Caleb Nickerson
OTTAWA Dec. 1, 2017
A local entrepreneur recently got the chance of a lifetime: to appear with a Canadian legend in front of a crowd of thousands.
Sylvain Drapeau owns and operates Escapade Eskimo, a dogsledding company based outside of Otter Lake. This year his company was asked to be a part of the spectacle at the 105th Grey Cup in Ottawa on Nov. 26.
For those that didn’t catch the game, Canadian country crooner Shania Twain performed a set at half-time where she entered the stadium by dogsled, pulled by none other than pups from Drapeau’s pack.

“They contacted me probably a month and a half before the activity,” he said, explaining that he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep the details of the show secret.
Drapeau’s participation came with some ground rules, some from the CFL and some from Drapeau himself.
“I had to be at the front, running with the dogs to lead them because of all the noise and the crowd, the dogs have to follow a trail so they would know where to go,” he explained.
Dreapeau picked a crack team of six of his more seasoned animals.
“I took all the experienced dogs, they were six years and up,” he said. “Most of those dogs went last year when we did the Christmas parade in Aylmer. There was 30,000 people there on the side of the road with noise and … I know they were used to this before.”
Since leading the dogs would leave him occupied, Drapeau enlisted the help of his friend Steve Smith-Fleury – who operates Ferme L’Aventure in Low – to drive the sled.
“We didn’t want to have Shania Twain flipped over,” he said. “I wanted to have a driver with experience, so we asked another business we know to be partners with us.”
Drapeau also had to modify his sled with wheels that fit the stringent regulations of the CFL.
“It was a lot of emails back and forth … for the CFL there’s a lot of rules about what can go on the field and not,” he said, explaining that he bolted casters with rubber wheels to the bottom of the sled and to the back of the skis where the driver stands.
They prepared the big night but Drapeau said that ironically enough, the arrival of snow on game day was a cause for concern.
“It was just more of a stress because we didn’t know if the castor would be good in the snow,” he said. “We practiced on the field with no snow.”
Despite the weather, the pair donned tuxedos and when the time came they mushed Twain out onto the field without a hitch.
They had a bit of trouble getting off the field before the shows fireworks went off, due to the edge of the field being crowded, which resulted in some startled pooches, but thankfully, everything else went according to script.
“We had some communication with the company that hired us in Vancouver, everyone was really pleased with how it worked, our professionalism,” he said.
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