Kuuvik River Expedition Overview

The main objective of the International Polar Year 2007 Kuuvik River Expedition was to canoe the Kuuvik River in northern Quebec, traversing a remote Arctic territory between Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay, as an expedition of four paddlers using two wood-canvas heritage canoes, along a classic Canadian Crown geographical exploration route that was mapped in 1896 by the geoscientist A.P. Low.

The International Polar Year themes addressed by the project included: “the current state of the polar environment”, “change in the polar regions”, and “the polar regions as vantage points”.  Beyond simply realizing an amazing journey through the Canadian Arctic wilderness, the endeavour was set-up to advance “Education, Outreach and Communication” for the International Polar Year.  In keeping with the general themes of the International Polar Year (IPY), the Expedition was designed to: (a) raise public awareness of Canadian Arctic history, geography, and earth system science; (b) commemorate the unparalleled legacy of northern Canadian geo-science knowledge bequeathed by A.P. Low to future generations (c) help convey the reality and significance of climate change to Canadians and the international community.

The duration of the Kuuvik River Expedition was 21 days; 17 days in the field, 3 days to travel to northern Quebec from Montréal and 1 day to travel back to Montréal from the Ungava region via Québec City.  Preparations for the journey began months in advance.  After the team of four paddlers arrived in Montréal from Vancouver, Berkeley, New York City and Virginia, respectively, they attended to logistical preparations in Montréal and then flew north to Radisson, Quebec on Saturday 7 July 2007.  From the community of Radisson, where the team was hosted at Université Laval facilities, the team flew via amphibious bush-plane to the headwaters of the Kuuvik River on the 10th of July 2007.  Subsequent to the departure of the bush-plane, the team travelled the Kuuvik River along a generally East-North-East course towards Ungava Bay.  The take-out point for the Expedition was the northern village of Kuujjuaq, the largest Inuit settlement in Nunavik, our canoe team arrived there 26/ 07/ 2007.