Marie-France L’Ecuyer

North of the 51st parallel, where the dense boreal forest opens onto an arctic islet, the snow-capped peaks of the Uapishka Mountains watch over the Nitassinan of Pessamit. In the heart of winter, a group of Innu and non-Innu adventurers attempt to cross this vast mountain range on snowshoes, completely independently. Faced with the vastness of the territory, the rigors of the northern climate and the impetuous breath of the tundra, they discover each other in a different way, form friendships and unite to better chart their course. Over the kilometres, the adventure reveals a space for meeting, sharing and reconciliation.

By attempting to travel 2,960 km from southern Quebec to its northernmost point, by bike and skis, in the middle of winter, adventurers Samuel Lalande-Markon and Simon-Pierre Goneau want to reinvest the territory and reflect on the identity and collective relationship that Quebecers have with it. Their journey begins at kilometer marker 720, an obelisk-shaped monument located on the border with the United States, and ends at Cape Anaulirvik, north of Ivujivik, the northernmost point of the Ungava Peninsula. Over the course of a 91-day expedition, they set out to meet the country in all its immensity, splendor and impetuosity, a country that suddenly reveals itself to be less abstract, less distant, more real.