poles support you uphill and downhill, ensuring stability and safety and helping you save energy—which means you can hike more difficult terrain, and for longer. With their anatomically formed AERGON Thermo Long Grip, super simple Speed Lock 2 Adjustment System, and ELD External Locking Device, the Leki Micro Vario Carbon Trekking Poles will take you anywhere you want to go.

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e know that around here, fall is anything but predictable. One day it’s sweltering hot, the next there’s a frost warning, the leaves could be green or brown or anything in between, and, thanks to shorter days and Daylight Saving Time, we’re never actually sure what time it really is. But at its best, fall is a dream—crisp mornings, bright sun, stunning foliage, and the promise of a fresh start. In other words, it’s the perfect time to get out and explore the best of what Northwestern Ontario nature has to offer. And whether you’re heading out into the bush, up the Nor’Westers, or just strolling to the park by your house, you’re going to need some gear. Here’s Stuff We Like for Fall Hikes.

ungalli.com In NWO, the cold can sneak up on you at any time—but especially in the fall. This chunky knit beanie from Ungalli is your perfect foil for those brisker fall hikes, with a low-profile silhouette and a foldover cuff with a pleather Sleeping Giant patch to show your TBay pride.

Camp Sherman Backpack

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Zoleo Global Messaging Touch Unwired

1080 Lithium Drive/540 Arthur Street West/Intercity Shopping Centre Remote work can really be remote work with Zoleo Global Messaging, which gives you seamless messaging from your smartphone or tablet that follows you in and out of cell coverage—technology that allows you to work from wherever you are, even if you’re in the middle of nowhere. Plus, Zoleo offers features like SOS alerting, check-in, weather forecasts, and location sharing. Safety first!

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Firefly Water Bottle Lantern Chaltrek

404 Balmoral Street You’re carrying a water bottle. You’re carrying a lantern. You’re carrying a combination water bottle/lantern. The Firefly Outdoors Lantern and Water Bottle is a durable multi-purpose reusable water bottle that transforms into a solar-powered LED lantern with the click of a button, covering two hiking necessitie s in one! We love to see it.

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Thunder Bay Country Market If you’re anything like us, hiking makes you hungry. We love NaughtiNola as a trail snack because it’s a little bit healthy and a little bit fun, with its mixture of grainless granola made with nuts and seeds and M&Ms, Skor bits, and yogurt chips. It’s just what you need to get you up that one last hill.

$11–$22

Sunthing Neck Gaiter KBM Outdoors

349 Mooney Avenue There’s nothing better for the unpredictable fall weather than a piece that can be worn in multiple ways. The Sunthing Neck Gaiter is a thin, super-wicking, multifunctional seamless knit tube with 4-way stretch polyester and extra UV protection that you can wear on your head, your neck, your face… heck, wear it on your knee if you want to! We don’t judge.

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Women’s Patagonia Nano Puff Vest Fresh Air

710 Balmoral Street We love a vest in the fall—it keeps your core warm while letting your arms breathe, and it gives us some real pumpkin-spice Hallmark movie vibes. This Nano Puff Vest features PrimaLoft Gold Insulation wrapped in a windproof and moisture-shedding polyester ripstop shell with a durable water repellent finish, which is to say it’ll keep you both warm and cool while you’re playing in that leaf pile.

66 The Walleye

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CityScene

Rolling Out the Welcome Mat Thunder Bay Housing During COVID-19

By Rachel Rizzuto, Research Manager, Northern Policy Institute

oing once, going twice, sold. For people looking to buy a home during COVID19, competition has been stiff. Typically, during a crisis people will try to avoid purchasing big items such as homes. In this case, though, many people have been spending more time at home since the start of the pandemic and now want more space, whether it be for work, remote education, or extended family coming to live in the home. However since 1990, the number of new residential homes being built in Thunder Bay has been steadily declining each year (see Figure 1), resulting in limited supply. As well, there are several factors on the demand side of the equation that have been pushing up prices. The first is construction costs, which can be attributed to disruptions in the materials supply chain, rising material costs, and new safety rules. Second, interest rates are at a record low. On December 1, 2019, a discounted five-year fixed mortgage rate was 2.29%, 1.39% the next year, and then 1.68% on August 1, 2021. A similar downward pattern occurred

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in the discounted five-year variable rate, as well. All this has resulted in a more competitive market, and higher house prices. As Figure 2 shows, there was an increase in average home prices across the five major

markets in northern Ontario between July 2020 and July 2021. For Thunder Bay, there was an 11.9% increase. Based on the data, it is clear more housing needs to be built to ease the pressure on supply.

Housing plays an important role in one’s health and well-being, job security, and human capital development. Given this, one of the ways to encourage more housing in the community is creative thinking. The Canada Mortgage and Housing

CityScene Corporation (CMHC) runs two programs that are driving this forward: the Housing Supply Challenge, as well as the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund. More locally, there is the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative by the Thunder Bay District Social Services Board. Finally, in terms of affordability, CMHC also runs a first-time home buyer incentive program. While COVID-19 has exacerbated many ongoing issues such as home prices, it can also be an opportunity. RE/MAX reported in the fall of 2020 that 32% of Canadians are not interested in living in large urban areas anymore. Given how efforts on the population growth front will continue to be important in northern Ontario, continuing to push for more housing is certainly worth thinking about for Thunder Bay.

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CityScene

A Kind of Darkness Author Michelle Krys on Her New Novel By Justin Allec

ocal author Michelle Krys’s latest book, the playfully dark This Town is a Nightmare, is a perfect fit for autumn’s long nights. Geared towards middle-school readers and written under the pen name M.R. Krys, Nightmare is a sequel to Krys’s 2020 book This Town is Not All Right and another adventure into junior horror. Using a “newcomers uncover something sinister in their new town” plot as template, Nightmare continues the adventures of Beacon and Everleigh McCullough and the strange town of Driftwood Harbor. Even after five novels, Krys is modest about her success and skill.

“I always thought it would be cool to write a book, but I never actually wrote anything until I was 25. I was on maternity leave, and thanks to my son, who slept consistently, I found myself suddenly with a lot of time on my hands,” she reflects. After the usual bumps leading to publication, Krys published Hexed in 2014. She worked at her craft, always conscious that it would be up to her readers to define success. “A lot of people think that once you get published, the hard part is over, but there’s never any guarantee about your next book getting published,” she says. Krys’s books are full of teen witches and occult threats, but it’s her easy style and fun characters that keep readers engaged. Nightmare is Krys’s second book for middle-grade readers. After three young adult novels, the part-time author/part-time NICU nurse took a chance on a different audience with All Right. She had so much fun with the book that a sequel seemed obvious. “I really liked the idea of young kids stumbling onto a world-sized problem,” Krys says. “I found there was less pressure to be cool and relevant [compared to young adults], and I just ran wild with fun, voicey characters and adventurous plot twists.” Balancing mystery with action—be it a chase scene or a city-sized explosion—Nightmare finds excitement on every page.

Editing Nightmare coincided with the start of the pandemic, but the confusion of that period stalled Krys’s writing. Any creative energy had to be spent on getting through the days. “Between helping my kids with their online school, and working as a nurse in a pandemic, I just didn’t have any juice left,” she says. Rather than see that as a failure, though, Krys decided to be kind to herself and simply set writing aside. Now that her kids are back at school, she’s looking ahead.

That might mean a third book in her Driftwood Harbor series, or trying her hand at the adult urban fantasy genre. Krys laughs that she gave up trying to plan her writing a long time ago, instead preferring to be carried along by the story. That makes sense, as it’s exactly what happens to her readers as well. This Town is a Nightmare is published by Penguin Random House and available everywhere good books are sold.

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CityScene

Frost Warnings

CANNABIS CORNER

Knowing When to Harvest Your Cannabis By Justin Allec

fter babying your four cannabis plants all throughout the summer, it’s time to start bucking buds from the plant. By now you know that you can’t just grab a chunk of cannabis and throw it in a pipe; there’s a process to achieve usable cannabis. Drying and curing are important, but in my experience, knowing when to harvest is the trickiest question to answer. If you’re familiar with the strain or have another experienced grower to ask, it might be easier. General rules are that indica strains can be harvested eight weeks after flowering, sativa ten weeks, and an autoflower strain ten weeks from seedling to bud. There will also be a period of a few days when the plant will be at its optimal stage, so don’t panic—observe the plant and plan. Weather will play a big factor. Keep an eye on the skies. If there is frost in the forecast, cover your plants before the sun goes down; that'll keep them safe for the night. From then, the days are numbered until you have to commit to harvesting. In the days leading up to your planned harvest, trim away any dead or yellow vegetation. When you have the trifecta of prime harvesting conditions (overcast, light wind, and low humidity) then you just need the time to get the work done. Make sure that you have all your tools and cutting area set up before committing to the process— you don’t want to be running to the store for more rubbing alcohol to clean your tools halfway through. The best way to tell if your cannabis is mature is to examine the pistils and trichomes. By paying attention to their colour and texture,

Cannabis terpenes you can pick the optimal window when the cannabis is at its most potent and flavourful. Get up close; a magnifying glass really comes in handy for this step. First, look at the colour of the pistils, which are the curled, hair-like strands covering the buds. Pistils are usually white while the plant is still growing, but they will turn orange once the buds are almost ready. Next, look at the trichomes, which are the tiny, resinous bumps that cover the plant. Like stigma, trichomes change colour as the plant matures, from clear to opaque to amber. Growers will typically harvest when trichomes are between opaque and amber, as it promises both invigorating and sedative effects. If the pistils and trichomes are the right colour, then it’s time to start cutting. Looking at the condition of the plant reflects the unique growing situation you’ve nurtured all summer. Treat the plant right by recognizing the best conditions for harvesting. While you don’t need a crystal ball, these tips should help you feel more confident when you decide to get the shears out.

