November 24, 1945 – January 23, 2026
After a life spent traveling Canada’s wilderness in wood-canvas canoes, Hugh Stewart died at the age of 80.
Hugh was a loving, loyal, and adventurous partner to Cathie Campbell for 35 years. He was a very proud father to Brandy and Alec, a wonderful stepfather to Ian (Lisa), Robert (Allegra), and Brian (Amber), and Grandpa to Eliot, Rylee, Cayden, Jasper, and Linden. He was a mentor to Jamie and Kate, to whom he passed on his wood-canvas canoe business, Headwaters. Hugh’s wisdom and wit will be deeply missed his many, many, loyal friends.
A self-described “canoe, tree, wood, and wilderness enthusiast,” Hugh began paddling in Northern Ontario in the 1950s as a camper. So began a lifelong passion for traditional wilderness travel and a dedication to its icon, the canoe. Hugh spent his summers guiding canoe trips at Camp Temagami and, in the early 1970s, left his doctoral studies in literature to move to Lake Temagami, where he and Carin ran a wilderness travel business called Headwaters. He moved to Wakefield in 1985 and established a canoe shop under the same name. Every summer except his last, Hugh returned to his beloved Lake Temagami and the camp he co-owned to paddle, repair camp canoes, and mentor its guides.
A custodian of knowledge, Hugh taught hundreds of people the skills of traditional wilderness travel and kept alive the art of building beautiful and functional wood-canvas canoes. In his book Canoe Trails and Shop Tales, he passed on stories and lessons about life in the canoe shop and on the trail. He also re published historical accounts of northern travel with Patrick and Bob, helping to preserve Canada’s literature of the north.
Hugh was an incredibly wise and generous man. He instructed and encouraged countless people in his understated, down-to-earth way. He was a storyteller, both on the page and around the fire. He loved good conversations, good stories, and a bit of gossip. Everyone felt welcome in his home, canoe shop, or gathered around his maple syrup fire in the spring. He read widely, loved dogs, the Sens, ice cream, and playing cribbage with his family at Sunday brunch. He valued living by the rhythms of the seasons and the comforting routines of each day: summers on the trail doing “research and development”; winters in the canoe shop working alongside his colleagues and friends, making sure to pause for coffee and cookies around the wood stove with a dog mooching at his feet.
Hugh and Cathie paddled extensively in Canada’s north. When Hugh was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, they continued travelling those rivers and lakes as long as they could, and then they faced the realities of his illness with the same strength and solid partnership they displayed so often on the trail. Hugh inspired many people with his mental and physical resilience, humour, and courage.
Hugh’s family is deeply grateful to the staff at the CHSLD in Masham for their extraordinary care and compassion during Hugh’s final 19 months there.
A celebration of life will be held in Wakefield in the spring. In lieu of flowers, charitable donations can be made to the Jean Wansbrough Leadership Training Fund at www.jwltf.com/charitable.
