Songs, stories, adventure, and Canadian pride are all on the docket for a fundraiser that will help fund the restoration of Keene United Church.
To welcome guests back into the sanctuary following the construction that has transpired throughout the summer, acclaimed author, explorer, and cultural geographer James Raffan will be staging “The Accidental Canadian” for one night only on Saturday, November 15 at 7 p.m. Through songs, pictures, and stories, Raffan will share a light-hearted and thought-provoking exploration covering 50 years of Arctic travels.
The fundraiser is expected to raise the final amount needed to reach the $375,000 goal needed for the “Restore, Renew, and Refresh” project, organized by church members Peter Elmhirst and Jim Glenn. When complete, the project will see the interior walls and ceiling of the church sanctuary, narthex, and bell tower refurbished, alongside minor exterior restorations.
“It’s an amazing feat for a small community to bring that much money into the project,” says Anne Marshall of Elmhirst’s Resort, who was instrumental in bringing Raffan’s show to Keene. “When you drive in, you’re seeing autumn colours and the church steeple, so it’s a part of the landscape of Keene, and I think that’s why people are so ‘keen’ on making sure that it’s looked after.”
When he comes to Peterborough County, Raffan will bring with him a nationally acclaimed resume that includes earning a doctorate in cultural geography, writing several bestselling books, leading expeditions across northern Canada, and speaking and writing across the country.
Raffan was also the executive director of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough from 2007 to 2011 and a close friend of Kirk Wipper, the founder of the museum who Raffan tells stories about throughout the show.
“It’s been a great privilege for me to spend 50 years enjoying the welcome of people all across the country and across the circumpolar world,” says Raffan. “The energy of those welcomes and those lessons that people have brought me are wrapped into this show which is a little bit different.”
The title of the show comes from his own self-professed label, the result of his British parents flipping a coin to decide whether they would move to Canada or South Africa after World War II. That’s how Raffan and his three sisters became “accidental Canadians.”
Raffan describes the show as a “revealing” of his understanding of the country, following the arc of his life through adventures, beginning in the valley of the Speed River in southwestern Ontario, where he first got connected to Canada through its waterways.
“It’s really just about growing up and (having) an emerging understanding that Canada is a nation of rivers,” Raffan says. “Audiences are taken into Canada through my fascination with canoes, and then it goes into what the travel in the hinterland has taught me and takes you to some of the heroes I’ve met (along the way).”
This includes stories about a bush pilot in the Ottawa Valley named Ronnie Bowes who became the pilot with the greatest number of hours on a De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, a Canadian float plane.
Each story Raffan tells throughout “The Accidental Canadian” is paired with an original song. Though he has always been a storyteller and music has always been one of his mediums, this is the first time he is sharing this passion publicly because he wanted to do something that was “challenging and maybe even a little bit scary.”
VIDEO: The Legend of Ronnie Bowes by James Raffan (2021)
“Music connects with people in ways that straight-up verbal storytelling doesn’t,” Raffan says. “I’ve seen now from performing this show in Ontario and, most recently, in Nova Scotia, that it does give a kind of emotional connection to people that I find really gratifying.”
When he first premiered the show in late March in his hometown of Seeley’s Bay in eastern Ontario, the “Elbows Up” movement was just gaining traction in response to tariff and other threats from the Trump administration. This, Raffan says, not only informs how people understand the story, but also how he continues to share it.
“The show is really reaffirming some of the values that have been articulated by Canadians in response to the threat of annexation by the U.S.,” he says. “As I’ve been massaging the show — not rewriting it, but fine-tuning it — some of those points about what Canada is and how it’s different from its neighbours are getting highlighted.”
“At the end of it, you come away feeling really great to be Canadian,” says Marshall of Raffan’s show, which she saw when it premiered in Seeley’s Bay.
Though Raffan will soon be taking “The Accidental Canadian” out west, he says being able to bring it to Keene first gives him a “warm feeling.”
“I have a real soft spot in my heart for the people and the places around because, although I never lived in Peterborough the whole time I was at the museum, I got to know so many people and felt the energy,” he says. “I’m also really looking forward to the fact that it’s tied to the fundraiser for the church and to be able to give them a hand doing that brings me a lot of joy.”
Making it even more of a monumental moment, the last time Raffan stepped foot in Keene United Church was to offer a eulogy to Wipper — who passed away in 2011 at the age of 87 — who he says was one of his “great mentors.”
“It’s kind of a hallowed place for me personally because of that event, but I know that in the audience will be many people who supported the Canadian Canoe Museum,” Raffan says. “I’m not formally associated with the museum anymore, but I do have a great spot in my heart for that as a focal point in the Peterborough area for me and for many others.”
Above all, his hope for the show is to take people out of their own lives for even just a few minutes.
“There’s a lot of things that you and I worry about in our lives that bring stress to us, but in this case the music transcends all that,” Raffan says. “I’ve been really enjoying doing the show and looking forward to making it a memorable experience for the people who come to Keene.”
Tickets to The Accidental Canadian cost $40 and can be purchased through e-transfer to treasurerkuc@gmail.com or through Lina Albert at Trailers Plus and Anne Marshall.
To learn more about James Raffan, visit jamesraffan.ca.
