Pimachiowin Aki

World Heritage Site

Knowledge Keepers

7 Days of Cultural Experiences

Photographer Ōtake Hidehiro shares notes and photos from his time in Poplar River First Nation.

1. Sunday

Evening | Arrival

I’m currently enjoying my stay comfortably at Sagatay Lodge in Poplar River.

As soon as I arrived, Ray came to pick me up, and we were happy to see each other again. I also got to see Sophia and Norway—everyone is doing well.

Of course, it was wonderful to see Paul again as well. His big smile is as charming as ever. He has become very successful as a comedian and now stars in and writes for the popular TV series Acting Good. He’ll be returning to Winnipeg tomorrow to continue filming Season 5.

I was also happy to make a new friend, Mumilaaq, who is from Baker Lake in Nunavut. In the evening, she drove me around town and showed me the area. The dock at Fishing Station was still frozen.

2. Monday 

Morning | Snowfall

I was surprised to wake up to a snowy landscape—winter seems long this year.

Evening | Dance Workshop

A family from Winnipeg who teaches dance arrived. They hold monthly workshops. The family consists of Tahnee Flett, the mother, and her children Dreyden and Jayden. They are originally from Opaskwayak Cree Nation but have lived in Winnipeg for 20 years.

Dreyden, from a young age, has been a Glassdance dancer and began using a sewing machine during COVID. He has explored everything from traditional regalia to high-fashion design, runs his own brand, models internationally—including in New York and Tokyo next month—and, I heard, has even received comments from Lady Gaga! The family travels to Indigenous communities, sharing teachings through dance.

The workshop, held at 7pm in the old school gym, lasted about two hours. It was the second session, with the first one taking place two weeks ago. 

The session included dances as an opening ceremony, warm-ups, Glass Dance, Jingle Dance, and Traditional Dance. Participants could choose which dances to practice, move to the drum rhythm, play a stopping game, and end with a closing dance.


The Flett Family will return in two weeks.

3. Tuesday

Afternoon | MMIWG 2SLGBTQI+ Event

We gathered at the school at 1pm for a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ event, which began with a drum performance.

I was given permission to take photos, and I considered it a great honour to be entrusted with that opportunity. 

After that, was the Norway Requiem, followed by a speech from Sophia, and several memorial speeches.

Students in grades 5–12 marched to the Band Office, while younger children marched around the school. I joined everyone and walked to the Band Office. There, I greeted the Chief, Council members, and office staff.

Back in 2012, I was asked to photograph portraits of Residential School survivors. Apparently, the book featuring those portraits is often used as school teaching material.

While the Band Office is currently being renovated and the portraits aren’t displayed, they were usually exhibited as panels. It was a great conversation starter to know I took them.

I also photographed John Charles McDonald and his grandson Edward Franklin at Weaver Lake in 2010, and I got to reconnect with Edward.

Evening | Duck Hunting

That evening, I went duck hunting with Desmond Batenchuk and Barry Bittern, departing from the other side of the Rapids. We fired at ducks whenever we saw them and got one bird early on.

We went further, set up decoys in the water, and made a blind.

We called ducks with sounds, and when they came close, we shot, getting two more.

On the way back, we shot whenever we spotted them, ending up with eight ducks in total.

4. Wednesday

Morning | Duck Cleaning

We met at Desmond’s house at 10am and quickly drove to a road that was originally planned as an all-season route to Poplar River.

At an open area along the way, we plucked the ducks and seared them over a fire. Redman Douglas came along to help.

Afterward, we returned home to clean the ducks. Desmond’s 14-year-old daughter Jana helped. She has been assisting since she was 6–7 years old, so she is very skilled.

We also separated the gizzards and hearts, washing the gizzards further before cooking them. The ducks were placed in a roasting pan with water and barley, without seasoning, and roasted at 350°F for 3–4 hours.

Afternoon | Fishing Nets

While waiting for the roast, we checked the fishing nets. We set off by boat from beside the house to inspect the nets. At this time of year, pickerel (walleye) also come to spawn, so we caught a lot—a good haul.

We kept a large pike and many pickerel, and counting the fish at the bottom of the boat, we filled four tubs.

We started cleaning the fish immediately.

Redman helped, and later Desmond’s daughter-in-law Heavenly and his wife Harmony joined us, so we divided the work. Processing fish is very much a community effort, with everyone helping wherever they can. Working together like this is simply part of daily life here. Friends and neighbours came to collect fish as well, reflecting a wonderful spirit of sharing.

