Moose Cree Tourism Award Nomination
To: The Nomination Committee of the Canadian Museum of Nature’s “Nature Inspiration, Not for Profit Organization (Small and Medium) Award”
Meg Beckel
President of Canadain Museum of Nature
Dear Ms Beckel
A few years ago I re-founded the historical Montreal Bicycle Club. I wanted to promote cycling as a means of Eco-Tourism, and hoped that re-founding this club would help achieve this goal. Most of the bicycle / hiking clubs I am aware of meet each week, then carpool out to the countryside before doing the actual activity. I felt frustrated that cycling within a club was indirectly encouraging more car traffic and the accompanying damage to the environment that results from it.
Part of the re-founded club’s website explains the early cycling history of Montreal. We also try to have our rides and excursions in the most eco-friendly way possible. With that in mind, the club holds local rides around Montreal’s bicycle paths, intermediate length rides where we take commuter trains to the surrounding countryside before cycling back to Montreal, and multi day excursions where we travel by train to a remote cycling path. During the winter months we often take cross country skiing trips in place of cycling.
The original historical club had a mania for documenting its rides and kept detailed records in their minute book. Our re-founded club also keeps this tradition by recording these rides and posting the minutes on the Internet. We try to search out and explore dedicated cycle paths rather than riding on the shoulders of busy highways. The modern minute book records such multi day excursions as the Pittsburgh to Washington DC, the Véloroute des Bleuets around Lac St Jean and the Simcoe County Loop in central Ontario. When recording the minutes the club members use Sobriquets of early cyclists from the 19th century rather than their own names.
This winter, just before the Covid crisis became widespread in Canada a few of our members joined in an excursion called “Ski with the Cree” organized by the Moose Cree of Moose Factory Ontario. We recorded it in the online minute book as a standard Montreal Bicycle Club excursion. None of our earlier trips could compare to the depth of the experience offered by Moose Cree Tourism.
The minute book posting explains what we did on the “Ski with the Cree” excursion but I would like to emphasize at this point how the experience gave us “southerners” a glimpse into what life is like for native people in what is for us a remote community. All the activities they organized displayed how closely linked the native people of Moose Factory are linked to the natural surroundings.. The history of the region was explained from a native perspective by the museum in the Cree Cultural Centre and from a European perspective it was displayed in the former Hudson’s Bay Company Staff House. Our time at Moose Factory was split between these two museums.
The time spent outside of Moose Factory, at the hunting camp as well as the short visit to James Bay, gave us a feeling for outdoor life in this sub-arctic terrain. They showed us what it was like to ice fish, to search the winter forest for edible fungus, the Cree ceremonial grounds, and the icy vastness of James Bay in winter. It was a memorable experience.
The trip was also enhanced by the fact that the region is almost inaccessible by car. The Ontario Northland’s Polar Bear Express being the primary means of connecting to the outside world. My hope is that the rail connection between Cochrane and Toronto be re-established, this would promote a diverse collection of eco friendly tourism activities throughout northern Ontario. The Moose Cree, located near the terminus of this rail line could be the jewel of the province’s attractions for people seeking a natural tourism adventure. I would like to nominate Moose Cree Tourism for this year’s award. They showed tremendous pride in both their culture and the natural heritage of the region. The experience they offered to us was both unique and outstanding.
Malcolm McRae
Meg Beckel
President of Canadain Museum of Nature
Dear Ms Beckel
A few years ago I re-founded the historical Montreal Bicycle Club. I wanted to promote cycling as a means of Eco-Tourism, and hoped that re-founding this club would help achieve this goal. Most of the bicycle / hiking clubs I am aware of meet each week, then carpool out to the countryside before doing the actual activity. I felt frustrated that cycling within a club was indirectly encouraging more car traffic and the accompanying damage to the environment that results from it.
Part of the re-founded club’s website explains the early cycling history of Montreal. We also try to have our rides and excursions in the most eco-friendly way possible. With that in mind, the club holds local rides around Montreal’s bicycle paths, intermediate length rides where we take commuter trains to the surrounding countryside before cycling back to Montreal, and multi day excursions where we travel by train to a remote cycling path. During the winter months we often take cross country skiing trips in place of cycling.
The original historical club had a mania for documenting its rides and kept detailed records in their minute book. Our re-founded club also keeps this tradition by recording these rides and posting the minutes on the Internet. We try to search out and explore dedicated cycle paths rather than riding on the shoulders of busy highways. The modern minute book records such multi day excursions as the Pittsburgh to Washington DC, the Véloroute des Bleuets around Lac St Jean and the Simcoe County Loop in central Ontario. When recording the minutes the club members use Sobriquets of early cyclists from the 19th century rather than their own names.
This winter, just before the Covid crisis became widespread in Canada a few of our members joined in an excursion called “Ski with the Cree” organized by the Moose Cree of Moose Factory Ontario. We recorded it in the online minute book as a standard Montreal Bicycle Club excursion. None of our earlier trips could compare to the depth of the experience offered by Moose Cree Tourism.
The minute book posting explains what we did on the “Ski with the Cree” excursion but I would like to emphasize at this point how the experience gave us “southerners” a glimpse into what life is like for native people in what is for us a remote community. All the activities they organized displayed how closely linked the native people of Moose Factory are linked to the natural surroundings.. The history of the region was explained from a native perspective by the museum in the Cree Cultural Centre and from a European perspective it was displayed in the former Hudson’s Bay Company Staff House. Our time at Moose Factory was split between these two museums.
The time spent outside of Moose Factory, at the hunting camp as well as the short visit to James Bay, gave us a feeling for outdoor life in this sub-arctic terrain. They showed us what it was like to ice fish, to search the winter forest for edible fungus, the Cree ceremonial grounds, and the icy vastness of James Bay in winter. It was a memorable experience.
The trip was also enhanced by the fact that the region is almost inaccessible by car. The Ontario Northland’s Polar Bear Express being the primary means of connecting to the outside world. My hope is that the rail connection between Cochrane and Toronto be re-established, this would promote a diverse collection of eco friendly tourism activities throughout northern Ontario. The Moose Cree, located near the terminus of this rail line could be the jewel of the province’s attractions for people seeking a natural tourism adventure. I would like to nominate Moose Cree Tourism for this year’s award. They showed tremendous pride in both their culture and the natural heritage of the region. The experience they offered to us was both unique and outstanding.
Malcolm McRae
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