Dr. Strangelove

The "Dr. Strangelove Room" at Diefenbunker, Canada's cold War Museum, Carp Ontario, July 2014

Nikon FM-3A / Nikkor 24mm/f2
Fuji Sensia 200 reversal film, pushed +1

You Can't Go Back Sometimes

Cedarhof Restaurant

Trans-Canada Highway, Wawa Ontario, Canada, August 2011

The first time I traveled the Trans-Canada Highway, in October 2002, I pulled off at this charming restaurant and had an expertly-cooked German meal that still makes my mouth water, just remembering it: Hungarian goulash soup, buttered rye bread, and a Wienerschnitzel, lightly breaded, that just melted in my mouth.  

Every time thenceforth I traveled the Trans-Canada, I would pass through Wawa too late at night for it to be open. So, this time I set out early enough to make it there in time for dinner. 

No matter: I found that the Cedarhof had been closed down eight years ago, which means on my five subsequent journeys -- beginning in 2004 -- it had been out-of-business all along; I just didn't know it yet.

I assumed it was still opened, as it is still listed on Wawa's tourist website promoting its businesses.

You just never know.

Channeling Homage

Highway 17 (Trans-Canada Highway), Ignace, Ontario, May 2010

Last week, I was subconsciously channeling the great color photographer, Keith Laban.  On my recent trip to Canada, Ed Ruscha?  Walker Evans?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I sure miss tableaux such as these.  They're disappearing.

Hopscotch

Hopscotch grid, Highway 17 (Trans-Canada Highway)

Town Square, Ignace, Ontario, May 2010

This sure brings back memories!  Take the video consoles out of your kids' hands and take them out to the playground for a couple rounds of hopscotch!

Things Found While Driving

Corrugated Wood Separating Drums

Highway 11 (Trans-Canada Highway Extension)

Emo, Ontario, May 2010

I didn't find any "emo punks" in Emo, but I did find these amazing specimens of rugged technology.

Gartch

The Proprietor of Gartch's International Pub

Fort Frances, Ontario, May 2010

If you happen to be passing through the border city of Fort Frances, Ontario, in Canada, a great place to go for libations and a pretty good place for food is Gartch's International Pub, which is on Highway 11, running through the center of town.

There, I found some interesting inebriates and even more interesting conversation.  A patron kept good-naturedly referring to me as "Russian," (I am Welsh/Irish/English/Scots) and another warned me against the food, which I actually found quite palatable.

Pictured above is the pub's proprietor and host, Gartch himself, a lad of obviously Scottish descent and a true gentleman.

P.S.:  Myung told me she thought this photo was a still from a Hitchcock movie.  Made my month!   R.

Couchiching Nation Takes Down Toll Booth, Wins Fight to Have Government Clean Up Contaminated Land

Councillor Dan Mainville stands before the toll booth

erected by the Couchiching Nation on Highway 11

before the bridge crossing over Rainy Lake

I was in Western Ontario vacationing about a week and-a-half ago, and read in the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal that members of the Couchiching First Nation had erected a toll booth on Ontario Highway 11, which is also the Trans-Canada Highway extension, and only one of three routes into the city of Fort Frances.

As it was on my way of my trip's route, I went there to check it out, and talked with many members and a councilor from the Couchiching First Nation.  For decades their land -- which was granted the tribe by the federal government of Canada -- has been a hazardous materials zone: The tribe's members residing on the reserve land live on the grounds of a former sawmill, whose processing left the land poisoned with unsafe levels of chemical byproducts.

Susan Smith immediately volunteered to work eight-hour

shifts collecting tolls.  "I live in Fort Frances, but

this is my community," she said.  "I've lost friends over

this issue, but we have to do what's right for our

community."

According to Nation member Ed Yerxa, "The government has studied the soil contamination, and their assessments confirmed ten times the base unsafe level of both furon and dioxin.  If you had people cleaning up this mess, they'd be wearing protective suits against the contaminants.  Yet, we have families, children, and elders who have to live here every day."  Of the 1,800 total members of the Couchiching Nation living in Canada and the United States, there are approximately 650 members living on the reserve lands in Ontario.

