TEMAGAMI – The group responsible for constructing Temagami’s 50-foot canoe has asked council for permission to use the arena to complete the project.
Group member Dave Wilfong gave council an update on the project at their regular meeting on March 4 and asked council for use of the arena from April 1 to Oct. 1 for the group to build the canoe there.
The purpose of the project is to give the town a landmark that would also be the world’s largest cedar canvas canoe.
Wilfong noted that he has constructed half of the form on which the canoe will be assembled and that the completed form will have five sections so that it can be easily moved around.
“When they’re all bolted together and secure, the entire unit is on rolling casters. So it’s very moveable, it’s very easy to work with,” he said.
“That whole assembly is 28 feet (right now), so it’s just over half (of the form), it’s quite impressive. The shop is only 26 feet, so it’s pushing its limits.”
Wilfong said the group has developed some sketches of possible mounting ideas for the canoe and that they were going to move forward and speak with some structural engineers “to get some better ideas on what our requirements will be to support this in a safe way.”
He noted that local artist James Faubert has been doing renderings of some ideas for the artwork he will be painting on the canoe once it is built and in the final stages.
“He’s got three different sketches he’s done up, they’re quite fantastic.”
PROGRESSING
Wilfong added that the canoe project is “moving along very well.”
With the possibility of the arena being needed as a site for COVID-19 vaccinations, Wilfong explained that the form is being constructed to be easily moveable to make room for such an event.
“This form can easily move out of the way if that happens while the form is there,” he said.
“Based on the rate of the build right now of the form, I’m looking at the end of March, early April to be able to move the sections of form that are already made to the arena to start setting up for final fitting and that’s what the canoe will be built on.”
As for the process of building the actual canoe, Wilfong said that the process would likely take place in April and run to mid-to-late September.
“At that point, we should be in a very good position to move the canoe out of the arena and hopefully bring it to its resting location,” he noted.
Council thanked Wilfong for his “good work” on the project.
Deputy Mayor Cathy Dwyer brought forward a notice of motion for council to discuss the issue at their next regular meeting on March 25.