Desmond has lived a life dedicated to fishing and hunting.

Born in 1980 at Big Black River, he worked hard with his mother growing up. In his childhood, there was no electricity or refrigerator, he told. After establishing a fishing base in Poplar River, he moved there. He often went trapping with Hubert Hudson (brother-in-law). With a basic supply of food, they would spend about a month in the woods, sourcing all other food locally. He ate beaver and caught rabbits. Desmond married Harmony in 2004, and they have six children. He is now 46 years old.

Evening | Roast Duck

The roast duck was ready, and Desmond’s grandson Axel (6 years old) loved it.

I enjoyed it too, with potatoes, gravy, and stuffing Desmond made as a side. It’s truly amazing to have such delicious, natural food sourced right next to your home.

5. Thursday

Morning | Snare Fishing

I went to Desmond’s house around 10am and his neighbor Perro gave me a slice of smoked walleye. It usually takes 5–6 hours to smoke. I had tried smoked whitefish before, but this was my first time tasting walleye, and it was very good. Perro had also started smoking a sucker that had been brined overnight. It is thick, so it takes more time to dry… maybe around 24 hours.

Desmond came home, and we headed to the rapids together. In the slower, swirling pools, we could see fish—northern pike and suckers.

According to Desmond, walleye should also be spawning upstream, but they were probably gathered in another part of the falls where the current was faster. Desmond tried to catch one by hand, but he couldn’t catch any.

Back in town, he bought a rabbit snare, which is a 20-gauge, 0.9 mm × 6.4 m golden wire. He made it into a loop and attached it to a 2.5 m aspen stick. Desmond said the last time he did this was around six years ago—just for fun.

Standing on a rock near the water, Desmond focused intently, like a hunter. At one point, he looked back, moved a stick quickly, and caught an impressively large pike! It was so fast!

He caught and released several more pike and suckers. It was amazing to see that he could catch fish without a hook or line. Desmond said you can use the same snare system to catch grouse.

When we returned home, Perro was cleaning the fish caught in the net. Apparently, he had caught about four tubs, and many people came by to get a share.

6. Friday

Morning | (Late) Eddie Hudson

Eddie Hudson’s funeral took place. Many family members had gathered, and I heard that numerous relatives had arrived in Poplar River the day before on six flights. A few days earlier, Norway had offered drumming and songs to help send Eddie’s spirit onward. I heard the service was quite lively. It was held at a Pentecostal church. The store and schools were closed.

Eddie’s passing made me reflect on the many years of friendship and connection that I have developed since my first visit to the Weaver Lake Healing Camp in 2010. It was there that I first met Ray, Sophia, Norway, and many others from the community, including Eddie.

I also remember watching the 2018 meeting in Bahrain live online when Pimachiowin Aki was officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I was deeply moved when Eddie and Sophia hugged each other at that moment. The two of them made enormous contributions to the protection of this land. Rest in peace, Eddie.

Evening | Family Dinner

Norway had invited Mumilaaq and me for dinner, saying that his wife Cassandra’s meatloaf was the best in Poplar River. The meatloaf truly was excellent. Their daughter is there, along with their youngest child, Jake.

Jake was absorbed in professional wrestling figures handed down from his older brother. When I was little, professional wrestling was hugely popular in Japan too, but I was interested to see that professional wrestling continues to be enjoyed in Poplar River today.

After dinner, I walked along the beach with Mumilaaq. As distant clouds glowed with the colors of the sunset, an otter suddenly appeared!

7. Saturday

Afternoon | Around the Community

There was a Mother’s Day gathering starting at 1pm. When I went to Old School, Harmony, Desmond’s wife, and several familiar faces were preparing food. They were grilling a large amount of marinated beef steak.

I went to the Northern Store to put gas in the truck I had borrowed.

First, I paid at the register, then showed the receipt at the pump outside so they could authorize the fuel. Even 100 dollars only bought about 36 litres of gas.

I went to the rapids. It started snowing, and the wind was strong and cold. We could see suckers gathering below the falls. In the shallower water, there were many dorsal fins visible.

Just a few days earlier, that area had still been covered with ice.

The spawning may have started. I do not know whether it began at that exact moment or had already started somewhat earlier. New groups kept arriving one after another to spawn.

