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But which is François Beiger !
Born
in Strasbourg on December 16, 1945, small cousin of Dr. Albert Schweitzer.
Thereafter,
its life is a dream of child... A
dream moulted by the passion which took its reality thanks to courage and entêtement.
A dream as so many men made of it, but that little saw taking life.
It was once ...
In 1953, at the 8 years age, François Beiger crossed in Strasbourg, its birthplace, in a room of conferences, a giant as magnetic as the pole and which carried three first names: Paul-Emile Victor, come to testify in person that the dreams, when they are very strong, are carried out. Even if that can take time. Disc jockey, organizer, racing driver, mountaineer, dress designer during sixteen years in Paris then in Switzerland under his own mark (François B), François Beiger joined his dream while walking out of crab on sinuous paths.
In 1979, it acquires of its first pups Siberian-Husky and begins the breeding with an aim of working with them.
In 1982, it takes part in its first race of sledge with dogs.
In 1986, it melts the Swiss Club of the Sports of huskies as well as the International Federation of the sports of sledge with dogs (FISTC) with his friend Serge Morel.
In 1988 and 89, he is a bronze medal-holder to the championships of Europe.
In 1989, he becomes champion of France.
In
1991, it leaves in forwarding to Russia then to Alaska.
THE
CALL OF THE FAR NORTH
But, this browser in the heart had quarante-six years when it left to settle in Quebec, 1991, with his 11 dogs and 920 dollars out of pocket. Its life resembles from now on its dream of child: initially, some share in the medium of great spaces and nature, it lives during three years with its dogs and knew to be made adopt by the Amérindienne community of Atikamekws. It shares their huntings and their adventures, time recalled in its book " Eleven dogs, a man, a passion " Harmattan edition. Thereafter, it leaves each winter with his faithful companions to four legs to traverse the Canadian Far North until Nunavik. During its many forwardings (as a recluse or the capacity as guide) it apprehended all the mysteries and the dangers of this hostile environment. It lived with Inuit and learned how to know their culture. It côtoyé all the fauna of Canada: wolves, lynx, moose, stag of Virginia, black bear, beaver, polar bear, caribou, seal, beluga, Arctic wolf, Morse etc... A challenge then another, raids in forwardings, " French ", as it is called, made his hole in snow, gained the hard regard of the men of the cold.
CENTER
INTERPRETATION OF THE DOGSLEDDING
In
1995, extremely of all its experiment and
its passions, it settles at 75 minutes of Montreal and creates the first center
of interpretation of the husky and nature in Quebec.
This very famous place in Quebec is single in its kind - With its
breeding entering more than 60 dogs, Siberian-Husky and Inuit dogs of Canada,
all of pure race, and also a maternity includes/understands - a museum where one
finds the history of the husky through the ages.
Where you will discover its films which it makes in the Far North - a
significant exposure of photographs on the Arctic, Inuit, Indians, testimony of
the many raids and forwardings that François Beiger made - a permanent exposure
of the many objects and Inuit craft industry that François Beiger collects.
Moreover, it organizes for impassioned great spaces and adventures, raids
with its dogs, with discovered Great White Silence, where only the whistle of
the shoes of the sledges and halètement of the dogs are made hear thus that
voyages in summer with discovered nature and its fauna, always accompanied by
Inuit or Indians.
"
NUNAVIK 99 " with
the meeting of Inuit in dogsledding.
Impassioned, enthralling, the explorer François Beiger likes the great challenges.
In
1997, it decides to assemble the project which him trotte at the head since
1994. To make the turn of Nunavik
with 16 of his/her companions with four with legs.
Thus it will prepare during two years forwarding: " Nunavik 99 ". To explore, discover, meet the people of the cold, to learn, share, give a direction so that it undertakes. Here are its priorities. It will give four goals to this forwarding.
Goals:
cultural - ethnological - humanitarian -
teaching It is on January 19, 1999 that it leaves Chisasibi, an Indian village
Cri on the James bay. While
rejoining 12 Inuit villages it will join Kuujjuaq located at the south of bay of
Ungava. Kuujjuaq is also the
capital of Nunavik with its 1500 inhabitants.
A tour of 2800 kilometers. Three
months in the tundra and on the ice-barrier.