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Music

Tumblestone

A Post Lockdown Celebration Story by Jamie Varga, Photos by Keegan Richard

ver the last 18 months, I’ve written several pieces about our local music scene and how those within it have adapted and overcome during this crazy time of a global pandemic, vitriolic elections, and the regular old trials and tribulations. Having to deal with all of this while being shuttered in and removed from our normal escapes as fans has paled in comparison to the challenges faced by those who make their livelihoods entertaining us and providing us with the venues to get away from these hardships. This is why being able to get out and actually lay eyes on some of our favourite local performers at a scaled-back version of the Tumblestone Music Festival was like more of a spiritual reawakening than just another live music event. Working hard during the time away to adapt Tumblestone into something different and viable just to keep it alive was no easy task, and

BLK

Olivia Korkola

Forever Dead!

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needed the helping hands of those within the scene itself to make it happen. How amazing was it that just as the pieces came together to record a virtual concert series, our COVID numbers dropped and vaccine rates in our region rose to levels that made having an actual concert an option again? On August 28 the hills of Lappe rang with the sound of music again and it was joyous, to say the least. BLK, Jake Vaillant & the Town, Reckless Abandon, The Thirsty Monks, Forever Dead!, and Vape Dealer gave fans a small taste of live music after a long hiatus at the one-day event entitled the Le Cochon Danseur (The Dancing Pig) to keep with the annual porcine theme. While attendance was low, spirits were definitely high, and the performances were amazing as a result. The bands were as excited to play as the fans were thrilled to listen, dance along, and see the music

Music

happening again. Don’t be too sad if you missed the event, because on the weeks to either side of this particular show there were two other shows that were filmed and are currently in post-production for an upcoming virtual concert series showcasing even more acts like The Bay Street Bastards, the Cartwrights, BA Johnston, Jamie Smith, Morning Light, Femur, Pedestrian Lifestyle, and The Doggett Experience. A classically eclectic mix of local music one might even call a salmagundi.

They are still waiting on news about funding and other details, but this Tumblestone Collective Virtual Concert series might end up being a regular gig after the clouds of COVID drift away, so keep your eyes and ears on facebook.com/ TumblestoneMusicFestival for more details. Until then it is great to be able to savour these moments again and it gives us all hope that some form of normal is slowly starting to rear its head. #RIGHTdeadly

 Anthony Picton from Reckless Abandon

The Thirsty Monks

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Keegan Richard

Music

Local Country Singer Tim Albertson’s New Single Climbs Charts Story by Amy Sellors, Photo by Keegan Richard

“C

ountry music will never die, because as long as someone has a feeling in their bones, there will be a song to relate to it,” says country singer Tim Albertson. While country music might have fallen out of the spotlight for a while and “got kind of cookie cutter,” it is making a comeback, and a younger generation has started listening because the stories draw them in. Albertson grew up in Dorion/ Hurkett, and at the time the only consistent radio station was Country 105. “Sometimes you could get other stations, but mostly it was just country. My grandmother sang to me all the time, and I started humming along.” At seven years old, inspired by the movie Titanic, he belted out “My Heart Will Go On,” in full Celine Dion style, for his whole school. While there was some teasing from his classmates, he learned he had something that nobody else

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in his small town had: a voice. “I grew up on a deserted road. There was a gully with massive culverts, and this was my stage. I would stand and sing, pretending this massive ravine was my audience. I always knew I wanted to sing for people.” Country music hadn’t had its resurgence yet, so he joined up with a couple of pop bands, but he just couldn’t shake that twang in his voice. Inevitably, the bands broke up, and Albertson had to think about his own future as a country singer. Now living in Thunder Bay, Albertson wants to make it big while staying put. That strategy is working well, as he has had the opportunity to open for some amazing headliners performing in the city, like Gord Bamford and Aaron Pritchett. Albertson’s new single, “Gonna Get Loud” was released last August on all the music platforms, and has climbed

climate. The country music community, he feels, is closer to family than rivals. “Let’s do this together, and together we will rise,” is Albertson’s mindset. With live concerts starting up again, Albertson is ready. He performed in the first Live on the Waterfront concert this summer, and while the crowd was small, it was a crowd. And nothing beats performing for a live audience. Check out Tim Albertson online and listen to his music on Spotify. And while live concerts are still a little bit up in the air, know that Albertson is looking forward to the day when the tour busses start rolling through town, and the audiences are once again clamoring for tickets. For more information, visit timalbertsonmusic.ca/music.

Kay Lee

Gonna Get Loud

the charts on the Canadian Indie Country Countdown and just hit 10K streams on Spotify. He’s now working on his next single with Toronto producer Shawn Moore—with streaming being most people’s preferred method for consuming music, he’s learned that it's best to release songs as soon as they are ready. Like all musicians, Albertson lost gigs when the pandemic hit. He started livestreaming and people started paying attention. Albertson connected with Barrie’s Live Music Show on Facebook and realized he could reach a broader audience from home. He also started the Canadian Country Music podcast, available on streaming services and YouTube. He facilitates conversations between artists and the music industry, helping everyone learn how to be successful in our current

Lucas Augustyn

Music

Page 38 (L-R): Jacob Goodman, Taylor Nicholl, Cameron Padovese, Preston Robinson, and Andy Hubbard

Ready to Take Back the Stage Blood Red Moon, Page 38 Opening for Buckcherry By Kris Ketonen includes Andrew Haigh, Sulo Miller, and Kurt Dziver, has been playing private parties recently, but prior to that, the band hadn’t played a gig since March 2020. But the time off gave Blood Red Moon, known as a cover band, a chance to branch out a bit and write some original music. “I’m really happy to finally get something out there,” Miazio says. “We’re actually going to give them something original, our own

chemistry.” The situation was similar for Page 38, with the pandemic leading to the cancellation of shows, a summer tour, and planned recording sessions, Hubbard says. But Page 38—also Taylor Nicholl, Cameron Padovese, and Jacob Goodman— is also hitting the ground running, recently releasing a new single, “Waves.” “It’s not part of a bigger project yet,” Hubbard says. “We

recorded it, actually, in September of 2020. It really encapsulates our new sound, and signifies where we’re going as a band, how we’re progressing.” And, Hubbard says, the band is writing more new material, and hope to get back in the studio within the next year. Page 38, Blood Red Moon, and Buckcherry play NV Music Hall on October 18.

Blood Red Moon: (L-R) Sulo Miller, Andrew Haigh, Kurt Dziver, and Taylor Miazio

Scott MacKay

fter months away from the stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the members of Thunder Bay bands Blood Red Moon and Page 38 have high hopes for their first big show this month. As well they should—the two bands are returning to live performing in a big way, opening for California rockers Buckcherry. “We’ve opened for other big bands before,” Andy Hubbard, bassist and vocalist for Page 38, says. “But Buckcherry, they’re legends. They’ve been around forever. Their album 15, it’s a modern rock classic. Not a bad song on it.” Taylor Miazio, drummer and vocalist for Blood Red Moon, shared similar sentiments. “For me, I’m a bit of a younger guy, so this is the first opportunity to open for a big band,” he says. “I’m really excited for it. Get some exposure out there, and also show a different audience what we have.” The pandemic was, of course, a challenging time for bands everywhere, and Blood Red Moon and Page 38 were no exceptions. Miazio says Blood Red Moon, which also

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Music

The Simulation Isn’t Broken Local Acts Amped to (Re)open for Virtual Riot By Michael Charlebois

usic venues have been hit hard during the pandemic. Now, with nightlife slowly being resurrected in some areas, Atmos is hoping to usher in a new era with a big name: German DJ and electronic music producer Virtual Riot, who is scheduled to stop in Thunder Bay as a part of his Simulation Tour. “I was over the moon. I was ecstatic,” says local DJ BLVCK SHEEP, who is part of the opening lineup. BLVCK SHEEP, who has been DJing in the region since 2007, says he’s a longtime fan of Virtual Riot, and that he’s had a major influence on his music. “I watch his YouTube tutorials, his process. He’s a very open guy with how he makes music,” he says. “His DJing skills are top notch, the way he works and grinds. I pay attention to all of it.” The opportunity to host the Skrillex signee is a major step for the post-pandemic music scene, says Atmos owner Justin Boyko. “He’s legendary. I think he fits our venue because we have the bass, the light show, the video mapping. So we really fit his act well.” Atmos was able to stay open

through the pandemic by running a graphic design shop, Great North Graphics, out of its basement. The time away has forced the nightclub to reimagine the way they operate. “[It’s] a whole new experience. We’ve changed a couple things sound-wise and light-wise. Everyone seems pretty excited with the hype and feedback,” Boyko says. Musician Joshua Samudre says he also feels the surrealness of opening for the acclaimed DJ. “When [Boyko] told me I was like, ‘Dude, of course! Let’s do this!’” He says his last live show came nearly two years ago at Atmos, and the excitement of reopening combined with the headliner has raised his expectations for the future of live EDM music in the city. “I think this is the start of bringing in some international acts. I think this is just the beginning,” he says. For BLVCK SHEEP, the aspirations of his craft are opening new doors. “The fact that the show is called the ‘Simulation Tour,’ like, it’s like I’m in one. I can’t believe I’m opening up for someone like that.” The show will start at 9 pm on October 16 at Atmos.

