BAKER LAKE
Hugh Ikoe was 12 years old when a plane arrived to take him away to residential school in the early 1960s.

Hugh Ikoe with his dog Diesel at the geographical centre of Canada. Ikoe and his sister Joan Scottie were invited on the trip organized by Maclean's magazine, by pilot Boris Kotelewetz because he knew Ikoe and his sister had grown up near the area. - photo courtesy of Hugh Ikoe

At the time his family was living on the land just outside a small settlement near Ferguson Lake, approximately 180 kilometres south west of Baker Lake, unaware of the significance of the area other than it was where he called home. It wasn't until more than 53 years later he would end up returning to find out.

Ikoe was part of a team of five people who travelled to the exact geographical centre of the country to celebrate Canada Day on July 1 as part of a story for Maclean's magazine.

While many people believe the centre of Canada is somewhere in Manitoba, or even Toronto, according to the Canadian Cartographic Association, the spot is actually located at the coordinates 62.3° north, 97° west - near a body of water called Yathkyed Lake in the Kivalliq.

"Of all the Canadians in Canada none of them have a clue where this is," said pilot Boris Kotelewetz, who flew the team there.

The trip was the brainchild of reporter Meagan Campbell. She had originally wanted to go the previous summer but Maclean's wasn't willing to foot the bill to pay for the adventure.

"She really had no idea what she was getting herself into," said Kotelewetz.

When she approached Kotelewetz again this spring - again with no money to spend - Kotelewetz said he would take her free of charge because he believed it was a trip of national significance. However he would only do it on one condition: they would have to bring Ikoe and his sister Joan Scottie along as guides. He also insisted that an RCMP officer dressed in official regalia would have to preside over the trip.

"I said if she's going to go there and write about it we'll have to make it something more than just her and photographer friends going on a trip," he said.

'A real Canadian dinner'

Kotelewetz knew Ikoe and Scottie had grown up near the geographical centre and that he thought it would mean a lot for them to return to the land they came from. He also figured it would give Campbell an angle to her story.

"They are two of the three people alive in the world today that have been in that area and lived in that area," he said. "I knew they had some interesting stories that they could tell her."

Joined by an RCMP officer dressed in his red serge, a photographer and Ikoe's dog Diesel - who was brought along for protection from bears - Ikoe, Scottie, Kotelewetz and Campbell flew out toward the coordinates on June 30. After looking for somewhere to land, Kotelewetz ended up putting down at the small mining settlement near Ferguson Lake where Ikoe and Scottie grew up, because the exact centre was marshy and not fit for a plane.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to get close enough, Kotelewetz then got in touch with Kivalliq Energy, which had a helicopter stationed at a camp nearby, to see if they would take them the rest of the way in the morning.

Kivalliq Energy agreed and like Kotelewetz did not charge for the service

That night after Kotelewetz flew out, Ikoe went down to a fishing spot where he used to fish with his dad. He ended up catching a trout on the first cast and then caught another one on the second. After that he brought the fish back to camp and his sister cooked them up with some rice.

"It was a real Canadian dinner," said Ikoe.

The following morning they took off in a helicopter toward the GPS coordinates of Canada's exact centre. Once they landed they did as many 'Canadian' things they could think of such as drinking Tim Hortons coffee, singing O Canada and eating ketchup chips. Campbell was also determined to paddle a boat and she took off in an inflatable dingy in one of the small bogs nearby, only to capsize soon after.

"At least she got cooled off because it was pretty hot," joked Ikoe.

Before leaving, Campbell planted a Canadian flag along with a geocache containing dirt from Canada's longitudinal centre at Tache, MB, grass from the lawn of Parliament Hill, water drawn from the fountain of the Centennial Flame and a key belonging to a lock, bearing the name of Maclean's magazine, hanging on the locks bridge above the Rideau Canal.

"With this geocache, we mark the start of the countdown to Canada's 150th birthday next year," stated Campbell in her piece.

A 'mind boggling' rock

While Campbell marked their historic visit by leaving something behind, it was what she took with here that caught Kotelewetz's interest. Campbell had grabbed a rock from the geographical centre with the intention of giving it to her editor but she ultimately ended up gifting it to Kotelewetz, who did not end up joining them for the last leg of the trip, as a token of her appreciation.

Upon returning to Baker Lake, Kotelewetz flew it to an outpost of scientists working for the geographical survey of Canada northeast of Baker Lake to have it analyzed. Kotelewetz said he was floored when he found out the fist-sized stone was a conglomerate of several kinds of rock and could be dated to between 1.85 and 1.7 billion years old.

"That's mind boggling. There were no people around at that time. I don't think there was any life at that time other than rocks," he said, noting since it was composed of many different kinds of minerals, it made for the perfect symbol for Canada.

"It's very interesting how this rock is very much like our country - all these people joined together and living together just like this rock.

Since learning the news, Kotelewetz has contacted Campbell in the hopes of having the artifact displayed somewhere prominent where all Canadians can see it.

"This rock really belongs somewhere in the Parliament Buildings so that people can see that this came from the heart of Canada," he said.

'Proud to be Canadian'

A few days after returning from the trip Ikoe reflected on what the journey meant. He said for him and his sister it was an emotional journey that had both national and personal significance.

"It was a really good trip and I'm proud to be Canadian. But at the same time it's kind of heartbreaking as well thinking about what you used to be," he said referring to a time when his family used to live off the land.

"It is something that you cannot go back to," he said. "I think we all know that is something that is just not possible anymore. Because we got civilized and civilization is really addictive because of the comfort."

Ikoe said he hopes to one day bring the rest of his family out to the centre of Canada, to show them where he grew up and to tell him about the time he became one of the few people to ever visit the heart of Canada.

"I'm stuck in a civilized world but being in Canada makes it a lot easier. We have the freedom to go anywhere we want geographically."

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