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Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage book cover
Stan Rogers was one of Canada’s best-loved singers He wrote Northwest Passage in 1981 Northwest Passage is a road song a thoughtful trip across a vast land full of history From behind the wheel Stan connects the threads of many stories across space and time following the footsteps of early European explorers as he contemplates their experiences Many explorers tried to find a route to the Pacific Ocean by following rivers through Canada’s wilderness and by sailing the channels between islands in the Far North Confronted by some of the fiercest winters in the world these explorers repeatedly faced ice blizzards and hunger Inadequate technologies scurvy and their belief in their own superiority over both nature and Canada’s original inhabitants were perhaps the greatest obstacles they faced Some explorers made alliances with Inuit of the Arctic and the First Peoples of the Northwest Plains but many failed either to make contact or to appreciate the fact that the people who already lived in Canada’s North knew the land and how to survive on it intimately In the chorus Stan refers to John Franklin whose attempt to navigate a shorter route to Asia across the frozen Arctic archipelago in 1845 led to the loss of his two ships and the death of his entire crew In the book I tell the story of this ill-fated expedition or at least as much of the story as we know today for there are still a number of mysteries surrounding it I have chosen to illustrate the different threads of the song and to expand on the stories of the explorers I have tried to show both Stan’s inner and outer journeys across the country and to paint the enduring beauty of the changing Canadian landscape Stan didn’t live to see ships crossing the Northwest Passage on open water nor to comment on global warming or on the struggle of Canada’s First Peoples to continue to live the way they choose on their ancestral lands What a loss it is for us that we cannot hear him singing about what is happening in the world today