It’s a typical Tuesday morning nearing the end of July. The temperature is warm, not scorching, and the sky is a blanket of light grey.
As holiday traffic motors east and west along the Trans-Canada Highway, a smattering of travellers can’t resist the urge to turn off into a small park. After all, it’s not everyday you can say you are smack dab in the middle of Canada.
Welcome to the Centre of Canada Park — or as a large sign proclaims, the country’s longitudinal centre at 96° 48’ 35” — which draws people from here, there and everywhere.
The park, about 10 minutes east of the Perimeter Highway in the RM of Tache, opened in August 2017. The space includes a picnic area and two oversized red Adirondack chairs much like those found at national parks and historical sites across the country.
Over the course of the morning, the Free Press spoke with several travellers to find out where they are from, where they were going and what brought them to the centre of Canada.
Steven Conte, Melbourne, Australia
Conte came to Canada about 14 months ago on a working holiday visa.
Conte, who is in his mid-30s, chose Canada because other countries stopped offering similar visas for anyone over 30.
While living in Vancouver, he bought a truck to travel around British Columbia and the Yukon. He’s currently making his way east and hopes to get to Newfoundland before returning to the West Coast.
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Steven Conte
“It’s an obvious (stop),” Conte says after taking pictures and video of himself in front of the red-and-white sign. “You’re already heading along the road anyway.”
He’s taken “heaps of photos” during his travels and posts many of them on social media as an informal way of keeping track of where he’s been.
Since coming to Canada, he’s been struck by the friendliness of the people he meets.
“Everyone says, ‘Take care’ and I’m like, ‘I will, thank you,’” Conte says. “It’s a very Canadian characteristic to me.”
“Everyone says, ‘Take care’ and I’m like, ‘I will, thank you.’”–Steven Conte
Conte would like to stay in Canada once his visa expires. He loves the country’s ruggedness and how the landscapes varies dramatically depending on where you go.
“I really love the clear rivers, the lakes, the trees, the forests, the animals, the wildlife,” he says. “I mean, we have our own unique wildlife (in Australia) but it’s different.”
Sarah Mihaly and Simon Ferreira, Hamilton, Ont.
Mihaly and Ferreira are on a road trip with their dog, Arlo. The pair often stop at different highway attractions for rest and to give Arlo a chance to burn off energy.
“I probably came here when I was a kid, but I don’t really remember,” Mihaly says. “They’ve got more stuff here than they used to as well.”
Mihaly and Ferreira are taking pictures “as much as they can” on their two-week road trip to Vancouver and back to their home near Hamilton. It’s the longest road trip they’ve taken together and the first with a dog.
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Simon Ferreira (left) with Sara Mihaly and their dog Arlo.
Alec Mallari and family, South Jersey, N.J.
This is the first time Mallari, 21, has spent time in Manitoba. He’s visiting family scattered across the country with his dad and younger brother and sister.
“I never thought I’d be here, never thought I’d see the centre of Canada,” he says. “(My dad) will not go anywhere without taking a photo. He will take a photo of literally anything and everything that we (find) along the way.”
His dad, Alvin, says he’s going to put together a physical photo album to memorialize the trip.
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Alun Mallari (second from left) and his son Alec (right) from New Jersey alongside their family from Winnipeg.
Alec says his family tries to take summer road trips every year, but had kept to the States until now. The group was travelling east from Banff National Park.
“It’s been amazing. Whenever we were driving along the highways and seeing all the parks and stuff, it was just… in the words of my dad, he said it was way more beautiful than the U.S.,” Alec says after gathering with his Manitoban cousins for a group photo. “I haven’t seen this anywhere in the U.S.”
Alvin, 52, said visiting Banff was on his wife’s bucket list. She passed away last year and he wanted to go there in honour of her.
He and his wife moved in 1999 from the Philippines to New Jersey and started their family there. Now, he says, his children are talking about one day moving to Canada.
“I never thought I’d be here, never thought I’d see the centre of Canada.”–Alec Mallari
He plans on travelling between the U.S. and the Philippines once he retires, adding he wouldn’t be able to stand Canada’s cold winters despite its scenic views.
“The lakes are beautiful,” Alvin says. “The mountains — it’s something that you want to brag about.”
He says the family is already compiling a list of places to see the next time they visit.
Abby Mann, Winnipeg
Mann, her daughter Ava Swedllo, 12, and Ava’s friend Maddie Murray are heading to the Lake of the Woods, just like they’ve done almost every weekend for the past four years. This is the first time they’ve stopped to see the chairs up close.
“I actually said we need to stop here today in the centre of Canada and be tourists. We drove by it, well, every single weekend for four years,” Mann says, estimating they had previously passed the site more than 200 times.
“I love it. We’re definitely taking photos here at the big chair,” she says. “It’ll be fun.”
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Ava Swedlo (left) and Maddie Murray
Swedllo and Murray, who have been friends since age two, hop up on the arms of one of the red chairs while Mann snaps away on her phone.
Mann said she’s always taking photos and this day is no exception.
“(Maddie’s) mom says that we have adventures, which is definitely the truth. This would just be another adventure.”
Bechard family, Sudbury, Ont.
Alanna Bechard climbs into a big red chair with her husband Travis and 13-month-old daughter Clara. The trio smiles as Alanna’s father-in-law Murray Bechard captures the moment on camera.
Alanna and Travis first visited the park two years ago when Murray moved to Ste. Anne, about 20 kilometres east of the park, and then again last September.
“All of a sudden we had a baby, so it was different,” Alanna says. “Then since last year, I’m like, we might as well do it this year. Whenever we drive into Winnipeg, it’s on the way.”
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From left: Travis, Alanna, Clara and Murray Bechard
They’ve also been playing the mobile virtual reality game Pokemon Go since 2016 and Alanna says there’s a Pokemon gym located in the park. The virtual gym allows participants to battle the Pokemon of rival teams.
For someone who is more familiar with the Canadian Shield terrain around Sudbury, the prairie landscape along the Trans-Canada Highway is a welcomed sight.
“I like seeing all the cornfields and the sunflower fields. We don’t really see that in Ontario, so to me, it’s interesting driving by all the farms,” she said. “I know maybe Manitoba people find it boring, but I really like it.”
jura.mcilraith@freepress.mb.ca