Tag Archives: la ronge

Memories of stoves, wood and my father’s skidoo

I remember standing by the stove when I was a boy in Hall Lake. Nipāpā – my father,  had made a big fire to get the house warm after we all spent a few days in La Ronge. I used to observe him and eventually learned to do what he did. Nimāmā, my mother, would be busy taking care of my baby brother to keep him warm, my sisters would be cuddled up to stay warm as the house was not quite warm enough.

At the top of the stove, I could see the heat radiating. Throwing heat upwards, slowly but surely it would heat up our home. nipāpā always made sure there was enough wood in the wood box. He would go out and haul wood from the thick forest across the lake from our small community. As I got older, he would buck all the wood in the bushes and have me go pick it up in his skidoo.

I used to love riding the snow machine. I would always anticipate him telling me to go get the wood. He would take me on the first trip, and I would ride at the back of the sled. I would twist and turn to go with the flow of the ride, as there were many bumps and twists on the ice and trail. He would point out all the places where there was wood, already bucked in stacks. He would take one last haul home and then it would be my turn.

The skidoo was a 350 and it had the insignia, “Ski-Doo,” on the side of the black hood. The windshield was unusually high, but it worked well when the weather was very cold and windy. The stacks of wood were easy to find but getting to the right landing across the lake would be confusing. There were several that looked very familiar, but I ended up going to the right one.

 

The work was great, it was exhilarating to be working out in the cold and I would feel the adrenaline as I worked fast and hard. I would almost feel lightheaded as I drove the skidoo back because I would be just sitting there after working furiously. I do not know why I went so hard when I was packing the sled with wood. If I could do it now, I would take it easy and take in the nature around me with squirrels and birds curiously looking at me. I wonder if they thought I would leave some scraps for them to eat after I left.

Once on the open lake, I would go full throttle, absorbing all the snowdrifts and the occasional soft snow where I would be surfing over the surface. I would wonder if there was slush under the beautiful blanket of snow, so I would try to avoid areas where I suspected there might be slush. I had gotten stuck in the slush before during several of my many joys rides around the rez. It really sucks. Wet socks, soaking boots, ugh, I would not wish that on my worst enemy.

Many times, I would be allowed to use the skidoo and cruise around the community. I would go pick up my friends and we would have an awesome time going through the many back trails. Sometimes I would pull a bunch of kids on the sled just for fun. If they heard me coming down the road or lake, they would be waiting for me to pick them up and drive them around. Occasionally, I would allow them to hitch their sleds onto the main sled and we would make a sled train. Great times, I cannot imagine wanting to do that today, I would probably be way too worried about safety and what their parents would say if a child got hurt.

This snowy day and chilly temps got me thinking about those days. I was so young at the time. I am not old but I do not live in Hall Lake anymore. I did for a while last year, but I did not even consider buying a skidoo for myself. I am not sure when I will live there again, but if I do, maybe I will buy a brand-new skidoo, one with a high windshield.

nipāpā – my father

nimāmā – my mother

Snowmobile Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Fire Image by Nikolai Alber from Pixabay

My thoughts: Ground Penetrating Radar on Local Cemetery, La Ronge

Good afternoon to all my followers and visitors. I have been very busy at my place of employment. There are many very exciting initiatives taking place regarding our language and culture. I am happy to say we are making much progress.  The Cree language and culture department has many new things happening. I will disclose details when it is time.

We are currently in talks with leadership about building a website about residential schools in our communities. There are interviews in the works and we are hoping for a good response. A colleague of mine is adamant about getting this information out and I totally respect his opinion and his drive to reach out to our communities.

We recently had a group of people doing ground penetrating radar (GPR) to our residential school cemetery. We are now awaiting for the results. Many people are on both sides of the argument that we need to find out this information and the other side says we should leave the graves in peace.

I believe that the graves should be scanned so we can get some closure about the past community members that are buried there. I do not mean any disrespect to people who believe we should leave the past alone.