Evening | Dinner

In the evening, I had dinner with Ray and Sophia. Ray grilled steelhead for dinner, with corn and wild rice on the side. The wild rice was mixed with raisins. It was delicious.

After dinner, they showed me where the community grows vegetables. On the way there, they also showed me another store in town. It’s main branch is in Berens River, and this was their second location.

The person working there was from Finland and had only arrived this January. The shelves were not very full yet. Once the lake melts, supplies can be brought in by barge.

Sunday | Departure

The past days have been full of experiences and truly fulfilling. I landed at St. Andrews at 1:15pm. It is Mother’s Day.

Photos: © Ōtake Hidehiro

Up Next for Hide

Hide’s work will be featured in an upcoming exhibition in Toyama, Japan. Learn more here:
Camera Museum Exhibition Page

Hide will be giving several talks throughout Japan this summer and fall, sharing stories from his travels and photography. Follow: instagram.com/hidehirootake

Stories from Bloodvein River

“We have our own community history,” says Pimachiowin Aki Director for Bloodvein River First Nation, William Young. It’s important to pass down knowledge, he reminds us. “We can teach our children and community members our true histories.”

How Bloodvein River Got its Name

“Bloodvein River got its name when our ancestors were camped at the mouth of the river and Sioux encroached looking for more land,” says William. “There was bloodshed on the river system, and it became known as Blood River. Later, Hudson’s Bay settled in the area and added ‘vein,’ like the red veins on the rock ridge, and that is how our community came to be called Bloodvein River.”

The Sacred Rock

There are many sacred sites in Bloodvein River First Nation ancestral lands. One area is known for a large rock. “When I first went there, the rock was not where it was supposed to be,” William recalls. “Instead, it was at the bottom of the river.” Later it returned to its original place, then disappeared again. While travelling a couple of kilometres away, William spotted the rock on the shoreline.

How does it move from one place to another? “Stories say that little rock people are tricksters.” William has brought Elders to the island, to honour the site together.  Ceremonies were held here in the past.

Stories like these need to be remembered and shared.

Photo: © Lorne Coulson

Foundations – Is Our Past Our Future?

By Doug Gilmore

Recently I found myself reflecting on the early days of Pimachiowin Aki. Many fond memories quickly floated to the surface. At the time my role was Park Superintendent of Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, located in Northwest Ontario near the town of Red Lake. Woodland Caribou Park is part of the Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site. I recall that I was very excited to take part in the Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site process, although at the outset the site had yet to receive that wonderfully appropriate name.

It was in my role as park superintendent only a few years earlier that I had initiated and led a planning process for Woodland Caribou Park. That project was one of my first exposures to working closely with First Nation Communities. To expand on the previous sentence, I must add that this exposure cemented my understanding and belief that working together with Indigenous people is extremely beneficial. Looking back, coming from my Wemtigoshi background, I can easily admit at the outset to looking at things from one perspective, but keeping an open mind to all possibilities.  It took no time at all to come to the realization that this was the only way forward and that any product which may result from our efforts would be the better for our working closely together.

At an early Pimachiowin Aki meeting, members from each community expressed very clearly what was important for their community. Things like protecting the rock paintings, not to over harvest the animals, acting carefully around areas that act as water filters for the watershed were comments common to most. People spoke about the high levels of unemployment in their communities and the desire that this project could help to alleviate that. It was clearly stated that their traditional lands used to provide a livelihood for their people but this no longer was the case.  Community presentations included the desire from their Elders to “protect traditional lands”.  One individual recalled a comment from a grandparent that “we need to protect our lands” and it came with a warning that “there may be difficulties ahead”. Another spoke about how he was raised by his grandparents. They taught him how to preserve food in the summertime and spoke about how they used the land and how he wanted to keep the teachings of his grandfather. He gave an example where people used dried moss as diapers and that one of the teachings of the moss was to put it back in its place.

Someone much smarter than I at an early meeting summarized all the comments by describing the activities of the people on the land as the cultural foundation of the project. The term Living Landscape was used, reflecting on the strong linkage between the land and the people. Strong linkage? I have come to understand it as an inseparable linkage.

Fascinating… an education in real time.

In the months and years to come the World Heritage process continued to be an educational one, enlightening me on what it meant to grow up in a remote First Nation Community where at one time it was normal or part of everyday life to go out on the land or trapline to perform livelihood pursuits. This once normal activity would slowly or in some cases abruptly change to where it became more and more difficult to access the bush to carry out livelihood activities on a regular basis.

