The Happy Camper: James Raffan is an “Accidental Canadian”
I shuffled into the quaint community hall of Seeley’s Bay, a small hamlet north of Kingston, Ontario, to listen to renowned Canadian author Dr. James Raffan entertain a full house of local residents with a musical Storyfest presentation. He called it The Accidental Canadian. The title was derived from a simple toss of a coin by his British parents when they were indecisive about which country they would emigrate to after WWII—South Africa or Canada. James (and his three sisters) suddenly became “Accidental Canadians.”
The performance was exceptional. It was light-hearted yet thought-provoking, and it gave the audience laughter, joy, tears and an unprecedented sense of Canadian pride.
This was no meager PowerPoint presentation filled with facts of trip lengths and detailed equipment lists. It was filled with flashy visuals, whimsical stories and strong points of discourse, broken up by original songs performed live—tunes of polar bears, bush plane pilots, river travel and a new take on the Canadian anthem from an Indigenous perspective. Seeley’s Bay’s own raconteur spun tales and tunes of his travels in the north by canoe, dogsled, icebreaker, floatplane, snowmobile and on foot—all having found their way into his countless books, films, radio documentaries and magazine articles.
Storyfest has been going on in this small, cozy settlement of Seeley’s Bay since 2010 and has raised thousands of dollars for the Seeley’s Bay Area Residents’ Association.
As with the previous eighteen Storyfests, James Raffan’s moment on stage introduced 150 plus locals and family members to incredible Canadian places and people—all of which The Accidental Canadian had discovered and embraced through half a century of his rambling and writing.
James intends to bring this performance on tour. He just wanted to see how the first one went in his own town of Seeley’s Bay. The locals ate it up like a polar bear would a nonchalant seal. The laughs were genuine when he spun a tale, the smiles were ear-to-ear while he strummed his guitar and caroled a tune and tears truly ran down faces—including his own (and mine)—when he pleaded for Canadians to stand strong and together to protect the wild landscape and the integrity of the people he bore witness of through his lifetime of travel and scribing.
Yes, James, please take this as a message on tour and share what we all were beheld in that quaint community hall in Seeley’s Bay.
It was a great afternoon of listening to James’ stories of Canada. It was great to hear how this country influenced and changed him.