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Music

Back with a Bang Wake The Giant Delivers the Music Event of the Year

Story by Michael Charlebois, Photos by Keegan Richard

American rock band Third Eye Blind

80 The Walleye

long-awaited sense of normalcy swept over thousands of music lovers at Wake The Giant, the region’s first live show in nearly two years. But in many ways, the second edition of Wake The Giant was like nothing we’ve seen in Thunder Bay. The festival was imagined as a way to welcome hundreds of Indigenous youth to the community, and foster an environment of inclusivity through music. The full-day event featured a particularly modern lineup of popular acts in the world of many different genres. Patrons were required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test prior to admittance. The festival grounds packed people

side by side, shoulder to shoulder (shoulder to ass, for some). Minus the masks, it sure felt like 2019. Organizers wanted to amplify the display of Indigenous culture— an aspect that’s underrepresented in festival culture in Canada. The early acts featured pow wow and round dance drum and singing group Northern Cree, Oji-Cree singer-songwriter Nick Sherman, Ojibway singer-songwriter iskwē paired with Canadian music legend Tom Wilson, and the award-winning Indigenous artist William Prince. DJ Shub, a former member of Canadian EDM royalty A Tribe Called Red, delivered a particularly resonant performance. His commentary of using music as a means

of unity represented the spirit of the festival like none other. Organizers also did well to not let the message of the festival get lost. In between sets, various Indigenous leaders took to the mic to speak their piece and welcome Dennis Franklin Cromarty students to their new home. What made the festival truly unique was the gratitude on the faces of every performer, many of whom we’re playing live music for the first time post-COVID. As the sun set on Marina Park, Loud Luxury’s EDM set had the crowd bouncing to the point that cinder blocks were eventually added to the front gate. The London, Ontario-born duo had previously played at the Rockhouse in 2017, and acknowledged their early days in between songs. They later expressed their civic gratitude by shooting persians out of their smoke machine. Although their set only lasted 45 minutes, the energy of their performance brought the rave out of festival-goers. Third Eye Blind provided the truest display of musicianship. The 90s California band bridged the age gap with the catchiness of their power pop classics, and wistful shimmer of their alt-rock sound. They went back and forth between deeper cuts, new music, and of course, “Semi-Charmed Life.” The unmistakable hit and delightful chorus had everyone signing unison—a clear highlight. The night ended with rising R&B/pop star Jessie Reyez, a Grammy-nominated artist and frequent Eminem collaborator. The Toronto-born artist is cut from the same cloth as Drake; resonating with a generation of jaded lovers hopelessly balancing an absence of emotional maturity with their cell phone addiction. Reyez played her hits, inspired Gen Zers to put up two middle fingers to their exes, and flexed her songwriting bonafides on Calvin Harris’s “One Kiss” to get the crowd moving. Her swaggering pettiness was the perfect way to cap off the festival. The endless sacrifices of the pandemic are finally unraveling, and now it is about us. Thunder Bay is back outside, and we’re ready to rock.

Music

R&B/pop star Jessie Reyez

Oji-Cree singer-songwriter Nick Sherman

Powwow and round dance drum and singing group Northern Cree

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Music

BURNING TO THE SKY

Mountain Songs By Gord Ellis

ountains are majestic, massive, and stay in one place forever. For these reasons alone they warrant awe from humans. Yet the awesomeness

of mountains has also found its way into the songwriting canon as both subject matter and metaphor. Here are four great songs that reference mountains.

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Thunder on the Mountain

River Deep Mountain High

Rocky Mountain High

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Bob Dylan

Ike & Tina Turner

John Denver

In 2006, legendary singer songwriter Bob Dylan was still riding a critical and commercial third wave that began with his Grammy-winning album Time Out of Mind. That 1997 album was followed in 2001 by the much-loved Love and Theft. So a lot was expected from his 32nd studio album, Modern Times. And Dylan delivered, kicking it off with a bluesy romp called “Thunder on the Mountain.” In usual Bob style, the song careens from one subject to another, and includes some apocalyptic mentions of “fires on the moon” and recruiting an army from orphanages. However, the song is most famous for its name drop of a very popular singer.

Phil Spector may have failed at being a good human, but his ability to make a massive sound on record has never been matched. The ultimate example of this is “River Deep, Mountain High.” Rarely has a record sounded so perfectly in sync with its subject matter. Produced by Spector in 1966, the song is a colossus of strings, drums, bass, choir, marimba, and multi-tracked finger snaps. On top of this massive swell of music is Tina Turner, her searing vocals somehow cutting through the wall of sound. Turner’s gospel soul brings the whole gigantic production back to the Nutbush City Limits. This song would become Turner’s signature recording and remains one of the great pop records of all time.

It might be hard for some readers of this column to believe that John Denver was once a household name. But in the mid to late 1970s, there were few pop artists bigger. Denver looked sort of like he might own a corner store in rural Iowa, with his circular glasses and bangs, but his soaring voice was the basis of many hit songs of the day. The greatest of those songs was “Rocky Mountain High''. It is an earnest and majestic song that focuses on the singer's search for self and meaning in the mountains of Colorado. While Denver makes a case for the serene and awesome beauty of the mountains, he also warns of what is becoming of them as people move on the land.

When it comes to vocal pairings that oozed both connection and sexiness, very few touch Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. And “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” is the pinnacle of the duo’s brilliance. The song, written by husband-and-wife songwriting team Ashford & Simpson, was a smash for Motown in 1967 and a few years later became a giant hit for Diana Ross. The song clocks in at a breezy 2:24 and is perfect. The vocals are tight and passionate, the music bright and danceable, and the lyrics stand on their own as a profession of undying love. There ain’t no mountain high enough Ain’t no valley low enough, Ain’t no river wide enough

I was thinkin’ ‘bout Alicia Keys, couldn’t keep from crying

To keep me from getting to you, baby

But she was born in Hell’s Kitchen, I was living down the line

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And do I love you, my oh my River deep, Lord, mountain high

Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend

I’m wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be

Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more

I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee

More people, more scars upon the land

In the many Dylan tours and concerts that followed the release of Modern Times, most of them included a rollicking version of “Thunder on the Mountain.” It is one of the lesser-known gems of the bard’s career.

Denver died in 1997,the victim of a plane crash. On March 12, 2007, the Colorado senate passed a resolution to make the 1972 hit one of the state’s two official state songs, sharing duties with its predecessor, “Where the Columbines Grow.”

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Music

Having a Lark

TBSO Returns to Full-Orchestra Live Performances By Kat Lyzun

fter a unique season the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to welcome patrons back to full-orchestra live performances, kicking off their diamond anniversary with a slate of five great concerts. On October 21, the TBSO opens their 60th season with Having a Lark, performed at Hilldale Lutheran Church. It will feature the return of music director Paul

Haas as conductor and a violin solo by concertmaster Thomas Cosbey in Vaughan Williams’s A Lark Ascending. The evening opens with the TBSO players celebrating one of J. S. Bach’s most famous and beloved works, Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, and will close with Mozart’s Linzer Symphony for chamber orchestra, a later work full of the grace and energy that define his style. Krysta Piaskowski, front of house and marketing manager for the TBSO, says that although they loved trying new things (like livestreamed concerts) they’ve really missed the special connection with patrons that you can only get with live concerts. “To start our 60th season off right, we really tried to pack a lot of music lovers’ favourites into the first half of our season,” she says. “Our first five shows feature three concerts in our Hilldale

Concert Series (formerly known as the House Series) and two in our Northern Lights Series.” The Hilldale Concert series features talented musicians playing classical favourites like Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, plus a special women’s concert featuring guest conductor Dina Gilbert and a collection of music written by female composers, while the Northern Lights concerts will feature local artists like Nancy Freeborn (a TBSO favourite) and Nick Sherman. Piaskowski adds that celebrating the diamond anniversary of the TBSO really speaks to the resiliency of the orchestra. “We’re so grateful for all our supporters

and their patience and dedication to the TBSO. We may not be back to a ‘normal’ season just yet, but we’ll continue to share the love and power of music with our patrons however we can.” The Hilldale Concert Series performances will take place at Hilldale Lutheran Church, and the Northern Lights Series will take place at the Italian Cultural Centre. All current provincial COVID-19 safety guidelines will be followed, including masks, proof of vaccination, increased sanitation, and distanced seating. Visit tbso.ca or call the box office at 626-8276 for tickets and info.

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Music

Patrick Horn Section Viola, TBSO By Kris Ketonen Born: Walnut Creek, California Instrument: Viola Age you started to study music: Violin in Grade 4 How long have you been with TBSO: 20 years What’s on personal playlist: Barenaked Ladies, world music, tango

Superior Images

Even after 20 years with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Patrick Horn is still energized by the experience of playing live on stage. “Having a bunch of people out there who want to hear what you’re doing really helps to give energy to the performance,” Horn, section viola with the TBSO, says. “I might be kind of tired that day or something, it might be late in the evening, but then when you come in and you see a room full of people, and they’re eagerly anticipating something—it really energizes me.” Horn is in luck this year, as the TBSO is planning a return to live, full-orchestra performances after shifting to smaller groups or recorded concerts last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think all of us are all looking forward to

playing for people,” Horn says. “Also for kids, for the education shows we do.” Horn was born in California, and began his musical career on the violin, an instrument he literally outgrew. “When I started violin, I was just a little kid,” he says. “But by the time I stopped growing, I was six foot two, and I just hadn’t really learned how to play a violin ergonomically or efficiently because of my size. When I went off to undergrad, and I started practicing a lot, I got a lot of tension issues, repetitive use issues. I ended up getting tendonitis, carpal tunnel, all these repetitive injuries.” Horn couldn’t play for a year and a half, and tried various things, including yoga, to ease his discomfort. But it was switching to the larger viola that helped get him back on his musical track. “It matched a lot better,” he says. “After I learned how to kind of release the tension, I came back to viola, I found it was much healthier for me.” The TBSO’s new season starts October 21. For more information, visit tbso.ca.

