Retiree Ken LeClaire Reminisces About Winter in Canada as State of Mind and Cultural Happening

Raised in Toronto,  Ken LeClaire  graduated from the Ontario Forest Ranger School in Dorset in 1964.  He worked for the Dept. of Lands and Forests and its successor the Ministry of Natural Resources for 30 years, being posted to Kapuskasing, Hearst, Chapleau, Cochrane, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, where he retired in 1994.

Ken worked as a scaler, timber cruiser, conservation officer, fire fighter and forest management technician before taking up duties in middle management as acting Manager of Southern Ontario nurseries.  

After reading my column on Chapleau winters, Ken contacted me to share a piece he wrote some time ago about Winter in a Ministry of Natural Resources in house publication.  He gave me permission to use it

It was in Chapleau where he met and married Beverly Yanta in 1969.  They have two children, Paul and Lisa and one grandchild Hunter.  

  

He is an active history buff with a special interest in the fur trade and its effect on the Indigeneous population of Ontario. 

 Ken and Bev live in the Soo but spend their summers at Como Lake where they built a camp in 1974.

During his years in Chapleau Ken became active with the Ministry Manglers a hockey team which won the MNR title at a tournament in 1975. He told me the Manglers are still active. WOW!

A Retiree Reminisces  About Winter in Canada

By Ken LeClaire

Canadian winter is a state of mind and a cultural happening to be at least appreciated if not enjoyed.  We use the term Canadian with poetic license: this author has never been west of Winnipeg or east of Quebec City.  He has however walked down the main street (?) of Fort Severn on a February morning going from the airstrip to the Hudson’s Bay store with the temperature at 45 below F and a strong breeze blowing in off the Bay.  We recall that morning vividly, both for the bright sun that was still low on the horizon and for the very active ball hockey game that was being played in the school yard by some Cree children.


We recall waking up at 6 am on a sleeping platform at the rear of a 16' x 14' tent on Trump Lake north of Chapleau, knowing that the fire in the Quebec heater had died around three.  Timber cruising was done in the winter in the 1960's We would fly in lumber to construct a platform and 3' walls and erect a tent over this structure.

A fly over the tent added a modest amount of extra insulation.  That particular morning stands out in our minds as when we checked in by radio with the Lawless Cecile, the Chief Ranger in Chapleau we were told that it was 52 below zero.  All that meant to us was that we needed when crossing the lake to our cruise lines.


We recall having to stop scaling once in a while to allow the tallymen, such as Rolly Larcher, Art McAuley or Tim Cecile to move around a bit to warm up their toes and fingers.  We recall starting vehicles when fuel injection wasn’t even a gleam in someone’s eye and driving those vehicles for the first few miles with tires thumping as they came back to round.


And all through those times we recall never ranting about the cold or the snow level.  Oh sure, we certainly would say “ Golly Gee Whiz (or something close to it) is it ever cold” but the colder and more snow there was just made for easier bush travel.  In mid-July on a fire line we would laugh about the contrast.  The opening of a conversation with a stranger was, and is, always made less stressful when we can talk about the Canadian winter weather.  Sportsmen, fishing, boat and golf shows all seem to be held when the weather is the opposite for those activities. 


The next time you are shoveling snow,  instead of grumbling about the pain in your lower back (because you didn’t properly warm up) try and figure out which one of the thirty names the Inuit have for the white stuff you are throwing on your neighbour’s “lawn”.  Is it Masak, wet snow, or Qannialaaq, light falling snow?  In our mind we consider the winter weather a phenomenon, a sensual event, as Webster would say.   We consider it right up there with health care, clean water and freedom all of which make us Canadians.

Thanks Ken. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Names of those in photos

Ken LeClaire

The 1975 Chapleau MNR Manglers championship team. Back Tom Richardson, Larry Mahon (trainer and beverage scout), Ray Bonnenberg, Robin (Boggie) White, Darryl Ritchie, Esher Ritchie (coach extraordinaire), John McKee, Martin Healey, Ken LeClaire Front are Gary Black, Graham Bertrand, Randy Corston, Glen Cappellani, Joe Turner, Al Harris. Courtesy Ken LeClaire

Right to left:  Jerry McAuley, Ken LeClaire, Barrie James and I think Russ Ketchabaw.  Bush lunch, cruising party, Sheppard and Morse country, 1973.