Walkers of the North

Samuel Hearne (1745-1792), the walker of the North

Samuel Hearne, an explorer and a fur trader of the Hudson Bay Company, was looking for the North-West passage by rivers and seas. “The Walker of the North” succeeded in the first crossing trough the tundra departing from Churchill, on the Hudson Bay, between 1770 and 1772.
We came upon his travel narrative partly due to the French sailor, La Pérouse. Hearne was imprisoned in Prince -of-Wales Harbor in 1782 by La Pérouse, who confiscated his notes. Yet, La Pérouse gave back his writings to Hearne on the condition that they were to be published. The narrative only came out in 1792, a few days before Samuel Hearne's death.
Learn more on Samuel Hearne with wikipedia

In Yellowknife, the visitor can see the two references to Hearne's journey, the Hearne Hill Road in the Old Town and the Matonabee Street close to the city centre.

Marie-Hélène Fraïssé

Marie Hélène Fraïssé is the godmother of the expedition.

Journalist, writer and reporter, she is passioned with first nations people and north american cultures.
Radio producer at France Culture, she is the author of many books upon north america exploration and history. She has establisehd the french edition of the Samuel Hearne's journal in 2002.
She won the price Champlain in 2006 for her overall achievements.

Bibliography

A Journey from Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean, by Samuel Hearne.