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Music

After the Fall

Lorrina Belluz Unearths Album After Journey of Healing By Roxann Shapwaykeesic

n January of 2000, a few days after singer-songwriter Lorrina Belluz completed her album After the Fall, she was struck by a vehicle while riding her bike in Toronto. “I’m riding my bike down Yonge Street, and I get hit by a cab. I break my back, basically. That was it. I couldn’t work, couldn’t do any music,” Belluz says. Instead of going on the tour her and her team had been planning, Belluz came home to Thunder Bay to heal. The universe had “sucker-punched” her and the album

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was put aside and never listened to again until 20 years later. “The album artwork was done here at the Cascades because that’s where I did most of my healing,” she says. Although her injury changed her plans to tour, she didn’t stay still for long. Belluz, self-described as a “rolling stone,” has lived in Toronto, Victoria, B.C., Jamaica, Mexico, New York, Korea, and India. Her many experiences inspired her songs on the album. Her recovery efforts took her to Korea to learn acupuncture for

a year. After another term back in Canada to acquire a degree in music, she was off again to India for three years, where she met her husband. “I find myself 2,000 meters up in the Himalayan mountains, and I meet this farmer. And five months later, we're married,” Belluz says. Together they returned to her hometown of Thunder Bay. After a brief stint in real estate, Belluz taught violin and guitar to adults for eight years until COVID-19 shut down the lessons. With time on her hands and nowhere to go she decided it was time to start creating music again. When looking for inspiration, she found her untouched album from long ago. “I took the masters out and I started listening,”

she says. “Oh my god … it’s phenomenal. I can’t believe that I’ve just ignored it for this long.” She says the music has become even more timely, especially the song “News.” “It’s about media frenzy and how we’re all so caught up in what we’re watching on the TV that we’re forgetting to think for ourselves,” she says. With fresh energy and using digital platforms like YouTube and Bandcamp, Belluz released the 10track album this year. A new YouTube channel is hosting her guitar and vocals from her garden called “Fresh from the Garden: Acoustic Sessions.” To listen or purchase After the Fall, visit lorrinabelluz.bandcamp.com.

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October Entrepreneurs of the Month

Sean Murray, President and CEO, Nor’Wester Maple Company & Canada West Maple Products

Meet Sean Murray, president and chief executive officer of Nor’Wester Maple Company and Canada West Maple Products. From a young age, Sean developed a strong appreciation for the north. He was born in Fort Frances but moved around the northwest frequently as his family was heavily involved in the pulp and paper industry. Sean finally settled in Thunder Bay to attend Lakehead University and now calls the city his home. Sean’s entrepreneurial journey began as a hobby back in 2017, when he and a group of friends crawled up the side of the Nor’Wester Mountains by Cloud Lake to try to make maple syrup. That first spring they used Canadian Tire pails, homemade taps, and Value Village canning pots to boil sap from just 25 trees. Now, only a few years later, the company has expanded to 1,700 sugar maples using all modern maple equipment. However,

even after growing to that size, they still did not produce enough maple syrup to meet the demands of Northwestern Ontario and an ever-eager market further west. In 2019, Canada West Maple Products was born. Canada West Maple allowed Nor’Wester Maple to combine their local product with other northern Ontario maple producers to meet demand. Most recently, Sean announced a third and very exciting business venture. Nor’Wester Maple Co. is opening a third location in the Goods & Market Co. space, called the Sugar Shack. With inspiration from Willy Wonka, the Sugar Shack will highlight maple products as well as top-notch chocolate and candy makers from across Canada. Stay up to date on all three businesses by following them on Instagram @norwestermapleco, @canwestmaple, and @ sugarshacktbay.

Q & A with Sean

What drew you to entrepreneurship? I was drawn to entrepreneurship by the desire to build a business that I could be truly passionate about and that revolved around my interest in being outdoors. It is also a great test of accountability to yourself. At the end of the day, your successes are yours, but you also have to own accountability for your failures and learn from them. The entrepreneurial life puts pressure on a lot of aspects of your life but that pressure is also motivating and allows you to do really exciting things. What was your most memorable moment as an entrepreneur? Over the years I have had many memorable moments. Every single piece of equipment and construction material we used to build our operation had to be dragged, hoisted, and carried up the side of a mountain with no road access and no electricity. We

came up with a lot of engineering solutions and melted a lot of machine motors in the process, but we got the job done. All of these memories involve my friends and family, who also help and co-own the companies. I can truly say that I have the most supportive group of people with me in this adventure and it would not have been possible without them. The first year we made a drop of syrup in our new shack with a modern maple evaporator was a great culmination of everyone’s hard work and dedication. Who was your biggest inspiration/mentor? I don't know if I could choose one single mentor in my life who inspired me the most throughout my entrepreneurial journey. Early on in the business, I tried to constantly remind myself that I “don't know it all” and to seek out advice and guidance from friends, coworkers, family members, and business associates when I needed help or wasn’t sure of the direction I wanted to take the business. I firmly believe that surrounding myself with a very wide range of mentors elevated the business much faster than if I tried to do it alone. I learned from the successes and failures of others and worked to apply those lessons to what I was working on. If you could go back in time what is one piece of advice you would give yourself? I think the biggest lesson I have learned and the biggest piece of advice I would give myself would be that opportunities can come up faster than you would ever expect them to but that even the best-laid plans can take longer to achieve than you thought. I would also tell myself to be patient with the process of being an entrepreneur. Some days involve a lot of second-guessing about the path that I have chosen, but when we complete a big milestone in our business or secure an exciting new partnership, it makes all the tough days worth it.

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OfftheWall

REVIEWS

More Harm

Aisles

The Honest Heart Collective Miles Davis once said “it takes you a long time to sound like yourself,” speaking about the gap between an artist’s vision and the practice, pain, and persistence it takes to reach it. More Harm is the howling, defiant arrival of Honest Heart Collective’s voice and vision. Where the album’s predecessor, Grief Rights, minted the band as brilliant blue-collar storytellers, More Harm cuts closer to the bone. Anchored by arenaready rockers “I Heard You’re Worried About Me,” “11/17,” and “If You Wanna Leave,” the EP boasts seven ruthlessly confessional tracks that tackle burnout, mental health, grief, and artistic struggle. Softer cuts like “Funeral” and “No More” will sit with you at your lowest and hold your ragged heartbreak—then quietly celebrate your survival. “What’s a broken voice like mine got left to prove?” they ask—and the answer is nothing. More Harm is a triumph. It may very well be the album that makes them. - Kirsti Salmi

Blink Once

Talk Memory

Angel Olsen

Arkells

BADBADNOTGOOD

Aisles is a collection of covers that sees Angel Olsen tackle the 1980s in an attempt to have fun with music again. Olsen’s motivation might surprise some upon first listen, as the album opens with a haunting rendition of Laura Branigan’s “Gloria.” After a mostly faithful “Eyes Without a Face,” Olsen modifies the campy chorus of “Safety Dance” to reflect the anxieties of quarantine as she asks, “Is it safe to dance?” While the first half of the EP becomes weighed down by dark synths and drowsy vocals, Olsen’s take on OMD’s “If You Leave” ushers in a warmer, more nostalgic sound. This mood shift peaks on “Forever Young,” as bittersweet strings complement one of the clearest vocal deliveries Aisles has to offer. In contrast to the fear of expression that dominates “Safety Dance,” the unbridled soundscape of “Forever Young” acts as a fitting resolution to Olsen’s journey to embracing music for music’s sake.

Blink Once, the new album from Canadian rockers the Arkells, arrived on September 22. And as hard as it is to be hard, it lives up to its name, in a way. If you love the Arkells you may be alright, but I was hoping for a bit more of a reach out to us in the fringes. There is no doubt that the band has talent, with this being their sixth album and them having slew of awards and accolades behind them (including four Group of the Year Junos), but this album seems more like the last one than the next one. There is also something to be said for the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” however, and to say the album is bad would be a stretch. The tracks “Swing Swing Swing” and “One Thing I Know” are both fun tracks with equally interesting videos worth checking out but, overall, if your ears could Blink Once they just might miss this one.

Aside from collaborations and various side projects, it’s been five years since the Toronto-based jazz-hip hop group BADBADNOTGOOD’s critically acclaimed IV. The group stated that they decided to take some time to make the creative process exciting again, and it shows on Talk Memory. With the opening track “Signal From the Noise” clocking in at just over nine minutes, things start off slow and then explode like a roman candle. Here, more than anywhere else on the album, you can hear the improvisation the group is known for, making it feel as though you're front row in a dimly lit jazz club. Although Talk Memory features various American instrumentalists and string arrangements from Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai, there are no guest vocalists. In a way, this is a return to their earlier work, although it is a departure from their previous effort, which featured remarkable tracks with Canadian singersongwriter Charlotte Day Wilson and Future Islands' frontman Samuel T. Herring. But sometimes you have to go back to your roots to make things fresh again, and the psychedelic jazzfusion odyssey of Talk Memory does just that.

