Write@Home
Winter 2015

Canada

northern lights in the sky

I am from Chili, in South America and I arrived in Red Lake, a small town in northwest Ontario three years ago. The closest city to me is Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is almost a six hour drive away. The majority of people that come to live in Canada live in big cities like Vancouver or Toronto, but if we look at a map, Canada has large territories populated with many small towns in the north, small communities like the one where I live, where each day one is faced with nature and the animals that live there. Where I live, everything is defined as one: one supermarket, one bar, one restaurant, one pharmacy.

My first experience was in winter, where I shovelled so much snow off the driveway that I injured my arm. I also remember that the beauty of frozen lakes impressed me, and the fact that it was so normal to ice fish. I learned why hockey and curling are national sports and how many Canadians define themselves not only by their hockey team, but also by the type of donuts from Tim Hortons. For me, my hockey team is the Canucks, and my favourite donut is Boston Cream.

After winter, came March and the first Northern Lights, and the sky lit up above my house. You don´t have to go far from home to see them without light, and lots of times it is possible to watch them from the window in my house.

In spring it is possible to see more animals than in winter, like bears, families of deer, skunks, foxes, squirrels, wolves, and others. The first time that I saw a wolf I was surprised. They are so big, two times taller than any dog, and strong. A wolf only needs two jumps to get to the top of a rock that is three times as tall as my car. They are very majestic. The black bears are very shy except if the mother is with her children. Then you have to run, or at least run faster than the person you are with! I have always felt intimidated by nature and animals because where I am from there are not big animals that can hurt you. However, with time that fear has changed to mutual respect and appreciation to be able to see the animals that still today, with all of the human development and devastation, can live wild and free in the forest.

I have learned to take and appreciate what nature offers, to pick wild blueberries, strawberries and raspberries when the forest produces them, to fish, enjoy the lakes and the forest, and to camp and make fires all summer. It was not an easy experience. Winter is long and cold, and people in the town are very quiet, but not mean.

One time I went to visit the Museum of War in Ottawa. I remember that they exhibited a report of the life in Nunavut, and when I watched the video I understood that my experience was more common that I imagined. Canada is full of small towns in the north, where people live every day beside nature, taking what is offered and respecting the animals that live there.