This GPR  is happening all over the country. I hope our neighbors down south do the same thing. The first count of 215 in BC was a wake up call for our country. We need to keep up the aggressiveness of our resolve to find out the truth.  There has been too many stories suppressed about our past. We are never going to forget.

Search of former LLRIB residential school cemetery 30 per cent complete

How radar technology is used to discover unmarked graves at former residential schools –
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ground-radar-technology-residential-school-remains-1.6049776

Memories of Forest Fires and an Evacuation – 2015

There has been a recent surge of fires near my hometown of La Ronge, SK. Looking at the map I shared on Facebook the other day looks scary. Many of the main concerns of those who shared my post, were of the cabins they have out in their traplines and of mushroom land. Traditional land is at risk and people are not taking it lightly. Thankfully, there has been no reports yet of any cabins burning down, that I have seen.

Forest Fire Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

This current forest fire situation reminds of the evacuation of La Ronge and area, back in 2015. Fires were popping up all around our tri-communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge Indian Reserves. First, they implemented a voluntary evacuation and later a mandatory evac. I was at home at the time when the RCMP came to my apartment and told us to get up and leave with what we had on. There was no time to grab anything like clothes or any other personal belongings. It was traumatic, but I was able to keep a sound mind.

I had written a post about the ordeal back in 2015, however, through revamping and revising my website, the article got lost in the shuffle. I was able to find the original article from July 2015, in my archives recently and here is the link if you want to read it (many old news links in the article). – https://firstnationstories.com/?page_id=4119

I had saved a fire map of June 9, 2015, and now we can compare the map from that time to the map I am sharing today, July 10, 2021.

Sask Fire Map
Click map for larger image

If you look at the map from 2021, you will notice there are more fires, however, if you look at the map from 2015, the fires are much closer to La Ronge and my old home reserve of Morin Lake. Notice the fire is closer to Sikachu than Hall Lake (Morin Lake Reserve 217, is in the two blocks of pink to the west of La Ronge). A cousin of mine lost her house in the fire in Sikachu. She ended up getting a new house in Hall Lake, which is the same reserve, but a different community (just trying to be clear).

While we are at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would devastate many family’s to be evacuated and live in close quarters as we did during the evacuation of 2015. We must all salute the firefighters for putting their lives on the line to put the fires out. They are the real heroes that should to be looked up to.

While we have been separated to an extent because of the pandemic, an evacuation would make it more difficult to recover from the traumatic events that we have already experienced.

Take care, and look after each other.

cv

Separate Images:

Saskatchewan Fire Map (updated daily) – http://environment.gov.sk.ca/firefiles/activefires.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2ULOzrK1DlTtzQ3Md-JtS5Dr3B9WtKAZfUYxnWDFvf-nsZ5uMCuBCsSNM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Canadian_wildfires

Forest Fire Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Treaty 6 Territory, Our Territory

Growing in La Ronge, Pesiw Lake and Hall Lake, I never heard of the term, Treaty 6 Territory. I would hear of Treaty Days and I enjoyed the events that would happen on that day. The whole community would get together and have events such as sack races, plank races and various other fun events. I do not remember hearing about the numbered treaties until I was in grade 10, at Sally Ross School, where I now teach grades 5 and 6.

The Numbered Treaties

I have taught my students about treaty 6, where and when it was signed, and about the year our band, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB), signed an adhesion in 1889. I have showed them the poster of the timeline of chiefs, which is available on the LLRIB website – History of the LLRIB Chiefs. I showed them the videos on the page to make them more aware of our first chief, Chief James Roberts and where he is buried. A few students were actually at the headstone ceremony this past summer. The ceremony is also on video, on the linked page.

Opens new page to LLRIB website

The students were engaged and very interested in the information. Questions came up such as, what I remember about the previous chiefs and which ones I met. I told them I had met Harry Cook when he was chief and that former chief, Miles Venne came to my high school graduation in 1995 at Senator Myles Venne School.  For some reason, his first name was misspelled, but I have not asked about it either.