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Ghosts of Afghanistan

Julian Sher

“I’m heartbroken about the way things went in Afghanistan.” These are the opening voiceover words of Ghosts of Afghanistan, spoken by Graeme Smith. Canadian journalist Smith first went to Afghanistan in 2005 as a war reporter for The Globe and Mail. He returned this year to update his coverage and attempt to figure out what happened. Directed by Julian Sher, with enthralling cinematography by Iqbal Sapand and impeccable editing by Susan Shanks, Ghosts of Afghanistan takes us behind the scenes to tell us stories general media have not revealed. It is a bold, daring, and emotionally exhausting documentary. Smith, narrating, takes us into village food markets, the inner offices of the Afghanistan government as it struggles to survive, the villages, schools, and homes of the Afghani people, and an incredible citizen-driven marchfor-peace. In summary, Smith tells us, “Twenty years of fighting has settled nothing...there will be no military solution to this war.” Highly recommended. - Michael Sobota

Panoramic Outdoors

Tristan Dreilich, Chase Dreilich, and Sheldon Grant Whether you’re newly dabbling in the great outdoors or living a hardcore wildlife enthusiast lifestyle, Panoramic Outdoors is sure to spark up new conversations at the next bonfire. The hosts are a couple of “home-grown fellas” from Manitoba who share their candid experiences about the wonders of nature, the art of hunting, and everything in between. One of my favourite episodes is “What the Fox,” with guest biologist Jim Roth, who studies fox populations in the subarctic regions of Canada. His incredible details of how these animals have adapted to survive and travel in extremely hostile environments yet still manage to have large litters is astounding! Not to mention their genius, scavenger-like strategies and utilization of landscape. As valuable knowledge is spread amongst guests and listeners, this podcast helps clear up hunting taboos and answer conservation questions while maintaining the utmost respect for nature. - Andrea Lysenko

What Strange Paradise

Omar El Akkad The wreckage of a boat filled with Middle Eastern and African migrants washes up on a (presumably) Greek island, and Amir, a Syrian child, is the sole survivor. What Strange Paradise is told in chapters alternating between the events leading up to the incident––explaining what brought Amir and the others there––and the aftermath, where the native-born, teenaged Vänna attempts to help Amir evade the soldiers tasked at keeping “undesirables” out of the country. El Akkad’s novel provides important criticism of the Western public’s response to humanitarian disasters, but this is delivered in a largely inaccessible way, hidden deep within what appears a relatively straightforward story. While I rarely view inaccessibility as a negative, the message passing a reader by in this case serves to confirm the harmful beliefs the author is criticizing in a way that perpetuates the problem. The writing is objectively competent throughout, but El Akkad’s probable goals are effectively undermined through his presentation.

Eyes to See

Joseph Nassise

I love the premise of Joseph Nassise’s Eyes to See: after exhausting all avenues of searching for his missing daughter, out of desperation Jeremiah Hunt uses an ancient ritual that “will help him see.” It blinds him in daylight but allows him to see ghosts. The local police detective believes Hunt is a psychic, and calls him in to help with bizarre cases. The most recent one is a grisly murder that may hold a clue for Hunt’s search. Nassise has built a really compelling world around Jeremiah Hunt, and I enjoyed his take on ghosts and their hierarchy. I also really liked the supporting cast of characters, especially Detective Stanton, who was the perfect complement to Hunt. But I did find many of the times when Hunt was on his own to be a little dry—the book picks up a lot when he’s interacting with the other characters. - Shauna Kosoris

- Alexander Kosoris

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Architecture

Poulin-Built Log Homes By Ayano Hodouchi Dempsey

Founded by Paul Poulin, Poulin-Built Log Homes has built many houses in Northwest Ontario

Log homes are popular for camps

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f you’ve admired a log home in Northwestern Ontario, there’s a good chance it was built by Paul Poulin. Poulin, who passed away earlier this year, built his first log home when he married in 1978 and bought property in South Gillies. “He went and built his own house, figured it out by himself,” says Dave Marion, who worked alongside Poulin for more than 30 years at Poulin-Built Log Homes. “Then he started building for his neighbours, and things took off from there.” Poulin-Built Log Homes has been building custom log homes in the region since 1978. Most are rural homes or camps in the Thunder Bay area, but Marion says they have built some public buildings, such as the cabin on Mount McKay, the main pavilion of Kingfisher Outdoor Education Centre, and a 14-sided, 100-foot-diameter lodge in Fort Hope. Marion says he started working with Poulin in 1988, after answering

an ad in the paper for a log builder apprentice. “[Paul] requested a handwritten resumé. And everything that wasn’t handwritten was thrown out right away. I got in with an actual handwritten resumé,” he chuckles. Over the years, Poulin taught everything he knew to Marion, and to his sons Dene and Neil. The three of them still work together at Poulin-Built Log Homes. The company sources the logs locally, using white pine, jack pine, red pine, and poplar. Occasionally a client will request using timber from their own land, and the crew will cut the trees down, peel the bark by hand and use them right away. The company developed a unique system that allows green wood to be used, because settling is contained within each panel. “There’s some adjustment in the log panels, as they’re through bolted with big bolts right through the walls, so you have to tighten those for a couple of years until all the settling is finished in the wood,”

Architecture Marion explains. “But we’ve accommodated for all that.” The logs are typically between 10 and 16 inches in diameter. Log homes can be built any way a client wants, with a poured concrete basement, a wood basement, or none at all, or with or without a second floor. A typical home takes three to four months to build, but some projects can take a year. In addition to log homes, the company builds saunas and garages, and recently worked on the two new cabins at Rose Valley Lodge. “I can’t even remember how many things we’ve built,” says Marion. “It’s not just houses. We’ve done a lot of other things well, [such as] log kitchen cabinets.” Marion says the cost to build a quality log home is approximately the same as a conventional home. “In the end they’re all expensive, and we’re just as expensive as the conventional framed house,” he says. Ultimately, it’s a matter of taste—over the years, business has been consistent. “We’ve built for loggers and doctors,” he says. “Log homes are not for everyone, but certain people, that’s all they want.” Log homes were a “lifelong passion” for Poulin, Marion says. Over the decades, he built a lasting legacy all over Northwestern Ontario. “We used to guarantee them for 500 years. But I’m not sure they’ll last that long,” Marion chuckles, adding that at the very least, a log home will outlive its builders and owners.

The company sources their lumber locally

The company saws square timber posts themselves

 The crew can prefabricate walls at the shop  (L-R) Dave Marion, Dene Poulin, and Neil Poulin

The Walleye

OctoberEventsGuide Weekends until October 31 Pumpkinfest Gammondale Farm

Enjoy a weekend of pumpkins galore at the annual family farm event. You can ride the train, get lost in the monster forest maze, and enter your best picture in their photo contest. Tickets are available online with rain dates to ensure everyone gets to enjoy the fun. Bring your own snacks and drinks to make it a picnic. See this month’s Top Five for more info. gammondalefarm.com/pumpkinfest

Until October 2 Home: A Bluegrass Celebration Magnus Theatre

The local theatre’s 50th season is starting off with a musical bang in Home: A Bluegrass Celebration. Join local cast members for a hilarious and relatable look at a year in isolation from the point of view of three women at different stages of life.Tickets are available by phone Tuesdays–Fridays 12:30–3:30 pm, or 60 minutes prior to each show. 345-8033

October 2 Duck Hunt Prince Arthur’s Landing

Create your own team and join the hunt at Marina Park for over 100 rubber duckies. The Alzheimer’s Society of Thunder Bay has teamed up with Tbaytel and Chartwell Residences to bring you their first annual fundraising event. With the hope of raising $10,000, each team can register for $200 and earn prizes for first, second, and third place, best-dressed team, and there’s even a bonus duck to find! duckhunt.eventbrite.ca

October 2 Sweat for Rett La Verendrye School

Please join this bootcamp fundraiser in support of the Ontario Rett Syndrome Association. Event includes a 50/50 draw and a raffle. Wear purple! The fundraiser runs from 2–4pm. To join this event, message Sweat for Rett on Facebook. arapovich8@gmail.com

October 7 Stay Gold at Moss Cottage Moss Cottage, 700 Hazelwood Drive

October 8 and 9 DefSup Birthday Gala & Appreciation Party Definitely Superior Art Gallery

Join DefSup for their glittery opening reception/birthday party/artist and volunteer appreciation party, featuring a ferocity of art, live music, and refreshments. This weekend-long event includes opening galas for the 33rd Anniversary DefSup Members + Die Active exhibitions, as well as the Creator’s Project 7, which showcases international video screenings by artists from Japan, Istanbul, Germany, and France. Pre-register via Eventbrite (limited tickets available). Admission by donation; all ages are welcome. Exhibitions run until November 13. See this month’s Top Five for more info. definitelysuperior.com

October 8-17 Random Acts of Poetry Various Locations

Definitely Superior Art Gallery presents 25 of Thunder Bay’s finest professional spoken word poets and singer songwriters performing for the public in a week-long unique series throughout Thunder Bay with 120 individual performances. Schedules will be available at the gallery and on Facebook prior to the event for one of the largest poetry performances in Canada. definitelysuperior.com

October 9 The Cajun Country Rock Band Port Arthur Royal Canadian Legion - Branch 5 Legion Concert Hall presents the Cajun Country Rock Band, playing all your Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty favourites. Tickets are $15. 344-5511

October 16 Mozart and More! Virtual

Repertoire for this livestreamed concert will include Mozart’s charming Kegelstatt Trio, selections from Max Bruch’s Eight Pieces, Op.83, and an arrangement of a Piazzolla tango by Consortium’s own Patrick Horn. Horn, a violist, will be joined by pianist Mariko Kamachi Cosbey and clarinetist E-Chen Hsu. Tickets are $15 and the concert runs from 7–8:15 pm. See this month’s Top Five for more info. consortiumab.org

