Cross-country canoe trip brings couple with a kid to P.A.

An Edmonton family is now weeks into a cross-Canada canoe trip on the Saskatchewan River, and so far they’ve decided the best moment comes right before they get the rare chance to shower.

Benoit Jendreau-Berthiaume said they’ve mostly been camping on islands along the way to avoid wildlife, although after seeing a bear across the water the other day, he acknowledged there are always risks.

They have bear spray and horns, among other protective items. He said there’s another reason to camp in secluded spots.

“Sometimes it’s actually more to keep the humans away because funny or not, sometimes we’re more afraid to fall on weirdos than animals.”

On Tuesday, his family’s canoe landed in Prince Albert.

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An Emma Lake woman who had been following their journey on social media was there to welcome them on the shores of the North Saskatchewan.

Debbie Roy was so intrigued that the family is making this trek that she offered to have them stay overnight.

Roy moved quickly when the family told her on Monday they’d take her up on the offer, wrangling a donated trailer from Flaman Fitness for their gear, and gathering her family to meet Jendreau-Berthiaume, his wife Mageli Moffatt, and their son Mali.

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Mali became fast friends with Roy’s grandchildren.

“He’s happy to be with mom and dad but definitely needs other [children] around him,” Moffatt said.

When people find out the couple is taking their son from Edmonton to Montreal by canoe, the response is often “Mali must be super-calm,” Moffatt said.

“Not at all. Our son is just like all the other five-year-old kids. He’s got plenty of energy, probably more than the other kids.”

They couple keeps him so active on the canoe with games that some days, Mali can take three-hour naps.

So why canoe?

The idea for this trip was a year and a half in the making, after an off-hand joke from Mali. Jendreau-Berthiaume was finishing his PhD in Edmonton and they were planning to move to their home province of Quebec. Their car had broken down, and Moffatt said “we should just paddle home.”

The Montreal native has been a life-long canoer, and got Moffatt into it about a decade ago.

The idea struck a chord with Jendreau-Berthiaume, who researched to see if it was possible.

After a hectic stay in Edmonton as they started their family in recent years, Jendreau-Berthiaume welcomed a chance to slow down the pace for the summer.

They’ve considered this trip a family vacation. The want to encourage other people to get outside with their family, but other than that they’re not associated with a specific cause.

“One of the things that motivated us is looking at the North Saskatchewan River from Edmonton and realizing how far we could actually get just on that one river. And then it gets more complicated but at least the beginning is pretty straightforward.”

Students in a Canmore school helped the family map out their 3,000 to 5,000-kilometre trip. After the North Saskatchewan River they’ll paddle down the Assiniboine, Red River, and then take a challenging route upstream. A series of lakes will take them up to Lake Superior, where they’ll drive around due to the unpredictable waters on that lake.

Following that, they’ll take Lake Huron and other rivers in to Montreal.

While some have called the couple crazy, Jendreau-Berthiaume said they’ve done extensive preparation.

They did a 10-day trial run out to North Battleford last year.

Here’s how Mali reacted: “At the end we asked our son, ‘well, how would you feel about doing this for the whole summer?’ And he said ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life,’” Jendreau-Berthiaume said.

The biggest challenge so far has been getting stuck on shallow parts.

“You’re in the middle of the river and there’s that much water and you need to get out of the boat and just pull the boat until there’s more water and get back in and keep going,” Moffat said.

“Mother Nature decides you have to go with what she offers pretty much.”

This includes taking a few days off right after they launched out of Edmonton on May 2, because it had snowed.

The family isn’t following a strict timeline, but is aiming to land in Montreal by the end of August.

Moffatt and Jendreau-Berthiaume said they have a bit to think about in the meantime. They don’t have a place to live yet when they get to Quebec.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” Jendreau-Berthiaume said with a laugh.

You can follow their progress on Twitter, Facebook and through their website.

claskowski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk