Home / CHAIM Blogs / Experiencing NW Ontario: The Ariel Root Series
Monday, January 11, 2016
Carleton's Faculty of Graduate Studies wanted to find out more about what inspired a graduate student, Ariel Root, to write about her experiences with communities in Northwestern Ontario. Find out more... More
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Blink once, and you’ve caught up on sleep. Blink twice, and you’ve finished your second tour. Blink three times, and your nose has been freckled, your bush legs strengthened, and your over-packed Impreza is fuelling up for the 1736km journey, homeward bound. That offers a lot of time for reflection, and this year for... More
Friday, September 4, 2015
The end of the season always comes. And it always seems to be raining. And as I get closer and closer to my contract’s end, crewmembers seem to pitter out of the system. It’s a weird end, because not everyone ends on the same day. There’s no final hoo-raw, or goodbye. Some people are... More
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
That moment when you’re standing at the Dryden airport, surrounded by a sea of tan MNRF travel shirts, brass nametags, and green Nomex pants. That moment when another white crew cab rolls up, and four crew people jump out, unloading their red and blue bags. Four new faces. Four new stories. That moment when the... More
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Ask anyone, anywhere, “what’s the deal with all the missing First Nations women,” and I guarantee that the only answers you’ll get in return are shrugged shoulders, or an “ I dunno really.” Despite plaguing Facebook and news pages for weeks, I continue to hear few answers explaining what is going on, what it... More
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Neverland: the fictional dwelling for Peter Pan, the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell and others; the place where people cease to age or grow up; the occasional nickname for the fire program. While the name refers to both the people, and the job itself, I’m still not sure if it’s a positive, or a morbid... More
Saturday, June 27, 2015
“Hey Root, what time is it?” This question prompts one response: chew o’clock. My crew member will start packing his tin, and I’ll grab a Bandit pouch from mine. One hand on the steering wheel, the other on my dip bottle, I shake my head —when did this happen? Having been taught the risks... More
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Every forest is a little magical. Unique layout, diversity, and character—no two forests are ever the same. But when a fire rolls through the forest, it can swallow everything. Colours that once stood as brilliant greens or families of intertwined wood and fibers are all destroyed. All are charred. All become black. No matter... More
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
There’s something a little extra delicious about a barbequed meal and a cold beer on the deck after returning home from a fire-fighting tour. Our crew just finished a 19-day tour in Lac la Biche district in Alberta. We were working on a fire near Cold Lake that grew to 10 000 ha in... More
Thursday, May 28, 2015
One of the most challenging fires I ever worked was in my first year: SLK047. It was in Wabakimi Provincial Park. We were going in to help lay line and protect a caribou-mating site in case the fire came that way. We sustained our line within the first two days, and spent the next... More
Thursday, May 21, 2015
I grew up in the small town of Deep River, Ontario. 4200 people. Originally created to house employees of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, I grew up with the narrow-minded impression that everyone would eventually become a doctor, engineer, technician, or researcher of some sort. Some might say (namely my parents) that I had... More
Search