Author Archives: CAMERONDUECK

About CAMERONDUECK

Cameron Dueck grew up in a Mennonite family on a remote turkey farm in the Canadian Prairies—an unlikely start for an international journalist, filmmaker and accomplished adventurer. His journalism career took off in Chicago, where he wrote about American agriculture while learning to sail on Lake Michigan during the weekends. He moved on to New York City, where he further whetted his appetite for the open sea and international news. It didn’t take long for him to join Reuters as a correspondent in Singapore, where the idea of foreign ports and strange seas really took hold. Cameron quit his job and jumped aboard a yacht to sail from Thailand to the Mediterranean, dodging pirates off the coast of Yemen and braving dust storms on the Red Sea. He earned a Royal Yachting Association Offshore Yachtmaster qualification before setting off across the Atlantic Ocean. He soon returned to journalism, joining the South China Morning Post and then the Financial Times in Hong Kong. In 2009 he once again jacked his day job for the sea, this time making a proper expedition of it. The Open Passage Expedition set sail for Canada’s Northwest Passage to learn more about how climate change was impacting Inuit communities. The journey produced Cameron’s first book and film, both titled New Northwest Passage. Cameron was elected to the prestigious New York City-based Explorer’s Club in recognition of his Arctic voyage. Cameron lives in Hong Kong. His articles have been published by Wall Street Journal, Outpost Magazine, Outer Edge, Business Traveller Asia, Asia Pacific Boating, Prestige Magazine, South China Morning Post and Financial Times. He is currently researching a book about modern Mennonite culture in the Americas.

HK Film Screening & Lecture, June 3 & 4

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The Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong is hosting a lecture by me on Monday, June 3, and a screening of my documentary The New Northwest Passage on Tuesday, June 4.

Monday, June 3: Lecture on The New Northwest Passage

Drinks Reception and Book Signing 6.30 pm  Lecture 7.30 pm

HK$100 for members and HK$150 for non-members.

Location: Auditorium. 1/F Duke of Windsor Social Services Building, 15 Hennessy Road, Wanchai (please note that this building is 5 minutes from Admiralty MTR or Pacific Place, next to the HK Police HQ)

Tuesday, June 4 (7:30pm): Screening of the film The New Northwest Passage
Q&A with the director following the screening. Edwin Lee, film editor, will also be present.
Location: SCOPE Admiralty Learning Center, City University of HK, 8/F, United Centre, 95 Queensway, Admiralty
Contact the RGS for further details on both events.Tel:  (852) 2583 9700

In 2009 the 40-foot yacht Silent Sound set off to sail the infamous Northwest Passage. These waters are normally locked in ice, but due to climate change it is now possible to sail here for a few weeks each summer. However, it remains an epic yachting challenge, and fewer people have sailed this passage than have climbed Mt Everest.

The crew dropped anchor in Inuit villages where they joined hunters in stalking their game and experienced the last vestiges of an ancient nomadic culture. Each person they met destroyed another stereotype about the Inuit and their way of life.

This film shows how the crew came face-to-face with the realities of climate change and it’s impact on a remote and fragile culture. They helped scientists tag a southern fox caught on an Arctic island and learn about the Inuit way of life from an old woman skinning seals on the beach. They met elders who told them about the struggle to maintain Inuit culture. They experienced first hand how climate change is opening the Canadian Arctic to create The New Northwest Passage.

About The Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong

The Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong is a chapter of the highly esteemed UK society. It provides a forum where members can regularly meet and listen to leading local and international speakers from the world of geography and related sciences, exploration, travel, research, the environment and conservation.

Previous speakers include the Polar explorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Robert Swan, mountaineers Sir Chris Bonington and Doug Scott, primate expert Dame Jane Goodall, the botanist Professor David Bellamy, leading environmentalist Sir Crispin Tickell, former space shuttle pilot Dr James van Hoften, moon walker Commander Dave Scott, Hong Kong explorer Wong How Man, round-the-world yachtsmen Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Sir Chay Blythe and yachtswoman Tracy Edwards and the authors Simon Winchester, William Dalrymple, Paul French, Jan Morris and Mark Tully.

 

Got an iPad? Buy my Arctic app!

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The New Northwest Passage iPad is finally here! Relish Design of Winnipeg have been working on this for several months, and today it is finally available for sale on iTunes. Click here to buy it! The best news is that 10% of each sale goes to the World Wildlife Fund’s Global Arctic Program.

