Kayaks, Kenny and copping it from Muldoon: Pioneer's wild ride to world honour

From floating down the Waimakariri River in a tyre inner tube for three days, to touring with future country music star Kenny Rogers, to being sworn at by former prime minister Robert Muldoon, Hugh Canard has packed plenty into his 83 years.

Now the longtime environmental advocate and paddling pioneer has been recognised on the world stage for his contribution to whitewater kayaking and river conservation.

“I’ve always been fascinated by rivers,” Canard said.

Earlier this month he was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame in Canada.

The citation recognised his role in helping make kayaking “an integral part of New Zealand’s cultural, sporting, and environmental heritage” and acknowledged his work establishing New Zealand as a internationally-renowned paddling destination.

Canard began whitewater paddling in the 1960s, exploring South Island rivers in homemade watercraft before kayaks were widely known in New Zealand.

“We didn’t have kayaks back then, we didn’t even know about kayaks.”

He completed a number of dangerous first descents on remote South Island rivers, pioneering routes that later became popular with the whitewater community.

“Some of them in the guidebook said ‘impossible to run’, so I took that as a challenge,” he said.

One of his most memorable adventures was floating down the Waimakariri River in a tyre inner tube from the Southern Alps to the sea – a 150km journey over three days.

“We wanted to see what it was like.”

At the time, Canard was a 19-year-old student. He and a friend caught the steam train to Arthur’s Pass before beginning the journey downstream.

“I was never scared, but I was miserable. It was so cold, we didn’t take enough food.

“I think I had four barley sugars and a banana or something for two days.”

He also remembers attempting the Ashley Gorge and Hurunui rivers from source to sea in 1965.

“I wrecked three boats on the Ashley, and walked out three times. It didn’t put me off.”

In the 1980s, Canard became heavily involved in campaigns against hydroelectric development, helping mobilise outdoor advocates to protect remaining untouched rivers.

The movement helped secure water conservation orders, the highest legal protection available for New Zealand rivers.

Away from the water, Canard also built a reputation in folk music.

Born in Fiji, he learned his first guitar chords there before moving to New Zealand with his family in 1953 at age 10.

He later studied chemical engineering at Canterbury University before switching to environmental engineering.

Canard was a prominent figure in the city’s folk music scene during the 1960s and a founding member of the Christchurch Folk Music Club. He also regularly appeared on regional television programme Town and Around, writing and performing songs based on current events.

In 1967, he joined American folk group The New Christy Minstrels during its New Zealand tour, which included a then little-known Rogers.

Canard toured with the group for two weeks.

“I remember him as being amazingly ambitious. He worked very hard.

“Every movement, wink and nod on stage was totally choreographed.

“He was morphing from folk music and was just getting into country music at that stage.”

Canard quit the group at the end of the tour.

“I didn’t like the lifestyle, and never had the same desire,” he said.

Canard also found himself at the centre of sporting controversy in 1980 while serving on the Canoeing Association executive, which was planning to send a team to the Moscow Olympics.

Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a United States-led boycott pressured countries, including New Zealand, to withdraw athletes from the Games.

Canard said the association believed politics should stay out of sport.

“We didn’t get much funding anyway, we were a sport no-one had heard of back then. The pressure we got was absolutely phenomenal.”

Association president Evan Stubbs later received a late-night phone call from Muldoon.

“The call was laced with expletives rarely heard in public in those days,” Canard said.

“You b***ards will never amount to a f**king hill of beans,” Muldoon reportedly told them.

“It was so unexpected,” Canard said.

“We expected some annoyance from the main sporting bodies, but not that level of objection right up the political ladder

“We were just do-gooders who liked to go paddling.”

Canard’s lifetime contribution has also earned him life membership of the New Zealand Canoe Federation, and in 2021 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation and paddle sports.