The World Heritage process also included working as a member of parallel planning processes with Little Grand Rapids and Pauingasssi First Nations for the part of their traditional territories that lies in the Province of Ontario. This included many opportunities to visit these communities, meet with elders and community members in workshop and open house events. It also included travelling to Weaver Lake as a guest of Poplar River First Nation to attend a Pimachiowin Aki meeting and workshop there.  

Photo: Otake Hidehiro

The workshop events were perhaps the ones that were most impactful for me as we were able to spend a few days in the communities allowing for a less frenetic pace for the exchange of information. Remaining with me are memories of sitting with the late Russell Keeper pouring over maps of his trapline and of him describing in detail the landscape of his youth and how it supported his present-day activities on the land. What also sticks with me is the pride in the voices of various community members as they relayed stories and teachings of their family members and how they are determined to bring them forward and keep them going. Equally impactful was the coordination and care shown by the land use planning representatives for each community, Augustine Keeper and the late Joe Owen, and on the performance of their duties and the responsibility that the community had entrusted them with.

It was brought to my attention that although I was working in partnership toward our common goal, I was sometimes guilty of describing Indigenous land activities as happening in the past, not in the present. Not intentional of course but my background being what it was I periodically fell into the trap of just copying what I heard or read. There is a term for this, a term identified to me by an Indigenous planning partner as “the Invisible Indian Syndrome”. It’s a real thing, definitely! What an eye opener. You’re never too old to learn.

The take away from my perspective is this, the Indigenous people of Pimachiowin Aki gain their life from the land, they always have. Their links to the land are real and permanent and it is through Pimachiowin Aki that they will share it with the world. The stories, traditions and culture they choose to share with the world will be the foundation for the site into the future. For me I think this is unique, for them it’s probably everyday life. 

Wisdom of the Living Landscape: 21 Quotes from Knowledge Keepers

1. There is a big circle we call The Circle of Life. Every living thing The Creator made fits on this circle side by side. Every living thing, including the smallest insect, was given jobs to do. Plants and trees for example were given many jobs, cleaning the air, medicines, as food for the birds, animals, fish and people. Some of the animals, birds and fish where given the job to feed us and much more. Our job as given to us by The Creator was to take care of all life on earth.

Albert Bittern (November 2013)

2. As Annishinaabe people we want to leave a lasting legacy to protect and preserve of this area for the benefit of the planet.

Sophia Rabliauskas, July 1, 2018 (remarks to the World Heritage Committee following inscription of Pimachiowin Aki on the World Heritage List)

3. We want to keep the area the way it always was, to keep it for our children, grandchildren and unborn children, so that they can use and care for it as we have.

Victor Bruce, March 200

4. Traditional knowledge was offered to others only if the Elder felt it was appropriate.  People weren’t forced to know about the tradition, but they would be noticed by the Elders as time went by.

Joe Owen, March 2014

5. Teachings are shared through drumming, singing, community gatherings, offerings. For as long as we remember, the Elder that has the most knowledge and wisdom is the community leader. This Elder would perform traditional drum songs, provide medicine for healing, and use many other traditional methods.

Solomon Pascal (in translation, January 2014)
Whitehead Moose, 2007

6. The Creator has a match and that match is the Thunderbird. He brings that match to the land when the forest gets too old and can’t grow anymore. So the thunderbird comes to earth. After the forest is burnt new growth starts. Animals get tired of eating old food. Just like you and me. The Creator knows that animals need new food. The fire there brings fresh food to eat. As an example: rabbit favours new growth area. When you look at rabbit I think it is like a food chain for animals. Rabbits have three litters a summer. Fox, lynx, marten all depend on rabbit. The Creator has to care for all animals so he sends Thunderbird to earth to make food for rabbit. We like to eat rabbit, too. So he burns for us, too. Where fire comes to a rock area, blueberries come after the fire. [That] feeds a lot of animals. We eat blueberries, too. Fire makes good food areas.

Whitehead Moose, June 2006

7. This place is sacred to me. Why? For as long as I can remember my family trapped, hunted, gathered, had ceremonies. My parents and great grandfather would sing pow-wow and play the drum. They used to do this by the end of the day to give thanks to Manidoo, Creator.

Melba Green, March 2014
Giiwiich, Photograph A115, American Philosophical Society

8. Since stones are grammatically animate, I once asked an old man, Alex Keeper (Giiwiich), ‘Are all of the stones we see about us here alive?’ He reflected a long while and then replied, ‘No! But some are.’ This qualified answer made a lasting impression on me.  

