DEH CHO - The Mackenzie River can be cold when you end up in it unexpectedly as some students found out during a recent canoe trip.

Leanne Ocko discovered just how cold the river is when the canoe she and Alicia Norris were in tipped. The two students were among the 22 youth from Grade 6 at Bompas elementary school in Fort Simpson and Deh Gah school in Fort Providence who travelled by canoe from Jean Marie River to Fort Simpson.

Sherissa Grossetete from Fort Simpson and Aaron Constant from Fort Providence paddle during the Grade 6 canoe trip down the Mackenzie River. - photo courtesy of Neil Penney

Ocko, 11, blamed the river conditions for her dunking.

"It was really windy and there was lots of current," she said.

Ocko and Norris had accidentally gotten their canoe turned around backwards in the river and were trying to get turned back around when they leaned over too far.

"It was really cold," Ocko said about her unexpected swim.

Ocko admits there was a bit of screaming because of the shock of the water before the safety training they'd received kicked in.

"Be calm and hold onto your canoe," she said.

Tipped canoes were just one of the challenges students faced and overcame during the trip.

The trip was the final event of the year for the Education Through Commitment project, which is a joint partnership between the two schools. Now in its second year, the project was designed to help Grade 6 students make the transition between elementary school and junior high.

The purpose of the canoe trip was to offer the students an experience besides academic ones, said Margaret Thom, who helped to organize the event.

While on the river the students were taught about the history of the waterway and the surrounding land and how their ancestors would have used it, Thom said.

"It was really important for them to make the connection to the land their ancestors lived and travelled on," said Thom.

Being in canoes also allowed the students to connect with the river in a way they can't when travelling quickly in motorboats, she said. During the course of the trip students were also encouraged to realize who they are today as young aboriginal people is a result of their ancestors, said Thom.

The trip was also a test of resilience.

The Fort Providence participants started the trip on June 8 and travelled two days by motorboat to Browning's Landing near Jean Marie River. The Fort Simpson participants joined them and on Wednesday morning all the students got into 12 canoes, and accompanied by five motorboats, started their journey towards the village.

On their first day of paddling the students put in a 12-hour day on the river.

"The kids were wonderful, they never complained," said Thom.

"They were just troopers."

The pace of the paddling got slower as the day went on but everyone made it to Rabbitskin where the group stopped for the night. The participants' resolve was tested again the next day when they faced heavy rains. Despite the conditions the group made it to Fort Simpson by mid-afternoon.

For Sheen Arbeau, 12, the trip was the first time he'd been in a canoe.

"It was pretty easy," said Arbeau about learning how to canoe.

During the trip Arbeau said he enjoyed the scenery including the trees, river and the sunrises and sunsets.

"It was beautiful and untouched by man," he said.

After this introduction, Arbeau said he would like to do another canoe trip.

"But a real shorter distance," he said.