Join the local art crew for a small and intimate market featuring Heron House Handmade, Urban Farmchick, Pulp + Paper, and North of 48. Tickets are available for a $5 donation with proceeds directed towards Roots to Harvest organization. Stay Gold at Moss Cottage on Eventbrite

October 16 Virtual Riot Atmos

After a two-year hiatus, Atmos is opening its doors once again for music lovers. German DJ and producer Virtual Riot is coming to downtown Thunder Bay. Atmos’s return to live music will also include local musicians like DJ BLVCK SHEEP and Joshua Samudre as opening acts. See this month’s Music section for more info. atmostbay.ca

October 16 & 17 Waasaashkaa: A Gathering of the Great Lakes Surfers Terrace Bay

Now in their fifth year, Waasaashka is excited to unite surfers from all over North America once again. Enjoy the water for 24 hours, whether you’re on a surfboard, a kayak, or cheering on participants from shore. Follow their Facebook page for all the event details. See this month’s Top Five for more info. facebook.com/waasaashkaagathering

October 16 Music Bingo Red Lion Smokehouse

Combine your love of music with your love of bingo! Cards are $2 each and instead of numbers, the DJ hits the tunes. Dabbers are available for sale if yours has dried up. redlionsmokehouse.ca

October 17 From Forest to Table: Fungi Dinner Red Lion Smokehouse

From Forest to Table returns this fall with another delicious Fungi Dinner. Chefs John, Aakash, and Chris will forage the forest floor to find delicious (and edible) fungi to feature in this once-a-year specialty dinner. Dietary requirements may be catered for, please advise prior to booking. Wine or beer pairings curated specifically for the menu by their cellar manager will be available. redlionsmokehouse.ca

October 18 Page 38, Blood Red Moon, and Buckcherry NV Music Hall Thunder Bay born bands Page 38 and Blood Red Moon are getting back on the stage with American rock and roll stars Buckcherry. The bands are excited to bring new original music to the audience along with their crowd favourites. See this month’s Music section for more info. nvmusichall.com

October 20–24 5th Annual Terror in the Bay Film Festival Paramount Theatre

Terror in the Bay is pleased to announce their 5th Annual Terror In The Bay Film Festival! This four-day event will showcase a wide range of films and trailers from around the world. There will be a full concession stand, vendor tables, and a red carpet photo shoot! See this month’s Film and Theatre section for more info. terrorinthebay.com

October 21 to November 6 Lunenburg Magnus Theatre

Magnus’s second production of the season will be Lunenburg; a romantic adventure written by Canadian playwright Norm Foster. Travel to the East Coast from the comfort of your seat in this mystery original. Tickets are available by phone Tuesdays–Fridays from 12:30–3:30 pm, or 60 minutes prior to each show. See this month’s Film and Theatre section for more info. 345-8033

October 21 and 22 TBSO Presents: Having a Lark Lutheran Hilldale Church 321 Hilldale Road

The evening opens with the TBSO players celebrating one of J.S. Bach’s most famous and beloved works, Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. Then soloist and TBSO concertmaster Thomas Cosbey literally soars in Vaughan Williams’s mesmerizing A Lark Ascending. The evening closes with Mozart’s Linzer Symphony for chamber orchestra, a later work that is full of the grace and energy that define his style. Tickets are available online or by phone. Limited seating available. See this month’s Music section for more info. tbso.ca

October 23 Urban Abbey Fall Craft Show 308 Red River Road

Join Rock It Chocolate along with other local vendors for a craft show in the wonderful setting of the Urban Abbey. Rock It Chocolate will have their unique line of holiday products available for all your gift-giving needs. facebook.com/urbanabbeycanada

October 29 Tbaytel Luncheon of Hope Victoria Inn Hotel

Join Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Tbaytel for this year’s Luncheon of Hope in support of the Northern Cancer Fund. Tickets are available per table of six, eight, or ten guests for $75. 684-7278

Until November 21 Piitwewetam: Making Is Medicine Thunder Bay Art Gallery

The art gallery presents this very special exhibition featuring the work of the Gustafsons, a Thunder Bay-based family whose signature floral motif beadwork and intricate designs is known regionally and internationally. This exhibition honours the family’s son and brother Piitwewetam (Rolling Thunder), also known as Jesse Gustafson, who died in a tragic accident several years ago. theag.ca

Until November 21 Itee Pootoogook: Hymns to the Silence Thunder Bay Art Gallery

This exhibition of the art of Itee Pootoogook (1951–2014) gathers together more than 60 drawings from the late artist’s body of work and is the first full-scale retrospective of his art. As one of the key members of the third generation of Inuit artists from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Itee contributed to the transformation of the creative traditions inherited from his elders at the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative’s Kinngait Studios. See this month’s Art section for more info. theag.ca

Until December1 Kwewog Giiwednog: Women of the North Thunder Bay Art Gallery

Artist Sharon Hunter has created a large mural that depicts three female figures dressed in regalia: mother Dana Boyer and daughters Brenna and Brooke Chiblow Boyer of the Mississauga First Nation. Hunter paints them standing along the Mississagi River at their pow wow grounds, looking across the horizon. This work speaks to the women’s prayers and respect for the water. The mural can be viewed on the gallery’s exterior wall throughout the fall. theag.ca

EVENTS GUIDE KEY

General Food Art Sports Music

Goodbye data overages Unlimited Data Plans have arrived tbaytel.net/mobility Rogers and the Mobius Design are trademarks of or used under license from Rogers Communication Inc. or an affiliate.

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LU RADIO’S MONTHLY TOP October Staff Spotlight:

1 The Zeldas* Cool Waves Cardinal Fuzz

24 The Tragically Hip* Saskadelphia Universal

9 Rick White* Where It’s Fine Blue Fog

25 Dee Gees Hail Satin RCA

2 blume hinges* Build Your Castle Inside of a Mountain Self-Released

Host of The Blend On The Blend, I try to play Thunder Bay some of the most talented artists in all forms of music, including nu-metal, hip hop, EDM, and R&B. Every show, I try to remember that playing these artists’ songs is my way of helping their dreams come true, by allowing the world to hear passion and skill. Every Friday night on The Blend is my way of bringing positivity and good feelings to the city I grew up in, and sharing the artists’ talent is my way of speaking to the world. Song of the Moment: “Green Steam” by Dallas ft. Kru Zo and Chepnko

5 The Goon Sax Mirror II Matador

18 Alex Lefaivre Quartet* Naufragés Arté Boréal

26 Immortal Wound Immortal Wound y3s

11 Birds of Maya Valdez Drag City

19 Pond 9 Spinning Top

27 Steve Maddock* The Blues Project Cellar

12 TEKE::TEKE* Shirushi Kill Rock Stars

20 Tyler, the Creator Call Me If You Get Lost Columbia

13 Boy Golden* The Church of Better Daze Six Shooter 14 Art d’Ecco* In Standard Definition Paper Bag

6 Sleepy Jean* Idle Hands Half Right 7 Unschooling Random Acts of Total Control - EP Howlin’ Banana

16 Dez Dare Hairline Ego Trip Self-Released 17 CHAI WINK Sub Pop

3 Liam Kazar Due North Woodsist/Mare 4 Nevamind & Royal-T* The Yesmen Hand’Solo

Check out our weekly charts online at luradio.ca and tune in to the Top 20 Countdown Mondays from 7–9 am. Keep it locked on 102.7 FM, online streaming at luradio.ca

8 Strangers Laundry A Voice For TV Self-Released

10 Faye Webster I Know I’m Funny haha Secretly Canadian

Mike Perry

Music

15 Meat Wave Meat Wave Big Scary Monsters / Wiretap

28 Max and the Martians All the Same Perpetual Doom 29 Tony From Bowling Apparition Rearranged - EP Marathon

21 Meatbodies 333 In The Red

30 PONY* TV Baby Take This To The Self-Released

22 Good at Rockets Unraveled Shelf Talker 23 underscores fishmonger Self-Released

* indicates Canadian artist. Chart ranking reflects airplay during the week ending 14-Sep-2021.

The Walleye

Committed to your success

Ann Paterson, CPA

Jesse Langen, CPA

Congratulations to Ann Paterson, CPA, and Jesse Langen, CPA, on their promotions to our Thunder Bay senior management and management teams, respectively. As a leading national accounting and business consulting firm, MNP continues to deliver the people and the results you need to be successful. Contact Ann Paterson, CPA, and Jesse Langen, CPA, at our Thunder Bay office 807.623.2141 MNP.ca

Edwards Bell Law Offices is proud to welcome our newest lawyer, Suraj Dave. Suraj did his undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo and is a recent graduate of Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law. He was called to the Bar in August 2021. Suraj joins our firm in providing personal, effective, and timely legal services to our clients in Thunder Bay and in the communities of the Treaty 9, Treaty 3, and Robinson Superior Treaty areas. If you need employment law, contract or litigation advice, give Suraj a call at 807 344 1112.

805 Miles Street East, Thunder Bay, ON P7C 1J8 Tel: 807 344 1112 | Fax: 807 344 1114 www.edwardsbell.ca

Excellent service. Nice people. Trusted legal advice.

