For a kid bullied for his lack of athletic prowess and thus branded a wimp, two places provided solace and profoundly influenced Mike Ford’s life.
Ford says he grew up in Thornhill, Ont., a suburb of Toronto, in what he calls an assimilated French-Canadian family, in spite of which he was still targeted by bullies and considered an outsider.
He is now a successful singer-songwriter who travels to high schools in the GTA, bringing Canadian history to life through polka, rap, folk and ballad. He calls his presentation “Canada Needs You” and, diverging from his usual high school demographic, performed at Carleton’s Kailash Mital Theater Jan. 13.
However, as a child, his two places of refuge were a ravine and the local library. The ravine was behind Ford’s house.
It was home to a 30-foot pine tree, although Ford says it “seemed more like 100 feet” at the time. He describes how he would climb right up to the trunk and “shoot right up the middle as though it were a spiral staircase.”
From there, he would look out at the trees, rivers, and other ravines. This oasis was what generated Mike Ford’s “devotion towards the outdoor experience.”
Another place Ford says he knew the bullies would never go was the library, his perpetual hideout. It was just down the street from where J.E.H MacDonald, one of the Group of Seven, was spending his later years; the library sign was painted by MacDonald’s son.
It was in the library Ford’s “intense love of books” was cultivated, and one book in particular continues to echo in his life today. Paddle-to-the-Sea tells the story of a boat that makes its way from the Great Lakes all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
“My places,” as Ford calls them, were not just for hiding from bullies. He was one of nine children, five boys and four girls, and needed a place to call his own.
Soon, Ford and his family had to move to a more suburban part of town, which meant leaving behind his ravine. But shortly after arriving at the new house, he and his brother discovered another gorge. Into its rock wall they carved a tribute to Paddle-to-the-Sea: a paddler seated in a small boat.
Ford says he got to experience the story of Paddle-to-the-Sea firsthand when he spent three weeks with his friend David Francey aboard a laker, “a ship the size of two-and-a-half soccer fields,” travelling from Montreal to Thunder Bay and back. That trip inspired the CD Seaway, co-written by the two friends.
Ford relates that the ravine and the library are what created his abiding love for place.
“I don’t think that south Ontario is more special than anywhere else in the world. In fact, I would hope that if I had grown up in Cameroon, that that would be the most special place for me. I’m just inspired by people devoted to their place,” he says.
He even calls it a “duty to place,” an enduring love for the place you are from.
This importance of place is reflected in Ford’s songwriting techniques. When he was writing a song about Thomas D’Arcy McGee, the Father of Confederation who was shot on Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa, Ford came to Ottawa and walked down Sparks St, pausing to sit on benches that dotted the way, jotting down notes as he went.
The theme of the Great Lakes also comes out in the song Les Voyageurs, a humorous take on the fur trade.
Last Christmas, Ford says his wife Therese gave him Paddle-to-the-Sea as a gift. He says he was moved that she had remembered this book’s significance in his childhood, as he had not placed the book on his Christmas list.
He recounts he had not held one in his hands for many years, and it brought back so many memories of his childhood. Another childhood experience he says he would like to revisit would be to climb a pine tree, something he has not done since he was eight years old.
He admits that “if the library and the ravine hadn’t been there, I would be a very different person today.” He considers himself one of the “luckiest people alive,” as his job allows him to delve into his love of books, nature, and place, sharing that love with his wife, family, and the students he sings to.