To the village of Kuujjuarapik, term of its first stage, during four days,
it will accomodate Sophie, Jacqueline, Yvan and Rodolphe, all four mentally
handicapped persons and ambassador of Snowdrop, the association rested by Lino
Ventura. François Beiger,
accompanied by Inuit, their prepared a work programme:
construction of an igloo, fishes under the ice, meets with the children
Inuit of the school and of course a walk in sledge with dogs...
April
7, 1999, after 2800 kilometers of traversed, 9 storms of blizzard, the
explorer François Beiger arrives at
Kuujjuaq, in greatest discretion. He
has just grown rich by an extraordinary human experiment.
A
FILM - A BOOK
Throughout
forwarding it makes a film of 52 mn: "
NUNAVIK 99 ". François
Beiger with his " Kids " as it calls them, trace a white wire in the
tundra with the danger of the storms of blizzard. He makes share this relation that he has with his dogs, he
takes along us to discover the Inuit people and their culture in the villages
which he crosses. All this white
wire is marked print which it carries on the mental handicap through glances of
Sophie, Jacqueline, Yvan and Rodolphe. It
is not a report, but a testimony of the world of white Silence.
The film is in official selection with the International Festival of Film
of Exploring Jules Verne, in Paris, in November 1999.
Its book "
Nunavik 99 "
with the meeting of Inuits in
sledge with dogs, (Évasion edition Ventures Natural), true notebook
of snow where it revives its unforgettable moments that it passed, only on the
ice-barrier and the tundra.
CONFERENCES
Recognized
and loved lecturer, per many organizations, it captivates his public by his
accounts told with passion and his images.
He undertook a round of 40 cities in France, in autumn 1999 to share this
expedition NUNAVIK 99.
Large defender of nature and its environment, it explains it with
intelligence and clearness. He
knows perfectly the people of the cold, Inuit and certain Indian nations.
AUTH
With
writing several reports on the autochtones of Canada. Author of two books of accounts of browsings.
He is also the author of a collection, "
Strange Nature " with the editions Bilboquet, several novels of
adventures for youth, from 7 to 97 years, which all impregnated of are lived.
THE
FOUNDATION
The mental handicap is a cause which is due to heart François Beiger. He is the father of a 27 year old son, Xavier, who is trisomic. He knows very well what the animal, and especially the husky, can bring to the mental handicapped people. The zoothérapie is not an idea in the air, on the contrary. The handicapped people should be helped to open out. The mood and the blooming of the mental handicapped person depend much on the image that one returns to them them-even.
In
1998, François Beiger creates the Foundation for Trisomy in Quebec.
The purpose of this foundation is to offer to the mentally handicapped
persons possibilities of holidays with activities of full air in various adapted
centers of holidays. But is also to
make it possible to them to be able to make voyages and exceptional activities,
out of the commun run.
The
Foundation has also as a role to defend the rights of the mental handicapped
people and to make so that their integration in our modern world and with close
to the young people is done in the respect.
It is still to inform the parents of these handicapped people of the
various possibilities and activities.
" Dreams and Challenges Youth " Its new project, " Dreams and Challenges Youth " will be especially the project of French and French-speaking youth. A homage to Paul-Emile Victor. A project with very precise goals:
- History -
- Teaching -
-
Humanitarian
a which project joined together two events:
TransAlpes PEV 2001 and Expedition
"
Kalaallit Nunaat 2002 " the crossing of Greenland West to
East with its huskies.
All this project is to be discovered on the Internet site:
www.frbeiger.com
DOGSLEDDING COMPANION OF
EXPLORER
It
is a dog which, the first, pressed the exact site of the North Pole, April 6,
1909. It is still a dog, which, the
first, arrived at the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
the companion husky of the browser, remains one of the mysteries of the
Arctic. These splendid animals, to
the sumptuous fur, the almond eyes, the glance boring and intriguing belong to a
strange world that few men can be flattered to know and even less to include/understand.
François Beiger has raised his pack for more than 20 years.
A
WORK OF... DOG
The
dogs are true athletes. At the
beginning one called them " dogs eskimos " or " Inuit Dogs
". They can be used either
like dog of feature, or like dog of pack. But,
for a few years, its beauty has made some, unfortunately a " dog of mode
" and few people know truly his character and its destiny. The relation with the man is capital for the husky going down
from the wolf, it was accustomed to live with the human ones to which it offered
its force. It was used by the
wandering people of the Far North to draw food and hardware on snow.