96 The Walleye

Health

Keeping Schools Open, Safe, and Happy By Robin Cooper, Health Promotion Planner, Thunder Bay District Health Unit

ur kids are finally back to in-person school and although there may be some anxiety to go with it, there’s also a lot to look forward to. There are so many positive benefits of attending school in-person, from physical and mental health to academic achievement and the overall well-being of our students. Keeping schools open is a priority. There are some changes that were made from the top down, such as enhanced infection protection and control measures and improved

ventilation within the schools. Health units also continue to work with local school boards, assisting with the development of return to learning plans and working to coordinate on-site vaccination clinics for students, staff, and those who live in the community. But government investments and health unit assistance are only a couple pieces of the pie. What can we do as parents and caring adults? Well, we’ve come up with our Top Five. 1. Screen for symptoms EVERY day before school

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The Ontario School Screening Tool helps parents and guardians make decisions about whether their child can attend school. The tool is updated regularly by the Ontario Ministry of Health and must be completed before students head to school. You can access the tool off our website at tbdhu.com/coronavirus. Even if your child is fully vaccinated, screening allows public health to identify those who need testing and helps control the spread of COVID-19. 2. Wear a mask Masks should be properly fitted and replaced when wet or soiled. Help younger ones learn proper mask etiquette, like keeping hands away from faces and not touching the mask as much as possible. 3. Socialize safely We know our kids have been missing their friends, but safe socialization is key. Keep groups small, stay outdoors as much as possible, and reduce exposure to those who are not or unable to be unvaccinated. 4. Get kids born in 2009 or earlier vaccinated Those who are vaccinated are protecting not only themselves, but

also everyone in our communities. When more people are vaccinated, the harder it is for the virus to spread, and the less likely COVID will get into our schools. As an added bonus, if your child is fully vaccinated and exposed to someone who is COVID-19 positive, they will most likely not have to stay home or isolate, as long as they do not have any symptoms. We are all looking forward to the day when children born after 2009 are able to be vaccinated and we hope to report that soon. 5. Be kind to yourself As the pandemic stretches on and on, we need to acknowledge how difficult it is on everyone— perhaps kids most of all. Let your children know that it is okay to give themselves a break. Let’s all take care of our mental health, ask for help when needed, and understand it’s okay not to be perfect. None of us can do this on our own. Supports are available in the community and we encourage you to learn more by visiting our website tbdhu.com/safereturn_mentalhealth or by checking out the resource pages on the website of your child’s school board.

The Walleye

Health

The mobile cancer screening coach began touring Northwestern Ontario in 1992, offering mammograms to women who met the eligibility criteria for breast cancer screening and after almost 30 years and four coach upgrades, mammography is still offered in NWO on the current Screen for Life Coach

Breast Cancer Screening Through the Decades By Caitlund Davidson, Health Promotion and Communications Planner, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

reast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in Ontario. The good news: the five-year breast cancer survival rate is 88%, according to statistics from Ontario Health - Cancer Care Ontario. This means 88% of women diagnosed with breast cancer will survive for five years after their diagnosis.

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Improvements in the survival rate can be attributed to increases in the number of women attending routine breast screening and improvements in treatment. Routine breast cancer screening did not exist until the 1980s. When most people think of breast screening, they immediately think of a mammogram. Mammography

is the gold standard screening test used today to detect breast cancers early, when they are small and less likely to have spread. However, the mammogram that many of us are familiar with today is very different from when breast imaging first became available. The first device used specifically for mammography was introduced in 1966. It was essentially a tripod supporting a special x-ray camera. Prior to this, the imaging process was tedious and slow. The patient would have to stand up and then lie down to get images from two different angles, which only allowed four to five patients to be imaged per day. This new model allowed images to be taken with the patient in a sitting or standing position, which improved efficiency, but imaging was not done unless the patient had a palpable mass. Next came xeromammography in the early 1970s, which provided better image quality and allowed physicians to see the chest and ribs. There were several downsides to xeromammography, including the higher dose of radiation compared to other imaging methods, manual compression of the breast resulting in inconsistent images, and the blue dye that was used for paper images created a mess. Throughout the 1980s, progress was made to improve the image quality by transitioning from paper images to film and compression became an automated process. The late 1980s and early 1990s brought the acceptance of mammography as the first line of defense against breast cancer. Greater routine participation in mammography screening began, especially after the introduction of Ontario’s organized Breast Screening Program (OBSP) in 1990. The OBSP continues to be available for average risk women aged 50–74, with breast screening being done with a mammogram every two years. There is also a highrisk OBSP for women between the ages of 30 and 69 who meet the eligibility criteria. Organized screening has important advantages, including systematized recruitment, recall, and follow-up, ongoing quality

assurance, quality control, and evaluation. Today, breast screening is more easily accessible, with over 230 OBSP screening sites in Ontario, including five locations in Northwestern Ontario and the Screen for Life Coach. “It was unlikely, in the early days of mammography, that people would have thought mammography units could be placed on a bus and moved from community to community to do breast cancer screening,” says Tarja Heiskanen, manager of screening and assessment services at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. “Since 1992, there has been a mobile cancer screening coach active in Northwestern Ontario. We’ve come a long way with imaging technology and our understanding of the importance of early detection.” At the turn of the decade, we were introduced to digital mammography. The process remained the same for the patients but images were read on computers rather than film. Further advances in technology resulted in the development of 3D imaging. While 2D imaging acquires images of each breast, 3D captures up to 30 images per breast and can find about 30% more cancers. Modern mammography has made it possible for health care providers to detect and treat cancer earlier, with less exposure to radiation than before. According to the 2020 Canadian Cancer Statistics report, after peaking in 1986 (42.7 per 100,000), the mortality rate for breast cancer has continued to fall year after year, dropping to an estimated 22.0 per 100,000 in 2020. As additional technological innovations are achieved and breast imaging radiologists continue to advance in their expertise, mammography is expected to remain a key player in early detection efforts. For more information on breast cancer screening, visit cancercareontario.ca/en/types-of-cancer/ breast-cancer/screening

Advertising Feature

Innovation Centre BTIF Project Meghan Chomut

she was able to update and develop the site to better suit visitor needs. With the increase in online interactions with the COVID-19 pandemic, improving her digital front became a necessity. Certified financial planner Meghan Chomut took part in the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre’s BTIF program (Business Technology Innovation Fund) during the pandemic and, having already established her own set of systems and processes, took advantage of the centre’s funding to create a carbon copy of herself online. Chomut works primarily from home, and with other families. Her focus is “HGTV families” looking to rent and flip housing properties and consulting on the financial decisions necessary to do so. “There’s so many moving parts in work like this. You’re dealing with the property, with the other family, with the renovation. I had to create my own system. When I would run into problems, I wasn’t

sure who to turn to. So, I created another ‘me.’” explains Chomut. Using the BTIF program, Chomut focused on creating a project management tool that would help her stay organized online. For her and her staff to continue working from separate spaces, she needed to integrate different software to create a collaborative software solution.

The BTIF project looks to improve efficiency in business operations. From website projects to software and hardware, training and education to social media presence, the fund is set up to assist small businesses expand and amp up their dayto-day operations. Businesses

can apply directly through the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre’s website. “It wasn’t just about getting the money, though; it was also about knowing where to go once I had the funds. The team helped with recommendations, getting quotes from suppliers, and pointing out game-changer for someone like me,” Chomut explains about the process. Chomut describes the overall process as “always accessible and detail guided.”

“It was almost like hiring a new employee. The NOIC team asked me my end goal, and we began figuring out what the tool can do for us. Once we started, they continued to give me tips and advice on how to streamline the rest of my processes,” the business owner reflects. Chomut’s website also got a makeover, something she admits is neglected often. With the help of the Innovation Centre team,

Quote from Meghan:

“Having the Innovation Centre on my team to help the decision-making process helped me run a business during the pandemic and run my life.” The Walleye

100 The Walleye

Green

How to Enjoy a Low-Waste Spooky Season

By Melissa Davidson, Program Coordinator, EcoSuperior

he onset of fall weather and the arrival of October means Halloween is just around the corner. With this change of season comes many fun festivities and traditions. But at first sight, Halloween can seem like a ghoul-ishly wasteful holiday—plastic decorations, new costumes every year, individually wrapped candies. This year, try some of these low-waste tips to enjoy the spooky season while doing your part to make this year’s festivities a little more eco-friendly. • Decorations – Skip the plastic and go with decomposable or reusable decorations. Pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks, and hay bales make great decorations for the coming fall season. The best part is that you can add these to your compost or garden after

•

the festivities to enrich your soil. Another great compostable decoration is dried leaves—use them in place of regular confetti for a festive touch. If you do want to buy decorations, make sure they are sturdy and can be reused year after year. Better yet, buy second-hand. Costumes – Instead of buying a new costume every year, visit your local thrift store and make your own or buy a used one. Making your own costume can be a fun activity to do with your family and friends. When you are all done with your costume, make sure to donate it again. Candy (and trick-or-treating) – Avoid single use plastics! An easy alternative to plastic-wrapped treats is making a simple swap

to buying candy packaged with cardboard (e.g. Nerds, Smarties, Milk Duds, raisins, etc.). Or try handing out other creative treats including homemade seed bombs (for gardens), colouring books, pencils, or erasers. Don’t forget about Waste Reduction Week, happening this fall from October 18–24. This year marks the 20th anniversary of this national campaign. The week will be full of fun activities and resources to help you reduce the amount of waste that you create in your everyday life. During the entire month of October, EcoSuperior will be hosting a variety of events and activities, including: • Low-waste information and trivia • A living low-waste webinar

•

A composting workshop and information session • School programs (indoor, outdoor, and virtual) • The annual “Great Pumpkin Compost Collection” and Pumpkin Parade photo contest Visit ecosuperior.org/waste-reduction-week for more details. Have a happy, low-waste Halloween!

