Torngat Mountains Expedition 2023

During the summer of 2023, I was invited back as a media team member on the Students On Ice flagship youth expedition to the Canadian Arctic. We sailed to the Torngat Mountains in the Nunatsiavut region managed by the Labrador Inuit, the same place I first visited as a student with the organization in 2016! It felt like a homecoming.

It was another top-notch expedition, filled with wonderful new friendships, epic hikes, zodiac rides, wildlife sightings, archaeological finds, and knowledge sharing with local Inuit Elders and Parks Canada staff. Highlights for me included visits to the Inuit historical settlement of Okak, and a walking tour of the centuries-old Inuit burial site of Rose Island.

The weather was varied with most days involving low cloud cover with brisk, wet days near the mountains. When visiting the Inuit settlement Hebron, we were gifted with a spectacular day of sunshine which lifted our spirits. Later, during our transit back to the gateway city of Happy-Valley Goose Bay, were were hit with 6m swells from the Atlantic which tossed the ship about quite wildly! It all made for a very epic and memorable trip.

Read more about the expedition here!

Credits

Organization: SOI Foundation

Role: Expedition Filmmaker, Multimedia Educator

Themes: Climate Change, Indigenous knowledge and Leadership, Ocean and Coastal Community Health, Youth Empowerment, Ocean Decade

Location: Goose Bay Labrador, Nunatsiavut, Imappivut Marine Area, Torngat Mountains National Park, Mealy Mountains National Park Preserve

Vessel: Oqwatnukewey Eleke’wi’ji’jit (MV Polar Prince)

2023

Multimedia Educator

During the expedition, our media team ran a series of workshops to help introduce students to the world of videography, marketing, and storytelling. Each of our team shared our backgrounds and passions and helped facilitate the sessions.

The classes were designed to encourage group discussion around shared expedition experiences, and then for students to record, prepare and present their ideas during an on-camera interview with the media team cameras and microphones. The workshops helped students to imagine how they might share their expedition with their family and friends back home, as well as what the world of filmmaking is like.

As an alumni of the SOI program, I also was given a chance to present my story to the students in a later presentation, explaining how I leveraged the network and skills I gained on the expedition to further my career in documentary filmmaking. I also ran my signature parkour workshop!

Read more about my presentation here.