There are places in Deep Bay—a meteor-created section of Reindeer Lake in northern Saskatchewan—where the waters reach depths of 250 metres, which is roughly comparable to Slocan Lake. And according to the Cree locals who have lived there for more than a thousand years, this is the home of a nocturnal, Ogopogo-esque monster.
“That whole area of northern Saskatchewan is dotted with lakes, all over the place, that are the result of the retreating glaciers. Who knows? Perhaps some relic dinosaur could exist in the deep water, deposited there at the end of the last ice age,” Kootenay author Art Joyce told the Star, having recently returned from filming a reality TV episode of Nordic Lodge on the topic.
“From the Cree people I interviewed, it sounds pretty benign. They consider it a somewhat elusive and gentle creature. I interviewed one elder who had only caught a glimpse of it. This particular gentleman was 68 and had lived and hunted and fished on Reindeer Lake all his life. It was during one of those fishing trips that he saw it.”
Joyce was initially contacted for the opportunity by fellow Nelsonite Dawn Bird, who currently works in the Regina film industry. The two have been friends for decades.
“She called me up about 3, 4 weeks ago and said ‘well, I’ve got a job offer for you and you’ve got one hour to make up your mind’. She explained to me that the show’s director Chris Triffo was looking for a writer and researcher who had an expertise in mythology.”
That was right up his alley.
During filming, Joyce worked with an unmanned, remotely operated vehicle that filmed the depths of the ancient meteor impact. He said working with Triffo was a pleasure.
“Chris has a long resume of producing similar kinds of programs for Discovery and the History Channel, but this has never happened to me before. It gave me an opportunity in the context of what is really light entertainment to inject some substance with my knowledge of mythology.”
He had a blast filming.
“For me, while I was there I kept saying ‘this is just too cool for words’. The opportunity to work with a professional film crew was amazing. Everyone was thoroughly on top of their game and easy to get along with. There was no big egos clashing around the set. The crew was made up of super friendly, down-to-earth guys who absolutely knew their stuff. It was wonderful to be a part of.”
To watch previous episodes of Nordic Lodge or keep up to date on the airing visit citytv.com/saskatchewan/shows/nordic-lodge.