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The Walleye 101

TheWall

Adrian Lysenko

The Last Giants Editorial by Jon Thompson

Jon Thompson is an award-winning journalist and author who belongs to Northwestern Ontario

s a kid, I’d lie awake listening to Lisa Laco host the stories of this land on CBC Radio for as long as I could before school. I’d imagine these scattered towns and the struggles of their people like constellations on a map. I’d wonder how they were connected—what it meant that we all belonged to Northwestern Ontario. Then at 6 pm sharp, the familiar Thunder Bay Television News anthem would give way to anchor Barry Third saying, in identical cadence, “Good evening and thank you for joining us.” Late August marked the end of that era. Two days after Dougall Media announced Barry Third’s retirement, Lisa Laco’s family announced she had passed away from ALS. Fawning tributes for the pair flooded social media over summer’s final days. The rituals of the morning show and the nightly news that were born as comforts of the 20th century have been our connection to

102 The Walleye

our community and our window into our democracy. Laco and Third were our surrogates while we were out living our lives. They were our trusted informants behind the counter at information’s General Store. They were giants, unlike anything we’ll see again. There’s still a case for the General Store in a digital world, even as specialty shops promise everything we think we need. It’s easy to build a community online with like-minded strangers who share our interest in literally anything. Working with our neighbours who might disagree is more complicated. We all share something more than what makes one person LOL and another ROTFL: the physical and social infrastructure that make up this place where we live. We need an arena to air the language and parameters around these issues, so meaningful conversations have a place to begin. The media can still be that arena, but the trust Laco and Third commanded is too much to ask in an era

when everyone’s a brand with a sliver of influence. Outlets have been slow to adapt to a broader, more accurate representation of our community’s perspectives—and because we’re all on social media, everybody knows it. A reporter’s brand can be almost anything but they can no longer credibly be an absolute authority on everything new that’s worth knowing. But if we don’t trust reporters to be fair arbiters, we allow the powers the media’s designed to hold accountable to define our conversations about power. Local agencies have spent the pandemic adapting their in-house communications to look like traditional media—but they aren’t. It’s fair to point to COVID protocols to explain why the mayor’s making a video address instead of holding a media scrum, why the police are sharing officer reflections at an event the media wasn’t invited to attend, or why the hospital’s own staff is mock interviewing their bosses about the latest outbreak.

We can debate whether those are good uses of new technology but they inarguably insulate power from scrutiny. Anyone with more followers than reporters have no longer needs help to spread the word. But the media doesn’t work for them. It works for you. Change in this moment is inevitable. Even as influencers and personalities command furious Facebook armies on faith, young journalists who still believe in objective truth and the process to get closer to it are joining veteran reporters to carry this land’s institutional memory like a torch. None will become Laco or Third; they’ll be something new. Because kids are still lying in bed all over the Northwest, glued to their media, and trying to imagine how they belong to something bigger than themselves. And just as it’s always been, the future will belong to the storytellers who give them something they can believe in.

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RapportCU.ca 2021-09-10 12:15 PM The Walleye 103

October Horoscopes Aries

(March 21–April 19) The full moon is in Aries on the 20th, and your fiery nature has the potential to combust! Always on the go and full of vim and vigour, it’s no secret that being a cardinal sign is a strong indicator that Rams are the most energetic of the fire signs. You’re juggling a lot of balls right now (and you like it that way), but do remember to take a time out at some point. You hate to let others down, but showing your softer side once in a while allows those close to you to know that it’s okay to take a break once in a while. Treat yourself to a new flavour of tea.

Taurus

(April 20–May 20) It’s a month to be thankful, Taurus, and you are brimming over with gratitude. You may have recently levelled up your close relationships and are now reaping the rewards. Make some new traditions for the new family members, while acknowledging the old ways of yesteryear as well. Bring a cornucopia to the Thanksgiving table as a symbol of abundance to celebrate. A toast is in order! Try not to get too caught up in the busy-ness of the day, and take some time to reflect and appreciate all the good fortune that surrounds you!

Gemini

(May 21–June 20) It’s no secret that a lot of Geminis enjoy autumn. Despite being born in the spring, they derive a lot of joy from the polar opposite season of fall. It’s all about the pumpkin spice right now, isn’t it? It’s a good time to get outside with the family and/or a few close friends and enjoy the magical colours this season has to offer. Why not try your hand at capturing a few photos? You may be surprised that you have a keen eye through the lens of your camera. Some renovations or a change of residence might be in the future for this air sign. Cosiness is the order of the day—channel your inner hygge and curl up with some cider in your new digs!

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By Sunny Disposish

Cancer

( June 21–July 22) This emotional sign could find themselves doing a lot of introspection this month, particularly around the new moon on the 6th. There’s some deep thoughts to ponder, so perhaps some journaling is in order. Simply put your intentions down on paper to get them out of your head. If that feels good for you, consider a consistent journaling practice just to keep the cobwebs of the mind clear. It might be time to step up. If that means having hard conversations or realizing hard truths, proceed with caution—but do indeed proceed. Dealing with the tricky bits often makes room for newer and brighter thoughts. Enjoy some family time mid-month.

Leo

( July 23–August 22) You’re feeling a little bit extra this month, aren’t you, Leo? We know you are the type of fire sign to purchase Halloween candy a few months early, and quite likely your house is all kitted out for the last day of the month as well. Have some fun with the ghosts and goblins on All Hallow’s Eve—after all, it’s all about having a good time and letting your inner child shine through. Your welcoming and warm nature extends outward this month, and all is well in your world. Enjoy the crisp fall time with loved ones! You know you deserve it.

Virgo

(August 23–Sept 22) Career-minded Virgos might find themselves fairly busy this month! Be open to learning new things and taking your time to master them. Perfectionist Virgos may get a bit frustrated if they don’t learn quickly, but once you learn something, you’ll learn it well. Earthy Virgos adapt well to changing situations, but don’t be afraid to reach out for assistance to a more seasoned member of the team or a trusted mentor. Hobby-wise, take a chance to learn something new that you have always wanted to try. Yoga can be a pleasant centering activity to feel more connected. Enjoy a quiet Thanksgiving this year.

Libra

(September 23–October 22) Happy birthday month, Libra! There’s some strong messaging coming in for those under the sign of the scales to live their best life this month. If you have downplayed your special day in the past, this is not the time to continue with that tradition. Instead, consider putting your mind to making it the best bornday ever. Plan all your favourite foods, play hooky from work, enjoy a restaurant meal with your inner circle. Your ruling planet, Venus, is encouraging you to step into the spotlight now. Enjoy all the cake!

Scorpio

(October 23–November 21) October is a great month for Scorps.They have found themselves back into routine, and even better, actually enjoying it! While getting your groove on being “back to work” (however that looks for you) Scorpions are finding themselves enjoying some high energy. It’s great to see some new faces and meet some new people. Some Scorpios may enjoy celebrating their birthday towards the end of the month— why not go all out and invite a few pals to a resto? Patio season may be over, but it’s warm inside and hearts are full. Happy birthday and don’t forget to have that second piece of cake!

Sagittarius

(November 22–December 21) Sometimes saying goodbye can pull on the old heartstrings for sure. Know that the circle of life is just a part of living on this big old rotating sphere. Farewells oftentimes free up energy to allow new people or ideas to enter. A new member of the family—furry or otherwise—is possible this month. Enjoy an evening gathering with friends around the 13th, as a few laughs are definitely in order. Lively events always raise the spirits. Check out a new title to read. Some Archers are serious bookworms, and there’s nothing like a new tome to add some spice to life!

Capricorn

(December 22–January 19) We are all influenced by the effect of Mercury in retrograde, and mountain Goats are no exception. In full swing till October 17, this planet rules all things communication. Savvy Caps may want to remain flexible and patient, and allow extra time for travel and getting to appointments. Normally fairly intuitive, your gut feelings are at an all-time high. Focus on the calm within and the rainbow beyond the storm. Family time peaks midmonth. Give thanks for everyone in your life, even those who may bring some angst. It’s all about the lessons learned. Lead the toast at the Thanksgiving table, and send good vibes to those both near and far.

Aquarius

( January 20–February 18) There’s been some murmurings in the Aquarian circle about “Sober October.” Not one to follow trends, you independent, airy folk might consider giving it a whirl. It’s always fun to challenge oneself, and combine creativity skills to curate some cool new creations to quaff. If that doesn’t float your boat, no matter. Sometimes supporting others on that path is just as rewarding. This Thanksgiving may present itself as being slightly unusual. Not being hemmed in by tradition, however, is A-OK with most Water Bearers. Enjoy the fall harvest of your garden this year, and don’t forget to share your bounty with a few lucky neighbours.

Pisces

(February 19–March 20) Are you dressing as a witch this year for Halloween, Pisces, or is that just your usual style? There certainly isn’t anything wrong with exploring a more mystical side of yourself. You may be drawn to crystals or a meditation practice, and that’s okay. Don’t let the naysayers call it “woowoo”; in fact, some research proves that your spiritual side is completely valid! If you are going out for Halloween this year, make sure you play it safe. If you find yourself giving out treats, be generous and enjoy the little ones! It really is a fun day and they really do appreciate the special treat bags you make up for them. Your heart is full. Happy Halloween!

TheBeat

Juncos By Jenny Sharpe Creeping in on slippered feet, Autumn caught me unawares until I looked and saw far above me a tribe of birds bubbling maskless in this strange time. They flew and dipped so full of innocence, quite unaware of all the things affecting you and me. They had returned from North, that place of sharpened angles under endless summer sun, but now the days there contract. The heat is gone. Their nests are empty. It’s time for them to fly above the wooded path I walk upon. I marvelled at that flock of juncos. Their white tail feathers bright like ribbons like shining beacons. They flutter benedictions over my head.

Junco, digital painting, boy Roland

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