Written and created for sailing enthusiasts and environmentalists alike, you’ll be able to explore isolated Inuit communities, experience modern Arctic life and learn about climate change that’s affecting the North with rich video, photography and interactive maps. Experience life in the arctic on iPad and iPad mini.

Check it out here!

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Radio Beijing interviews

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For your listening pleasure…a rambling and eclectic three-part interview conducted by Bruce Connolly of Radio Beijing. He was a wonderfully interesting person to chat with, and it’s a shame he edited out his own stories. I suspect he has a much more riveting, and certainly eccentric, story to tell than I do. He’s one of those guys that when you name a place on the globe, any place, he goes (in that lovely Scottish accent of his), “Ah yes, back when I was there in ’72 it was still under dictatorship and this guy I met…” and then you’re off and running on another yarn.

Click on the links below to listen to the MP3 files.

Interview 1

Interview 2

Interview 3

You can listen to more of his work for RBC right here.

 

Rhubarb Review

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Rhubarb Magazine, which describes itself as an “outlet for the Mennonite voice”, did a review of my book The New Northwest Passage in its Winter 2012 edition. I think it’s one of the best reviews of the book written so far, but it’s fairly positive, so I guess as the author I would like it, wouldn’t I?

Frieda Esau Klippenstein, a Parks Canada historian and an expert in First Nations and fur trading history, writes that “There is a brilliant intensity in the descriptions of the changing scenery, of life on-board the ship, and especially of the people and communities at stops along the way.”

You can download the RHUBARB REVIEW right here.

 

 

Shanghai & Beijing literary festivals

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I’m heading to Beijing and Shanghai to take part in their international literary festivals this weekend, where I’ll be presenting my book, The New Northwest Passage.

I will be in Beijing for the Capital Literary Festival and will be speaking about my book at the Capital M restaurant (No. 2 Qianmen Pedestrian Street) on Thursday, March 7, at 7pm.

I will be presenting my book at the Shanghai International Literary Festival on Sunday, March 10 at 11am. The event takes place at the Glamour Bar (No. 5 on the Bund).

Here’s a preview article that ran in That’s Shanghai (scroll to the bottom of the page).

If you’re in Shanghai or Beijing you should check out the festival!

Winner – Best Documentary Feature

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I am very excited to share this great news…my film, The New Northwest Passage, won the award for Best Documentary Feature at the Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival last night.

Thank you to all this who came to see the film, and those who supported me with their votes. Thank you to Edwin Lee for his great editing and to Adam Wright (AKW) for the stunning soundtrack he created.

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WR2R Film Fest press coverage

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We’re making the local papers…If you are coming to the WR2R festival, don’t forget to vote for my film!

Here’s a story about my film in The Herald, a Winnipeg newspaper.

And this is a preview that ran in The Interlake Spectator.

My film The New Northwest Passage is premiering at the Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival. Visit their website for a full programme and ticket information.

It will be screening at North Kildonan MB Church, 1315 Gateway Rd.

Show times are:
Sat, Feb 16, 4pm, Theatre 1
Sun, Feb 17 2pm, Theatre 2

Here’s a link to the trailer to give you an early taste.

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Thank-you

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I’m at the airport in Santiago, Chile, about to fly to Winnipeg. Bike is sold, gear either tossed, given away, or jammed into my bags. I’m done and heading home! I set off for home with a rather empty bank account (budget? Oh, that! It’s busted, in a ditch somewhere in Colombia!) but I feel like the richest man alive with all I’ve seen and learned. Once again, I’ve been changed by a challenge, a journey, a goal achieved. I am incredibly lucky to be living the life I dreamt of as a child, and even luckier that you want to read about it.

Thank you for reading this blog over the past seven months. It’s been a pretty special journey. Not only have I see a good chunk of the world (19 countries!), but I have learned so much about my heritage and who we are as Mennonites. Now to fit that into a book!

Thank you to all those I’ve met along the way. The long-lost cousins, the Mennonites in far flung corners of the Americas, the bikers, the new friends made on ferries, dusty roads, in dodgy hostels, in splendid campgrounds. You, more than anything, made this journey worth the effort.

Many people have sent me notes in the past months. Encouragement, contacts, questions, challenges and advice. I’m sorry if I have not responded, but they were all deeply appreciated. Thank you!

Next up, seeing my first film, The New Northwest Passage, up on the silver screen at the Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival. It plays on Feb 16 and 17, I hope to see some of you there. Then, it’s back home to Hong Kong, where the real work begins…

Keep checking in for updates on the book, film, and my next adventure.

Slow down for curves,
pullover to help those in need.
But never stop,
because there’s even greater things ahead.

Cameron

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