A. Irving Hallowell, 1930s

9. After the Creator finished making everything on earth, he decided to create human beings. He took pieces of mud from the four directions and made them into the shape of a man. Then he took a miigis [cowrie] shell, blew his breath into it and placed it in the man he had made. The man came to life. The Creator gently took this man in his hands and lowered him onto the earth and said, “This is my beautiful garden and I am asking you to take care of it.

Abel Bruce and Albert Bittern

10. There is a cliff-rock-painting of a snapping turtle [on a certain river]. When someone travels along over there, they’d cut some tobacco. They would hope to kill a moose, they would say. Sure enough, that was exactly what would happen. That person would get the blessing to kill a moose. This is the reason they put tobacco in their pipe. They would say, I will kill a moose, as they placed tobacco in their pipe. That was the purpose of the cliff rock-paintings.

Kenneth Owen
Ed Hudson

11. The head of the family would make the decisions in regards to the land. If there was a shortage of beaver or muskrat for example they would leave that area alone for a while, until these populations increased. They did this to ensure future use of these resources.

Ed Hudson, September 2013
Joe Owen, 2008

12. The most qualified wildlife hunter that existed in the boreal forest region. People are very concerned that nobody will carry on or replace such skills.

Joe Owen, 2010

13. Well, the women wear the bells too.  Goodness did they sound good when they were sliding their feet and dancing … Mii wa’a igi ikwewag, igi Gichi-Ikwewag! These were the women. The Grand Women!

Maangoons Strang (Little Loon), 1992

14. The medicines have kept us alive and helped to cure sickness. The bush is our drugstore and we are grateful for all those plants that are happy to give up their lives to help us.

Abel Bruce and Albert Bittern

15. Most people think about a landscape as a physical and natural backdrop for life, a sort of stage upon which life happens. But in the Ojibwe way of thinking, the landscape is alive; it is full of human and non-human beings that engage with the people who know a certain place thoroughly.

Pauingassi Lands Management Plan 
Sophia Rabliauskas, Pimachiowin Aki Press Conference, November 2010

16. The water represents life to the Anishinaabe people. The Creator gave the responsibility to women to create life and to care for the health of the water. Life begins by being surrounded by water in our mother’s womb. In our ceremonies it is the women’s responsibility to carry that water and share it with others. In our stories and teachings, it has always been the grandmothers who watch over the water and they are still carrying out that sacred responsibility today. We were also taught that the water is very spiritual and that we need to acknowledge that spirit in our prayers each day.

Sophia Rabliauskas, December 2011

17. Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan is itself a tradition of monitoring, of keeping the land by watching over the land.

Enil Keeper, October 2014

18. My dad told me that I had to have a net, hooks, and snare. If you ever go hungry, you can set snares for rabbits and set those hooks for fish. If you do that all the time, you won’t go hungry. If you use your gun to fish with, you won’t kill fish that way. You don’t kill everything with a gun.

Adam Owen, March 1984

19. We don’t laugh at or tease any animals. We hold them with much respect because it is not proper in our culture to tease animals, whether they are large or small. They will hear you when you don’t respect them and they will come after you, get even with you.

Anishinaabe Elder, in translation
Melba Green

20. Knowledge of when and what to harvest, trap and hunt has been passed down through generations. For Anishinaabeg, it’s like instinct.

Melba Green

21. It’s always important to respect people when you meet them because you don’t know what carries them or what watches over them. It’s not the person that you offend. That person may forgive you but the one that’s watching over that person may not forgive you. That’s why it’s important that we always talk polite to people. Even when we travel, we always travel with tobacco and offerings out of respect.

Clinton Keeper (in response to the Wiindigoo Story told to him by Maggie Duck)

Feature Image: Elder Abel Bruce © Otake Hidehiro

Oral History Recordings – Drum Dance Ceremony and Interview with Little Grand Rapids First Nation Medicine Man William Bones Leveque

A Pimachiowin Aki Director learned years ago that an interview with Little Grand Rapids First Nation medicine man William Bones Leveque was recorded in the 1960s.

 “I read about the interview in the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) records when we did a history project at school for the community,” says the Director for Little Grand Rapids First Nation.

He has wanted to hear the recordings ever since. It was his idea to find the recordings and share them with the people of Pimachiowin Aki.  