I would have loved to hear about our history when I was in elementary school because I was always curious about it. Stanley Mission also has a great history, and their church, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, is known world wide – https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=2917

Books were more about the southern Saskatchewan Indians regarding the buffalo and the hardships of land being stolen and ripped away from them. After hearing so much about the atrocities of the treaty signings and the lies perpetuated by the government, I started to wonder about our history, where do we fit, in the timeline of Indigenous events.

I completed the work for the LLRIB during my time as web developer. Recently, I decided to go to an outside source for more information that I may not have heard about. I asked a friend of mine, Samuel A. Hardlotte, about what he knows of the treaty signing, below was his response:

Our 1889 Adhesion to Treaty 6 was signed at the North end of Montreal Lake it was Not signed at molanosa. The settlement of molanosa did not exist in 1889 and it later began when some white men, began harvesting trees in that area and set up a sawmill, inland, from Montreal Lake.
Our Acting Chief Sam Roberts, Hope and I visited Little Hills on Sept. 28th/19 to commemorate the historic event of the very 1st Annuity Payments. Tubby Bell was the person that took us out there.
It was an emotional day for all of us.
It was also an honour to be at Little Hills on that day.

Mr. Hardlotte is very passionate about the history of our Treaty 6 Territory. I joined him and his wife, Hope, with the Treaty Day display at the JRMCC, where they handed out T-shirts marking the anniversary of the treaty adhesion.

It was a showcase of historical documents, pictures and articles about LLRIB. It was very informative, and I did my part by displaying the video or our history on a projection screen.

I had an interesting but friendly debate with Hope during the event. She said that the separation of Stanley Mission in 1910, meant that they should not be included in the timeline of chiefs because in 1900, Peter Ballantyne separated from the Paylist to form their own band under his name, and they are not on the timeline. I argued (in a nice way, lol) that Peter Ballantyne Band is not in the timeline because they did not rejoin us at some point like Stanley Mission did. Anyway, it was a good discussion. Discussions and debates should be encouraged without the bitterness of arguments and escalated disagreements.

I am sure there is more to our history that has not been written, I hope one of these days that there is a project set up, to gather this information and present it for free, to all our schools, the LLRIB membership and the general public.

 

Lac La Ronge Indian Band – http://llrib.com/

Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation – http://www.peterballantyne.ca/

Montreal Lake Cree Nation – https://mlcn.ca/

 

 

First Nation Medicine, Stories and Skeptics

Scientists have been skeptical of the theory of firehawks spreading fires by carrying burning sticks. The Aborigines have known for centuries, maybe even for millennia, what scientists are discovering today.

When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries When it supports their claims, Western scientists value what Traditional Knowledge has to offer. If not, they dismiss it Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-science-takes-so-long-catch-up-traditional-knowledge-180968216/#i511j5JjLyMLY3u7.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter
A team of researchers in northern Australia have documented kites and falcons, “firehawks,” intentionally carrying burning sticks to spread fire: It is just one example of western science catching up to Indigenous Traditional Knowledge. (James Padolsey/Unsplash) Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-science-takes-so-long-catch-up-traditional-knowledge-180968216/#i511j5JjLyMLY3u7.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

There have been other instances of scientists discovering what North American Indigenous people have known all along. Native medicine is getting a second look from many scientists, but unfortunately, many are sponsored by corporations to make money. I see it more as an exploitation tactic as opposed to wanted to heal the sick. The medicine making the rounds on social media is chaga, check out the article and others at the bottom of the page.

While the exploitation might sound devious, how are our many urban “Indians” supposed to have access? It is doubtful that there are enough medicine men around to spread the healing practices to all our people. Capitalistic marketing is what is used today and may be the only viable way to get our medicines to people. I have no idea what else might work, maybe we will have a better system someday. If one of my readers have a good idea, please comment on the Facebook post.

