Our Story's Meandering Timeline:
Currently run by the family’s third generation, Madawaska Kanu Centre’s story begins as the vision of Christa & Hermann Kerckhoff. Winning the individual Canadian Whitewater Kayak Champion title in 1968 the couple was inspired to get more paddlers out on rivers. The first whitewater school in the world was born. Modelled after the European ski school concept where paddlers are divided into skill level groups, good food, and a great atmosphere lead to the ‘Rapid Education’ we know as MKC today! The Madawaska River location became the river of choice with its technical rapids and guaranteed surface water releases providing warm whitewater all summer long.
The Van Wijk Family
Our Sustainability Story
This river and this forest have been our home now for 50 years. The Algonquin and Anishinabek people have lived here for time immor. We hold the responsibility to ensure it will continue to thrive for future generations. This watershed is our home, our work, our community and our playground.
The Riverside Restaurant & Café: We take our waste seriously! Our food waste is either composted to feed our gardens, or fed directly to our neighbours’ ethically and sustainably raised pigs and chickens. All of our meals and snacks are served with reusable plates, cups, and cutlery, which are washed with eco-friendly products. We source much of our food from local organic producers, and we grow many of our own herbs and edible flowers.
Water: By using low-flow and composting toilets, waterless urinals, and low flow showerheads, we minimize our water consumption as much as possible. Our water is treated with UV, so it’s delicious and safe without the use of any chemicals.
We’ve recently integrated river water quality monitoring into our paddling programs, using Water Rangers test kits. Working with stakeholders in our watershed, we help monitor and track temperatures and river levels that are an important spawning ground for walleye.
The Shop: We avoid single-use plastics at all costs! We only sell drinks that are packaged in glass. Anything that can be recycled is sorted and taking to a recycling depot once a week. We are phasing out disposable take-out cups from our café (once we run out, we won’t be purchasing more). When a product we sell arrives in single-use packaging, we contact our supplier with ideas on how this could be improved.
More Waste Info: By using TruEarth Laundry strips to wash our linens, we’ve eliminated another source of plastic waste and transportation costs. Every year we do a roadside clean-up, removing litter and from ditches within an 8 km radius, and waterways. In our office, both sides of every piece of paper are used (It’s a small thing, and small things count).
Energy and Carbon: To help offset our carbon footprint, we partner with Tomorrow’s Air and climeworks to remove 85kg of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. We are investigating the feasibility of installing solar panels to increase our sustainable energy usage. All of our lights are low wattage LEDs. Our staff choose to live in completely off-grid accommodations, using zero electricity for the entire summer!
Education: By bringing more people into the River World, we hope to inspire, deepen and build people’s care and love for our environment.
Next Steps: We have signed the Sustainable Tourism 2030 Pledge, to demonstrate our commitment to improving the sustainability of our business between now and 2030.
The UN World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”
Each year, we are committing to measure and improve our sustainability performance, focusing on the creation of a sustainability management system, guest and employee engagement with our sustainability efforts, decreasing our energy usage, and improving our water conservation efforts.
Meet the 2023 Management Team!
We are so happy to have this incredible team dedicated to the MKC experience
Jérôme Côté-Jacob
He/Him. We don’t know what he loves more, whitewater or working hard. After leading the rafting team for several years, this summer he’ll be one of our course managers, taking the lead on making sure you have the best experience possible.
Stefi Van Wijk
She/Her. Born to the world of white water, Stefi has been paddling all of her life! As the Director of MKC, she shares her passion for the river with the world. Her smile and warmth will have you feeling instantly at home as she welcomes you to MKC!
Greg Okimi
He/Him. Calm and competent, Greg takes care of us all! He’s the communication master of MKC, as well as our problem solving connoisseur. Look forward to speaking with him to book your paddling vacation!
Billie Shipton
They/Them. Billie is an experienced whitewater canoeist who loves the river, as much as they love making high quality and creative meals. Billie has loads of experience making food look amazing and taste amazing! You’ll find yourself well-fed while you’re here at MKC, so give a hearty thank you to Billie whenever you get a chance.
Alastair Watson
He/Him. From Zero to Hero, you could say, Alastair’s depth of knowledge, whitewater passion and ability to share it has soared in an incredibly short amount of time. He has made whitewater his life, and is absolutely looking forward to sharing it with you as MKC’s co-course manager, for his 2nd season.
Roxy Williams
She/Her. With an overflowing heart, Roxy will create beautiful, deeply nourishing food and make sure every paddler has what they need! She is an absolute artiste with her paintbrush and her spatulas! Managing this chef team for her second season now, Roxy is why we’re always excited for that dinner bell.
Saskia Recke-Smith
She/Her. Saskia lives to bake people’s dreams come true. She’s got flair to spare and wears her fierce love for food on her sleeve. From sourdough challah the way her grandmother made it, to fresh sweet treats to satisfy cravings at the end of a solid river day, Saskia has all our backs when it comes to our meals. Co-managing the kitchen with Roxy, we’ve got ourselves the dreamiest, teamiest kitchen steam!
Katrina Van Wijk
She/Her. Katrina wows. She has an ability to effortlessly paddle challenging rapids or glide gracefully down precipitous mountain slopes. With her supportive laughter, she helps you believe that you can too! Katrina takes care of all of our design needs here at MKC and keeps things looking extra beautiful.
Alexandra Dougherty
She/Her. MKC’s newest manager, Alex is excited to guide both rafts and raft guides this season. She’s a passionate outdoor professional, loving to bring the learning of the outside to as many people as possible. Her enthusiasm won’t allow you to have a bad time on the Madawaska!