124SMALL PONDS
James Raffan is a prolific writer,
speaker and geographer who is
currently the executive director of
The Canadian Canoe Museum in
Peterborough, Ontario.
He was a professor of outdoor and
experiential education at Queen’s
University in Kingston, Ontario, and
has produced 16 books and written
for such media outlets as Canadian
Geographic, National Geographic,
Explore and the Globe and Mail, as
well as for CBC Radio and Discovery
Channel. Raffan is a community
activist and volunteer, a Fellow
International of The Explorers Club,
past chair of the Arctic Institute of
North America, as well as a fellow
and past governor of the Royal
Canadian Geographical Society,
service for which he was awarded
the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal
in 2002, the Camsell Medal in 2009,
and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Medal in 2012.
Raffan loves to venture. After
several decades of independent
expeditioning and guiding work
for operators like Black Feather
throughout Northern Canada,
between books and other projects,
he often joins staff teams with
Students on Ice and Adventure
Canada for work on ships in the
Arctic and Antarctic realms.
The year 2018 brought a canoe
trip of a different sort: he joined a
small cartographic expedition to
finish the groundwork for a new
atlas of the Marshall Islands.
Six adventurers travelled for a
month in a 50-foot Polynesiansailing canoe, stopping at eight
uninhabited atolls. In addition to
assisting with the atlas work, he’ll
be gathering early footage, imagery
and ideas for a future documentary
on the theme of “coral and ice,”
contrasting how Arctic and Pacific
people and places are responding
to the common forces of conquest
and climate change.Your name?
James Raffan
Home (or adopted) town?
Guelph, Ontario
Population?
Enough for four high schools, two
hospitals and two pool halls, a
Carnegie library, one arena and a
bunch of downtown bars.
Years in residence?
18
Where do you live now?
Summer: Pugwash, Nova Scotia.
Winter: Seeley’s Bay, Ontario.
Local school attended?
Mother Goose Nursery School,
Edward Johnson Elementary,
Waverley Drive Public School,
John F. Ross CVI
Class of 19- -?
Graduated JFR in 1973
Local jobs you held?
Paperboy, grass cutter, snow
shoveller, seal handler in training,
animal blood lab technician.
Your pastimes there?
Rafting on the “Mighty Speed.”
Best french fries?
Zeller’s County Fair or DQ on
Woolwich Street.
Favourite nature walk?
Along the banks of the “Mighty