I have personally used wacask ōmīcowin – rat root, for a headache. I still need to get some off my son who has a nice batch of it. I have gone on a field trip with one of my instructors to explore areas and identify Native medicine. This was all good because I got to see for myself, the work it would take to gather and prepare the healing remedies.

As a boy, I had chicken pox in the trapline. My grandfather – nimosōm, took me out on a trail to gather spruce gum. He boiled the chucks that we gathered, but I am not sure what else might have been in it. When it was ready, I placed generous amounts on the affected areas to sooth the itch. It was great to get that kind of relief. We went back to the rez soon after, and he made more when we got to my parent’s place.

Spruce gum

As a boy living in La Ronge on the rez of 101, I had an accident. I was playing with a friend of mine; we were throwing small roof shingles at each other to see if we can dodge them. He grabbed a bigger piece than usual and asked if I could dodge it. I said: “haw haw” meaning go for it. He got me right above the right eye, I bled like heck. All I saw was red and I could see my friend hovering over me and try calm me down. We were about 5-6 years old at the time. When the bleeding was controlled, they didn’t take me to the hospital or clinic, nōhkom took me to the muskeg area and we gathered Labrador tea leaves. When we got to the house, she applied it over my eye and added a dressing over it. It was changed several times, over several days (I cannot remember how many times). Eventually, my cut was healed.

As an adult, working for the Gift of Language and Culture, I had been sick for several days. I went to work when I got a little better and told my female colleagues what I was going through (you know how men are, just kidding). One of my co-workers had this concoction of “Indian” medicine. The only ingredient I remember is rat root. Anyway, I made some tea and added a half teaspoon and the symptoms eased right up before lunch. This was after two more teas over the medicine I put in earlier. I was skeptical about the concoction, but I could not explain the way this stuff worked.

mistik pahpo – tree laughing

I have many colleagues and friends that gather Native medicine, but I hesitate to ask for any because I feel like I should go get it myself. I had hoped to get more into our medicines, but it is difficult to make the time in our “assimilated” way of life. I have work, family and relaxing time, so finding sources of medicine is one thing, it is entirely another to gather and prepare. I can see why it was usually medicine men or women that did all the careful gathering and preparation for their people.

Now to the skeptics. I have been one of these skeptics for the longest time even when I was obviously treated with “Indian” medicine a few times. It may be the spiritual aspects of the practice that throws people off. The ceremony of rising tobacco to the four-directions or giving tobacco to a medicine person, seems  a bit arbitrary to one who is not raised to follow Native Spirituality. I have asked such questions before, only to be met with condescending answers, not very helpful. I may have come across as arrogant and rude, but the answer of spirits needing appreciation, did not sound right to me.

I have benefited from the use of medicine but I do not remember being told to offer tobacco. Many people in my area, were assimilated to the fur traders ways. We had a close relationship and still do. Of course, racism rears it’s ugly head on a daily basis, some days are better than others, but I hope things get better and I do not wish to elaborate at this time, maybe another article.

Obviously I was grateful and appreciated the healing from the plants. To the people who gathered and prepared it for me, I am very grateful.

When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-science-takes-so-long-catch-up-traditional-knowledge-180968216/#i511j5JjLyMLY3u7.99

Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Chaga on WebMD – https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1474/chaga . If you want a more independent form of news media, here is a google link: https://www.google.com/search?

Nature’s Hidden Gifts – Morris Brizinski – https://education.usask.ca/ccstu/pdfs/hidden%20gifts.pdf

Traditional Métis Medicines and Remedies – Todd – http://www.metismuseum.ca/media/db/00721

Comparing Indigenous Knowledge & Western Science – https://combiningtwowaysofknowing.wordpress.com/comparingindigenousknowledge/

ī-wāpahtamān niyaw kāpasikowān – I saw my body when I got up

On February 2009, nikī-akosīn – I was sick. My head was killing me, and phlegm escaped from me with a vengeance. I had a dream of being dead and getting up in another dimension of sorts. The dream was confusing at first, but I was able to recall everything. The following is a present-tense narrative of that day/night.

