EYE ON LABRADOR

Eye on Labrador -

Labradorians, and many others, are in mourning.

Last week's tragic accident on the Churchill River that claimed the lives of three young men underscores just how dangerous a playground the Big Land can be. A land of extremes, a natural, largely unspoiled playground offering breathtaking beauty and jaw-dropping danger all at the same time.

I remember arriving in Labrador in spring 2005. One of the first things I saw was a bunch of teenage boys skipping their sleds across a huge puddle near Happy Valley-Goose Bay's Tim Horton's. It was a high-octane eye-opener; I'd just moved from the back woods of New Brunswick and figured I'd pretty much seen it all in terms of young men being daredevils.

I was wrong.

A few weeks after arriving, I reported on the tragic death of a young man from the south coast who'd tried to skip his sled across the mouth of a fast-flowing river. He didn't make it.

Soon after that I was chatting to a couple of newly found friends, who offered to take me on a snowmobiling trip into the Mealy Mountains so I could learn about the region. What were the trails like, I asked. They laughed. Trails? What trails? We each have a GPS and supplies. Oh, and by the way, they said, it gets pretty steep and a bit dangerous.

I didn't wind up going on that trip - work commitments, as they often do for many people, got in the way. But I held my breath a little after that group left, and didn't really exhale properly until I knew they had returned safely.

That tightness in the chest returned last week.

Three young men, all students with apparently very bright futures, had gone on a trip up the river with their partners and found a boat sitting on the side of the river. Boys being boys, they apparently decided to jump in for a quick paddle.

It turned out to be a tragic decision, but I have to ask: how many people out there have done something risky? Something that later might have led them to think, "Gee, I was lucky to get away with that?" That's right - every single one of us.

So it pained me to see online commenters on several news websites criticizing the boys for not wearing lifejackets, or even to ask whether the boys were there were there to protest the Lower Churchill development.

I had to wonder - did those people even read the news stories? The boys didn't go up to the river intending to go for a joyride. The boat just happened to be there, and they made a spur-of-the-moment decision. Certainly it wasn't a good decision, but again, how many of us have done something like that?

Also, there's a good chance the people making those callous online comments haven't ever made the trek from the Trans-Labrador Highway to see the 15-metre waterfall that claimed the boys' lives. I've seen some pretty big rapids before; those rapids are amongst the most dangerous I've ever seen, and I'm 100 per cent sure the boys had no intention of trying to go over them. Chances are they simply paddled out in the calmer waters, went out a little too far, got caught in the current and were unable to do anything to avoid being pulled over.

It was, plain and simple, a tragic accident in a land of breathtaking beauty and, sometimes, gut-wrenching danger.

Perhaps those choosing to criticize the victims should first put themselves in the shoes of the boys' partners and families, who are undoubtedly shattered right now.

Perhaps then those online experts might think twice before wading into a discussion to which they have no emotional attachment and not nearly enough knowledge of the area to make an informed comment.

Andrew Waugh, former editor of the Labradorian, writes from Dartmouth, NS