After the studies were completed -- some, decades ago -- both the federal and provincial governments did...nothing.  No cleanups were forthcoming, however, according to Dan Mainville, Council to the Couchiching First Nation.  "The federal government made us a cash offer," Mainville explained, "which we turned down.  Over the years the offer went up to $2 million [Canadian]."

Ed Yerxa prepares industrial outdoor lighting as night

approaches, to ensure safety of toll collectors and

motorists. "We worked with the Ontario Provincial

Police to make sure that putting up the toll booth was

done peacefully," Yerxa said.

Wanting nothing more than their governments to live up to their obligations to First Nations people, the Couchiching voted to peacefully erect a toll booth on the highway -- which runs through their tribal land, and for which they have never been reimbursed under Canadian eminent domain laws.

All during the day, I queried non-Native Canadians for their opinions on the Couchiching collecting a $1.00 toll on Highway 11, which runs through their sovereign land.  Half of the responses from non-Indians were along the lines that it was "extortion," and that the Couchiching were "bullying" the "captive motorists."  The other half were politely non-committal, but I only met one non-Native Canadian squarely behind the Couchiching's efforts.

Yes, I personally witnessed no behavior by the toll collectors matching these fears, rumors, and preconceptions.  The two women taking tolls, Susan Smith and Holly Cogger, did not demand payment, and although many drivers sped past the stop sign on the toll booth, when other motorists slowed down (but did not pay a toll) the two women were cordial, and politely thanked the motorists for safely reducing their speed.

Holly Cogger, about to collect a loonie from

a motorist entering the Couchiching First

Nation. "I'm doing this for my children

and grandchildren," she said. "This land

belongs to them.  We're just caretakers.

We have to make sure this land is in

good shape to pass on to them."

Fortunately, the Couchiching's message was heard loud and clear by the government, and down came the toll booth, less than two weeks after its erection.  According to Minister of Parliament John Rafferty (N.D.P.):

While I am satisfied that the public health hazard faced by these families on the Couchiching reserve has been resolved, I am very disappointed that an agreement was only struck after public action was taken by the Couchiching leadership.   It is my understanding that the federal government paid $1.7 million for two engineering reports that were completed several years ago and showed that dangerous chemicals were present (i.e. dioxins, etc).  I’m thankful these families will finally be relocated, but the burning question that I still have is 'what took so long'?

Sara Mainville, another councilor the the First Nation and niece of Dan, exclaimed:

"We’re happy about that. The fact that they’re going to take direct action and there aren’t going to be any more studies done on the contaminated lands, that they’re going to move the homeowners and they’re going to remedy the soil contamination so that we’ll have those lands for future development I think, that’s just wonderful news for us."

Peaceful activism in defense of one's sovereign rights -- no matter whose -- is always a great thing.  Pilamaya, Couchiching!

Garish: The Cutting Room Floor

Post office, Rainy River, Ontario, June 2009

Is there anything more charming than an old post office?  To me, more than any other edifice, the postal office represents the highest convenience of civilized life.  Our correspondence, financial statements, magazine and newspaper subscriptions, and phonograph records come through here to our homes.  When we write letters, pay bills, and mail picture postcards, a short trip to the post office connects us with the world outside.

Including this post office:  This very photograph which you are viewing began life as a Polaroid snapshot, was addressed, and had postage affixed -- and arrived at my home in Minnesota just five days after me.  All for just 89 cents, Canadian.

Road Trip: Madawaska Valley, Ontario

Near Greater Madawaska, Madawaska Valley, Ontario, 

June 2004

I always carry many different cameras and types of film when I head out on a road trip.  This photograph, taken on Agfapan APX-25, was captured during one of my trips documenting the Trans-Canada Highway on Polacolor 669 film.  Fortunately, I brought my Rolleiflex SL-66 along, because this image of unpainted barns in the Madawaska Valley was clearly meant to be monochrome.