CBC’s chronicler of ordinary people hits the road

TINA ROSE

On his first trip to Nunavut, Wayne Rostad surrendered all his reservations and let a man knock something out of his mouth with the end of a whip from 40 feet away.

“So immediately, you see, I gave my trust to the North,” Rostad says.

That was back in 1987. Since then, Rostad has been visiting Nunavut as often as he can to tell the stories of the people.

Having to juggle the cost of travelling to three territories means that the host of On the Road Again only makes it to Nunavut every other year.

“Every time I come to the North it’s always too short. But if I had no timetable, and I came here, I’d be around, hanging around town for awhile just because I enjoy it a lot,” Rostad says.

Rostad has a passion for the Arctic that is immediately apparent when he begins speaking of his various adventures.

“For every emotion that I have, and every heartstring that you can pluck, I have a favorite story. I remember going out on the [Meta] Incognito Peninsula with caribou all around me. I walked amongst a herd of caribou that looked at me like I didn’t exist; they didn’t care what I was or who I was. They just carried on, just snorted and moved around and did their thing,” Rostad says.

“If I want to feel silence that is absolutely deafening, I would go to the high north in the dead of winter. And I’ll go right up there to Victoria Island and absolutely love it. Go out with the muskox, and feel like I’m in a place called heaven.”

This summer brought him North to profile three women, Suzanne Evaloardjuk, a jewelry maker who scours the tundra near Iqaluit for gems; Kanuyuak Bell, a radio host in Cape Dorset; and Kerry McCluskey, a resident of Iqaluit who brings a whole new sense of appreciation to the raven.

Evalordjuk, Bell and McCluskey were selected because of their enthusiasm for what they do.

“If you have an individual who can come through the lens, as we call it, who can really come through the lens and reach the people watching, then that person is a very prime candidate for appearing on our program. Our guests, when you watch them on television, they’re wearing their hearts on their sleeve, their soul dances in their eyes. And it is people who are passionate, who have a genuine love for what they do that we’re interested in.”

At the end of every episode, On The Road Again contact information is listed. The program receives submissions from all over the country by mail, telephone, and even people approaching the staff in person. Along with that, the show has two researchers delving into all the newspaper periodicals that are sent in.

“When we started out, we had to dig for our stories because we were given the mandate to go all over the country and seek out extraordinary Canadians, every day Canadians doing extraordinary things in every nook and cranny from sea to sea to sea. And then, a wonderful thing happened when we went to air, the stories started coming in.”

Starting its 17th season in the fall, with well over 1,000 Canadians profiled, On The Road Again won’t be running out of stories any time soon.

“We’re not surprised in that we’ve always believed in the power of the people that appeared on our program. CBC’s mandate is to bring the people to the people, well; On The Road Again delivers that mandate. The program is a cultural mosaic of who this country is made up of.”

“We always stop and we listen because it’s the people’s network, On The Road Again is one of the people’s shows, and if anyone out there wants to stop and talk to me or any one of our team, we oblige them without question. We essentially believe that everyone has a story to tell.”

After almost two decades with On The Road Again, Rostad’s love for what he does is evident by the warmth in his eyes and the enthusiasm in his voice as he speaks of the show’s history. He has no plans of slowing down, yet.

“I’m fully aware that one can’t go on forever but, the truth is, I’m still healthy and I’m still interested and I’m still having fun. At some point, you know, the knees are going to creak and maybe I’ll get a little too tired to carry it, but it’s certainly not on the immediate horizon.”