Week-end at James Bay

28th of August,

We left Pickering at 7:30 p.m. and headed North toward Hwy 11. We drove for eight hours and slept for 5 and arrived at 8:15 a.m. at Cochrane Railway Station, just in time to catch The Polar Bear Express. A little bit tired but happy and excited about the adventure to come.
The trip by train takes 7 hours and at about 3:30 p.m. we were in Moosonee.

We had reservations for Bed & Breakfast in Moose Factory, across the Moose River so we took the water taxi to The Moose Factory Island. We accommodate our selves at Norm & Jane Wesley Bed & Breakfast. Norm Wesley was a teacher for 15 years and he knows a lot about the community and cree culture and history. He's also a volunteer fire fighter and lay reader in Anglican Church. As a lay reader he's certified to do baptisms, funeral services and lead services in the Church. He likes to fish and hunt in the region. The fire fighters team from Moose Factory came first this year in the regional competition and third in the national competition. And he is also a diamond miner.

Jean was born in Lake River, north of Attawapiskat, 300 km North of Moose Factory. Jean works for the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council as an Executive Assistant in the Grand Chief's office. She has been employed there for fifteen years.

The population in his area is mostly Cree or mixed between English and French settlers and Cree. Therefore a lot of this people are bilingual or trilingual.

About the history of this place we discovered that the first Europeans to arrive here were English at about 1670. Moose Factory was the first English-speaking settlement in Ontario. It was originally a fur-trading post, set up by Charles Bayly of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a fort was built there in the early 1670s. The Hudson Bay Company, located in London, use to send one or two ships every year with workers and supplies for the new settlements. Usually the ships were leaving London heading North toward Orkney Island where they were recruiting workers. The people there were better adapted to cold climate. The fort was captured by the French in 1686 and renamed Fort St. Louis.

The French withdrew and the fort was destroyed around 1696. The Hudson's Bay Company set up a new post in 1730. The company continued to operate in Moose Factory until 1987, when the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company in Northern Canada, including Moose Factory, were sold to the North West Company. The natives (Cree) played an important role in helping the new settlers to survive during the harsh winters.

The Cree population were hunters, fishers and trappers. They use to migrate South during winters but after Moose Factory was set up some of them remained there for the winter and some of them being employed by the Company. Also some Cree women married English settlers.
Nowadays about 3000 people lives on the island and a little bit more across the river in Moosonee. More than 80% are Cree.

For those interested to visit Moose Factory Island there are two ways to get here: by train (The Polar Bear Express) or by air (Air Creebec). There is no land road up to here. The flight ticket is much more expensive than the train; if you buy one week ahead you could have a discount (446 CAD/pers. one way). Otherwise is about 800CAD/pers. By train is 82 CAD/pers. both ways. Is true that the trip takes about 7 hours but it's fun to ride this train; there is a dining car, a snack car, an entertainment car and a full dome car that will keep you busy. And the scenery... There is only one train leaving Cochrane at 9 a.m. The same train is returning to Cochrane leaving Moosonee at 6 p.m. in summer and 5 p.m. in winter.
Check the schedule at http://www.ontarionorthland.ca/polarbearexpress/. And make reservations. In summer the train could be pretty busy. Also the train doesn't run on Saturday's and Sunday's in winter and Saturday's in summer. From Toronto to Cochrane expect about 8 hours of driving (700km, mostly two way traffic). So you may want to sleep in Cochrane (you could visit here The Polar Bear Habitat & Heritage Village).

From Moosonee Rail Station you could walk (900 meters) or take a taxi to the river shore. From the Moose River shore you will take the water taxi (10 CAD each one way) to Moose Island. You could ask the water taxi guys about tour boats also. Make reservations ahead for accommodation (http://www.bbcanada.com/ontario/northern_ontario). On the island there is only one B & B: Norm & Jean's Bed and Breakfast. There is also a hotel, but now is in renovation and will be open in october.

This isolation gives this community another tempo to the day-to-day life. The locals seems to be more relaxed and interact easier with each other.

There are less rules to obey. Speed limit varies from 10 km/h to 40 km/h. Some vehicles are unregistered, some drive without driving licence and nobody is using the seat belt.

Bold eagle on the Moose River shore close to James Bay.

Wild flowers on Moose River Island.

Wild life is abundant here. In summer you can see a lot of migrating birds, beavers, moose, caribous or belugas and in winter you could see even polar bears. This place is heaven for fishers, hunters and nature lovers.

Seal in The Moose River.

In the last day, before embarking the train, we took a swim in Moose River and we noticed a couple of seals just 20 meters from us.

Today I checked the temperature of the water and was 21 degrees Celsius at the shore and in the middle of the Moose River is 20 degrees Celsius. Those who would like to swim could do it easily.