I go to bed and hope the pain is gone in the morning. My flu-like symptoms ravaged me since the day before and I wonder how much longer I will suffer. I lay in bed hoping sleep will come soon as I close my weary eyes and hope the pain goes away.

I open my eyes to know that I am better, I sit up on my bed and see a strange sight before me, I see myself lying on the bed. I am astonished to see myself, am I still sleeping? I get up to look once more. This place I live in 101 Reserve used to be jumping with activity. I get up to walk to the hallway and as I walk I can see that it is daytime, something I did not notice when I got up because my windows were covered with a dark blanket.

I go into the hallway and look ahead. There is activity, I see my late auntie Jill in the kitchen area looking after some children I do not recognize. She talks to them and feeds them. She has the look of happiness as she smiles and comforts those who seem to need her and her caring demeanor. As I look while I am halfway through the hallway, my late grandfather comes out of my then living grandmother’s room. He looks at me: “tīniki kā-pīkīyokīn” (thank you for visiting) he says.

As he walks me through the house, he tells me that Jill is taking care of children who have passed at an earlier time. The children were unfamiliar to me and he said I would not know them, they passed before I was born. Jill is their caretaker who is looking after them at this time. I asked about his late father Daniel and he said that he was out visiting the living to see how they were doing. I asked what he was doing in my grandmother’s room and he said he was visiting her. He said we can’t be seen by the living and we can’t see them unless we allow it to happen. He said he was just checking on her to see how she was doing. My grandmother was doing fine at the time and she loved having me and my daughter in her home.

I didn’t step out of the house but I imagined it looked the same as it did before I passed. My grandfather said I can visit who I want but not to let them see me, it would be too frightening to the living. I look to watch my late auntie Jill taking the children out to play, she did not acknowledge me. She was too busy taking care of the children. My grandfather had his arm on me and hugged me and thanked me again for visiting. Visiting, I thought I am just visiting, maybe I am still alive, I thought of my body on the bed.

I wake up in the same position as I was when I was sleeping.

I told very few people of this dream but it has been on my mind for the longest time. It was a great dream to have.

ī-wāpahtamān niyaw kāpasikowān – I saw my body when I got up

pawātamowin – dream

ī-pawātaman – I am dreaming

nikī-akosīn – I was sick

nipasakwatāmon – I have thick mucus, phlegm.

tīniki kā-pīkīyokīn – thank you for visiting

miyaw – body; corpse, dead body

niyaw – my body

wiyaw – his/her body

Resources:

http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/detail/crk/eng/%C3%A2hkosiw.html?no_compounds=true&lemma_match=true

http://www.creedictionary.com/

 

ANOTHER IDEA FOR CUSTOM MADE WOODLAND CREE CLOCK

I came up with another idea for a custom clock. I made a collage of pictures above and below the actual clock face. It is similar to the one I made for my sister. Feel free to share and maybe make your own Cree clock.

masinipīsinowin – picture or photograph

pīsimohkān – Clock

 

 

Weather Terms in Woodland Cree (TH)

The following weather terms are in Woodland Cree. The audio clips are much clearer than before.

mispon – it is snowing


You can’t really tell but it is raining in the picture.

kimowan – it is raining


This picture was edited because I have no pictures of when it was hailing.

miskwamiy-pahkisin – it is hailing


kitowak – there is thunder (thunderbirds are calling)


wāsiskotīpatho – lightning storm


kaskawahkamin – it is foggy


Contributed by my cousin, Alice Roberts.

kaskawan – there is fog or mist


thikwaskwan – it is cloudy


wāsīskwan – sky is clear


thōtin – it is windy


tahkāyāw – it is cold


kīsopwīw – it is warm


kisāstīw – it is hot


athwāstin – it is calm


maci-kīsikāw – it is a miserable day



tahkithōwīw – there is wind chill

I took all the pictures shown on this post because I could not find an affordable stock online that I could use. I hope you enjoy this post, it took me a long time to get it done, but here it is.

