Back Roads Bill: Stories that mattered in 2023

This past year featured several back roads stories that received updates after the Village Media publication date.

Morrisseau fakes

I was convalescing at the time of this two-part story and was intent on getting it right. Especially since I had been to Red Lake years ago where the esteemed artist Norval Morrisseau had resided and the fortuitous meeting with the head of the Morrisseau Estate, Cory Dingle.

The second story, maybe should have come first, it was about the Morrisseau legacy and the impact of his art on others.

I told Cory Dingle of my intent to purchase a “fake” Morrisseau and expose the fraud in my own way. This is how it went in the first offering. I easily could have bought the first two fakes but the third was the most intriguing. It inspired more dogged determination in me.

“The third was another eBay query through the online seller ‘arcticfinearts.’ Upon researching I found it was a gallery in Wiarton, Ontario.

“I put in an offer on a Thunderbird limited edition print. It was accepted, and the homespun brown cardboard protective sheets arrived at my door a few days later with a handwritten return address in the upper left-hand corner.

“I used the verification service from the Official Morrisseau Estate. Cory Dingle stated in an email to me 'you have a fake print of a fake original.'

“There was no cell number but, through social media, I contacted Matthew Mutch, whose website says, 'I have been buying, selling and collecting First Nations and Inuit art for more than 20 years. It's a passion.'

He did get back to me, “I am shocked!” was the initial response.

Then a second correspondence: “Ok, as I said, I was very shocked to read your emails and now, I (sic) am feeling terrible and angry that I have possibly been duped. I will cooperate fully and send those photos. I knew there were fake paintings out there, but I had no idea about fake prints —still seems crazy.

“I have no desire to participate in any activity that undermines his legacy or that of the Morrisseau Foundation, even for a moment. With that in mind, I’m going to delete any current listings I have for these prints immediately. I may re-list if authorized to do so. If any or all are questionable, they will never be listed, sold or given away - they will be destroyed. Thanks for the heads up.

“I will send the photos asap, hopefully by the end of the day. That link (verification) you sent is brilliant - I wish I had known about it before.”

In another correspondence, he offered a refund. And said he would take down suspected prints, which, to his credit, he did (for a while). There are other Norval Morrisseau offerings (birchbark) remaining on the website.

As an update this week, Arctic Fine Arts is still selling Morrisseau prints with no reference to the provenance.

As a news update one of the ring leaders, Gary Lamont, was recently convicted and sentenced.

Cory Dingle told me, two weeks ago: “Happy that one small step has finally been accomplished, relieved that we can finally drop the parsed language and drop 'suspected fake and alleged fraud'. It is now convinced fraud and fake.

“Vindicated for so many who have fought for over two decades to bring the truth while these criminals were operating without punity.

“But angered that this is just one step in a long complex journey that has to get at the root cause of the problem, angry as we have wasted two decades screaming these problems and suggesting solutions and not one legislative change or commitment to do so has happened. We are wasting this educational moment for Canada.”

Cory Dingle remains a cherished contact and there will be another story about how “AI” and thermal imagery will ferret out the many thousands of forgeries that still exist. See the photo.

Grey Owl

This story highlighted the Buffy Ste. Marie debacle in late October. A northern Ontario character, Grey Owl was used as a comparative example.

The story lead went like this: “Pretendian is a pejorative colloquialism used to reference a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous identity by professing to be so. Being a pretendian is considered a form of cultural appropriation - the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, it is disrespectful.

If you Google the term the list of pretenders is a long one.

It includes the novelist Joseph Boyden and actor Johnny Depp and now Buffy Sainte-Marie. Most recently the songwriter, musician and social activist claims to Indigenous ancestry are being contradicted by members of her own family through an extensive CBC investigation from The Fifth Estate, making her the latest high-profile public figure whose ancestry story has been contradicted by genealogical documentation. Her impactful life has been unravelled right before our eyes and ears.

For resources, the following were highlighted. “Google: Temagami Canoe Festival – on the home page you will find a ten-minute documentary, ‘The Path of Grey Owl.’ and the definitive book ‘From the Land of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owl’ by Donald B. Smith.”

The author Donald B. Smith returned my query. “Many thanks for your email. Looking back on my Grey Owl research in light of the Buffy Ste Marie disclosures, I see him as I summarize his life at the end of my Episode 3, In Hindsight."

This is worthy of a listen. There is a great pic of him with the actor Pierce Brosnan who played Archie Belaney in the 1999 biopic ‘Grey Owl'.

“After half a century of interest in Grey Owl, what do I make of him? He certainly, British understatement, was a troubled man, with many contradictions, but I still hold to the interpretation offered in my sketch contributed about a decade or so ago to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography:

'The story of Archie Belaney’s rise to international fame is remarkable. Having led a life without purpose and direction, in his forties he transformed himself. As Grey Owl, he became the prophet of a vitally important message.

Sometimes individuals on the fringe of society see critical issues more distinctly than those in the centre. He saw one truth clearly, the need to work for the conservation of the environment to preserve Canada’s forests and wildlife. He was decades ahead of his time.

This Village Media story was concluded with some logic.

“There are pretenders and it is difficult to undo what was and is. The best we can do is respect the experience that teaches. What Grey Owl tells us are the truths that wilderness areas have a diverse composition of natural resources important to many people, in many ways. His outstanding and forward-thinking quote: 'Remember you belong to Nature, not it to you.' Sage advice on the back roads?

Here and there

Some quick ones -- I did not say quickies.

In Bobby’s Story on Nov. 11, there is more to the “sense of place,” with multiple visits to the same photo location. Here is the time-lapse video of that same spot for thirty days that’s neat to watch.

The north’s heritage forest fires uncovered a heritage documentary film consider this captivating historical footage.

Another past, favourite story about a hidden spa in the bush, the Bethnal Springs map has almost 60,000 views more than the population of North Bay, celebrating its one-hundredth anniversary as a city in 2025.

Since I first wrote about New Post Falls and the post, hundreds of people have visited one of the most dynamic waterfalls in northern Ontario and a reader sent this historic footage along shot in 1919 – note the paddling and poling.

And contact with Waub Rice on his new October book, resulted in this December response from the author.

”I’ve been positively overwhelmed and deeply honoured by the great response to Moon of the Turning Leaves. I got to spend six weeks in the fall travelling the land to promote the book, and I was so warmly welcomed everywhere I went. Readers seem to enjoy reconnecting with the characters and exploring their future, and I really appreciate the opportunity to join them on that journey. The book has been on all the Canadian bestseller lists since its release in October, and I’m interested to see where it takes me in 2024.” I think he will be the recipient of the Giller Prize.

An in-progress story for 2024 is the Mica Bay Incident on Lake Superior, north of the “Soo.” A very important historic event for the Métis Nation of Ontario. At present the MNO is archaeologically assessing the site.

Back roads update

I am ambulatory and it is what I call “Balking,” B for Bill, not quite a walking gait yet, and listing a little to the port side. This journey has been a long one.

So, one of my most recent stories (Dec. 16) was a return to the back roads where some snow travel and bushwhacking were required over a short distance. I can only imagine how it was to be a prospector made of “the right stuff.” If you read the book I cited during my recovery, Cry Baby – Why Our Tears Matter, you will know there were tears…of joy upon finding those two caves lived in by Charlie and Jake.

I am glad to be here with you. More from the back roads in 2024. Starting off with a snowshoe trek.