TORONTO – Emil Meek arrived in Ontario fully ready to show this other north his Viking roots. His friend and training partner, Thomas Formo, had carried his long two-bladed axe through the airport in Norway, which drew the attention of security. It was all very Nordic conqueror, carrying an axe to work. Meek’s beard, long and red, was like that of Rollo himself — just a devastating show of virility. His eyebrows were spiked to wicked Scandinavian peaks, as cold as the hinterland.
The only problem, as he soon found out, is that Canada ain’t trying to have no Vikings.