Angus Simpson's dream is to make a living building birchbark canoes
Scot was fascinated by "bushcraft" inspired by television shows featuring outdoor survival expert Ray Mears
While living in Scotland, Angus Simpson took a map of Ontario and stuck a pin in it to choose his new home.
The pin hit the city of North Bay.
Angus, who had just graduated from engineering school, knew he wanted to live closer to nature.
"I come from Scotland, which is a beautiful landscape, but it has lost its top predators — its wolves and bears — from hunting. It's fantastic to come to a place that's so wild," said Simpson.
Growing up he was fascinated by "bushcraft" inspired by television shows featuring outdoor survival expert Ray Mears.
Simpson considered Canada as "the ultimate wilderness."
After moving to North Bay in 2013, Simpson found work in the mining industry, but he keeps his summers free to build birch bark canoes.
"It's kind of like the holy grail of survival skills in bush craft," said Simpson of the canoe. "It's such a beautiful form of taking these natural materials and building such a beautiful and functional craft."
Simpson took a course with canoe-builder Tom Byers, learning the skills from peeling bark from the forest to assembling and sealing the canoe using bear fat and tree sap.
He has launched a one-man company called Wildwood Birchbark Canoes.
"If I could be a full-time birch bark canoe builder, I would love that. It's a skill fewer and fewer people and doing. I think it's really important to keep it alive," said Simpson.
Despite having found the wilderness he longed for, Simpson has not forgotten his roots.
"You move to another place, you want to become part of the society, but you also want to keep hold to where you came from," he told CBC.
"So I decided to take up the bagpipes."
Simpson now plays with the Callander and District Pipe Band south of North Bay.