Thank you for visiting.

My Time with The Gift of Language and Culture Project (2005-2011)

banner_glcp
http://www.giftoflanguageandculture.ca/ (new window)

In 2005, I started working for the Gift of Language and Culture Project as a casual web designer. Little did I know that they were expecting a Flash based website with images, text and audio all rolled into one for each category. I was overwhelmed by the expectations but I was happy to at least be working. I put in many extra hours at home to learn this new application.

cree-syllabicsI knew enough about image and sound formats but he text part gave me trouble because I had never worked with different text fonts other than the generic types we are all used to such as, Times New Roman, Arial or Comic Sans. I had to learn quickly because the demands of the project team was high and I was expected to work miracles and with new Aboriginal language fonts I never heard of. dene_swallow

We had Cree, Dene and syllabic fonts that needed to be installed on all our computers and I had to make sure people at home and schools could view the fonts on documents so I had to provide a link to the fonts for personal installation. There were also applications I needed to familiarize myself with, such as, CorelDraw, Publisher, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Audition and of course Adobe Flash (Macromedia Flash at the time). I already knew about Adobe Photoshop so that was a big help with the images that needed to be edited and manipulated.

The project team was great and the people were dedicated and willing to put forth much effort to accomplish what we could, to provide resources for Aboriginal language learners all over the country and even some in the United States. We had curriculum developers who compiled the Cree and Dene word lists and translations, illustrators who provided the original clip-art we needed, audio/visual personnel who recorded the audio and video required and of course the material developers who put the resources together for print and distribution.

Part One & Part Two

I personally collaborated with all staff to get what I needed to build the website and put their work together and develop what we see today. If it were not for the cooperation and hard work of the team, I could not do what I did for the website. I am grateful for the experience and I was so sad to see it all come to an end in 2011. It was a big part of my life, 7 years of my life that it still has a profound effect on me today.

I think I did well on my self-learning because we ended up with a great Cree website that is still online and used all around the world and has been viewed by 147 countries. It has had 276,357 hits and 100,226 unique visitors (as of June 17, 2015) which is pretty good for a non-mainstream language and website.

Last 500 hits
Last 500 hits
youtube_glcp_image
YouTube

The YouTube Channel has 407 subscribers 260,379 views as (of June 17, 2015). The channel has songs, concerts, and animations for the whole family to enjoy. There are also a couple of instructional videos for snowshoes and birch bark baskets and many interviews with elders, some who are not with us today.
(https://www.youtube.com/user/TGLCP/videos).

theGiftOfLanguageAndCulture_screenAs the web designer/Flash developer, I received praise for the work I did but I always mentioned the people behind all the important work that needed to be done before I could even develop an animation or Flash exercise. I had a good working relationship with all my co-workers and while they contributed all the work, I made myself extra useful by troubleshooting their computer’s hardware and software when ever they needed it. There was no way I could do my work if they could not do theirs, so it worked out for all of us.

I am currently training to be a teacher at Nortep and hopefully in a couple of years I will be able to contribute to the Cree language professionally with much more credibility. I decided to go back to school because I needed more training in the area of education and to hopefully expand my horizons for myself and to contribute more to the learning environment of our students in other areas where it is needed.

On a side note, I would receive emails and phone calls from Montana, Ontario, British Columbia and the all the prairie provinces to let me know what a great job the Gift was doing. One person in particular called from BC to tell me that he loved the website and that two of his children were learning Cree from their mother who was a Cree woman he married from Saskatchewan somewhere, I cannot remember where specifically (it might have been Pelican Narrows). It was a morning call out of nowhere but it was a nice surprise way back about 2010.

I wish the project could have continued but all good things come to an end. Maybe one of these days there will be a revival and if there is, I would love to be involved again and provide my experience and expertise.

i-shall-see-you-again

cv