Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 11:38:58 -0400
From: jk@mmalt.guild.org (Jayne Kulikauskas)
Subject: Canadian Canoeists


Two young men are travelling across Canada by canoe in order to develop 
AIDS awareness and raise money for AIDS research. Roman Rockliffe and 
Frank Wolf are more than half-way through their westward jourey and are 
now outside of North Battleford, Sask.  They started from the coast of 
New Brunswick in April and hope to be in Vancouver by November 3.  They 
will be the first to complete the coast to coast journey in only one 
canoeing season.

From the time when only the aboriginal tribes lived here, Canadian 
history has been characterized by canoeing.  With the coming of 
Europeans, it was the mode of transport of explorers looking for the 
route to the Orient, missionaries spreading their faith, and 
coureurs-de-bois making their fortunes in the fur trade.  Frank and 
Roman are linked to these canoeists of the past.  The vast country of 
Canada has been mapped but researchers explore the tiny AIDS virus.  
Educators spread the message that AIDS is not a "gay disease", but 
threatens us all.  And it takes a fortune to fund this research and the 
education.

Roman came to a dramatic realization of the population at risk for AIDS 
when he was teaching English in Nigeria.  Almost half of the children in 
his school died of AIDS during the year he was there.  This challenged 
the North American stereotype that AIDS is a just a problem for gay men.  
He experienced personally what most of us only see as U.N. statistics: 
women and children suffer from AIDS too.  In fact, currently in North 
America, new cases of HIV are reported among women more than any other 
group. Inspired by the examples of Terry Fox and Rick Hansen, Roman
combined his love of the outdoors with the need to take action against 
this frightening disease, deciding to cross Canada by canoe as a 
fundraising campaign.  Many people were interested in accompanying 
Roman.  He was able to choose the extremely well qualified Frank, an 
experienced canoeist and outdoorsman, to help carry out the plan.

This plan has not met with smooth sailing (or even smooth paddling).  
They have been unable to arrange sponsorship for the entire trip.  One 
major corporation was willing to sponsor them if the men would change 
the goal of the fundraising to be something other than AIDS research.  
They were, however, unwilling to do this.  In the absense of a sponsor, 
Frank and Roman are paying for their expenses from their own savings.  
The media have not given the expected publicity to the first one season 
trans-Canada canoe trip. Probably due to this lack of publicity, 
fundraising has not been as successful as hoped.  They have also 
encountered prejudice and negative comments from people assuming that 
they must be gay if they care about AIDS.  <sigh>  Another setback in 
the physically arduous journey has been Roman's injuring his shoulders.  
Despite all these problems they are determined to continue.

Roman's mother, Beverlie, is completely supportive of "Roman's project" 
as she calls it.  She is most concerned about the upcoming portage from 
Edmonton to Jasper, when they will be wheeling the canoe along the 
highway.  She has been contacting car companies without success, looking 
for someone to supply a van to keep them company for this part of the 
journey.  She plans to meet the young men at the end of the trip in 
Vancouver and is trying to arrange media coverage for the event.  She is 
also selling fundraising T-shirts for $17 out of her home. She can be 
reached at (905) 844-6952.  She is not on email but I will relay 
messages to her.  I can be reached at jayne@mmalt.guild.org

There are several ways to help:

Please repost this message to *appropriate* (please don't spam) 
newsgroups and mailing lists.   Use access to publicity to make this 
voyage known.

The men would appreciate meeting people along the route, seeing some 
friendly faces and perhaps being treated to a hot meal.  Pierre Trudeau 
took them to lunch in Montreal, but they are just as happy to see "just 
folks".  If you think you can do this, contact Beverlie for details 
about where and when to meet them.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so at any branch of Canada 
Trust, account #506900, where it is will be channelled through 
Photograghers and Friends United against AIDS into reasearch and 
awareness programs.  If you find the number difficult to remember, the 
bank also recognizes the name "C2C Expedition".  This is easy to recall, 
since it sounds like "sea to sea" and stands for "coast to coast".  It 
also stands for "caring 2 canoeists".