While this started out as a somewhat interesting story for a couple reasons not germane to this forum, these developments are more interesting. What started as a company treating a job applicant poorly has quickly spiralled into very real questions about the legitimacy of the company itself.
As the linked articles shows, it is quickly looking like the Amaruk Wilderness Company isn't what it claims to be. I think the following quote from
another news article sums up what many are thinking:
“There appears to be one person behind the entire thing, and while he seems like a very Internet-savvy person with a lot of energy, I’m not sure that he has ever led people on a wilderness expedition anywhere,” says one outfitter, who, like other guides, did not want to be identified.A bigger issue, to me at least, is that the person/people behind Amaruk are also behind something called the
Professional Association of Wilderness Guides and Instructors (PAWGI) which claims to an international body for certifying wilderness guides, and who's training can be done through Amaruk (and, of course, to apply for a job at Amaruk, you need to have paid for PAWGI certification!).
Further, I've found a few seemingly legit orginizations who have taken the PAWGI claims as truth and have become certified through them (see this thread on
bushcraft uk for an example). So if it Amaruk does turn out to be mostly smoke & mirrors, what happens with the so-called international certification that some legitimate business owners and guides have started turning to (and put their hard earned money towards)?
For this reason, I hope this doesn't fall off of the news organizations radar but they continue to get to the bottom of this.
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