On its side, the animal, made for this task because of its resistance to
the cold and the effort, needed the man for his lodging and its pitance.
AN
ANCESTOR, THE WOLF
They
are marvellous with, however, of the deep psychic differences.
But, all like the pack and hate loneliness.
Hunter, the husky has a common behavior and instincts which point out its
ancestor, the wolf. It respects a
social hierarchy in the pack with dominating which is essential as being the dog
as extremely physically as psychiquement. The
huskies communicate between them by various attitudes, mimicry indicating the
tender, the provocation, the invitation with play... etc.
One counts five races of huskies:
The
Inuit dog of Greenland.
He comes us
from the Inuit people of Greenland. Husky
rustic, a little wild, little adapted to the role of dog of company.
The
Inuit dog of Canada.
Cousin
of the Greenlander, raised by Inuit of Canadian north, the same type and even
character, it is necessary to be very firm in his education.
He has a very large respect towards the human being.
Malamute
of Alaska.
Originating
in Alaska, raised by the community of Malliumiut, it is very powerful and enough
brawler with his fellow-members. It
is often called " the engine of snows " but it is less fast than the
others.
Samoyède.
It is probably nearest to the
primitive dog. It comes from the
community of Samoèdes. Populate
wandering not far from Lapland. These
people used it as dog shepherd for the herds of reindeers.
Robust and gracious, its hair long and is provided.
The
Siberian Husky.
Most
known, it was raised by the community of Tchouktchis which came from the
North-East of Siberia. Area of the
lake Baïkal. The name " Husky
" wanted to say in its time, enroué.
That comes from the enroué howl of this dog.
Only dog which can have the blue, maroon eyes or minnows (a blue and a
chestnut).
In
1867, the Russians sell to the Americans the territory Alaskan and one finds
Tchouktchis in Alaska after having crossed the strait of Bering.
It is in 1908, that the American William Goosak, merchant of fur, import
the first attachment of Siberian-Husky. Thereafter
one finds these same dogs in the race All Alaskan Sweepstake, thanks to a young
Ecossais immigrant of the name of Fox Maule Ramsey.
Thus the Siberianone was going to conquer and dominate the races in North
America.
INUIT,
THOUSAND-year-old PEOPLE
In
the Far North, the winter is an interminable twilight which is never damaged in
the total darkness. It is a long
silence. In the Far North, one
finds there a peace and a major softness which one appreciates still more when
one knew the storm of the blizzard which sweeps this landscape and there made
steal in any direction the powder mill, glares of snow and ice, which whip you
and prick you the face as the needles of the acupuncturist.
It
is in this medium and on these grounds (ground = "
NUNA " in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit people), that
generations of Inuit live by benefitting the best from the resources of nature.
The environment provided them a multitude of richnesses. Snow was used to them to manufacture their dwellings of
winter, the igloo. The plants were
used as medicinal potions. The
animals constituted the principal food source for Inuit of which the skins were
used to them to make clothing, their camping of summer, the sledges, the kayak
and well of other things. With the
bones they worked weapons, tools, toys for the children.
Grease, melted once, gave them the ' combustible uile for lighting and
allowed them to heat the dwellings.
The life of Inuit was hard but they were animated by a very strong feeling of membership in the natural environment. Since, their life changed. Sedentarises in villages, Inuit have all the modernism that the white man their brought without sometimes giving the explanations of them. Motoneige, motor boat, television, telephone by satellite, Internet.... But, Inuit, in therefore did not give up or did not change the links which link them with the territory and its resources. This is why they continue to transmit to the young people the heritage received from their elder
The life of Inuit was hard but they were animated by a very strong feeling of membership in the natural environment. Since, their life changed. Sédentarisés in villages, Inuit have all the modernism that the white man their brought without sometimes giving the explanations of them. Motoneige, motor boat, television, telephone by satellite, Internet.... But, Inuit, in therefore did not give up or did not change the links which link them with the territory and its resources. This is why they continue to transmit to the young people the heritage received from their elder