The recordings (below) are part of a collection of film and sound recordings that were either created or acquired by HBC.

Learn more about the Hudson’s Bay Company film, video and sound collection

Feature Photo: William Bones Leveque answering questions for tape recorder operated by Don Ferguson 
Photographer: Don Ferguson, 2 July 1963
Don Ferguson fonds, Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba

HBCA-T7-1

Little Grand Rapids [drum dance ceremony and interviews with medicine man William Bones Levesque, interpreter David Duck and HBC employee Walter Moar], [Moccasin Telegraph, Fall/Winter 1963]


HBCA-T7-2

Part two of an oral interview with HBC employee Walter Moar. See transcript below.


HBCA-T7-2 Transcript

Transcribed to the best of our ability.

[Speaker 1] Interviewer Don Ferguson (HBC employee)
[Speaker 2] Interpreter Walter Moar (HBC employee)
[Speaker 3] Unknown
[Speaker 4] Unknown

Relocation after the store burned down

[Speaker 1] (0:00) When did they move over to the other location?

Inaudible

[Speaker 1] Why did they move over there?

[Speaker 2] Well, they figured, they see, when the store burned out here, because they had hard time to come across here, see, with the water, because the water’s always open

Click here for full transcript

[Speaker 1]  I see.

[Speaker 2] (0:27) They have to go around. When they put the store out there, see, they can go in right there.

[Speaker 1] Right

[Speaker 2] Even the airplane couldn’t land here, they have to go around before they can get a mail.

[Speaker 1] I see, and that’s why they moved across.

[Speaker 2] I think that’s what they had to do.

[Speaker 1] I see. And then, um, uh, they just let these buildings go after that, didn’t they?

[Speaker 2] Yeah, yeah.

[Speaker 1] But they burned out, the store burned down, eh?

[Speaker 2] Yeah, yeah. The store burned down and then they built the other one across.

[Speaker 1] I see.

[Speaker 2] This one was… I’ve got this one. They tear it down, they leave boards.

[Speaker 1] Yeah, yeah.

[Speaker 3] Inaudible

[Speaker 2] 01:15 No, no. I think it’s the first one was used by my grandfather, Tony Moar.

[Speaker 1] This is the one that’s still left.

[Speaker 2] Yes. Tony Moar, yeah. 

[Speakers] Inaudible  

[Speaker 1] 01:28 But, uh, Walter says that they first established at Moar Lake. I didn’t know that. Uh, the first store, and then they came here, and then over to the present site.

[Speaker 3] Inaudible

Moving goods by canoe

[Speaker 2] 1:58 This would be after the Berens River. Well, I guess that’s what they said. They got energy from the Berens River to Moar Lake, and they hauled it in by canoe.

[Speaker 1] 2:20 Can you come from Berens River to here now without a portage?

[Speaker 2] No, no, not a portage. Without a portage is…

[Speaker 1] Fifty-two. Fifty-two…

[Speaker 2] Yeah, we used to haul it straight.

[Speaker 1] You were a boy back then.

[Speaker 2] Yeah, when I was a young boy, yeah. I used to haul it straight to the Berens River.

[Speaker 1] Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 2] 2:47 Well, before they moved, they had a tractor over here. They’d bring the stuff by the tractor to here, see?

[Speaker 3] Oh, yes.

[Speaker 2] And after that, they moved across.

[Speaker 1] I see.

[Speaker 2] That was before we used to haul it by canoe. About 1,500 pounds in each canoe.

[Speaker 1] I see.

[Speaker 2] Too many.

[Speaker 3] And you carried 90-pound packs like they used to carry all day?

[Speaker 2] 3:16 Oh, yeah. Some of them carried 400 pounds in a bag.

[Speaker 1] That’s bags of flour.

[Speaker 2] Yeah.

Inaudible

[Speaker 2] Get a few lynx, too. Beavers, birds.

Then and now

[Speaker 1] 3:42 Are the people better off now, would you say, than they were, say, 15 years, 20 years ago?

[Speaker 2] Well, first, I think they have a little bit of family allowance, but before they never had family allowance, not in 20 years ago.

[Speaker 1] They’re getting more income and everything now…

Inaudible

[Speaker 1] … and they’re better health-wise, would you say?

[Speaker 2] I think so. I think so.

[Speaker 1] 4:10 Like, with the nursing station being here?

[Speaker 2] It was a long time ago, nobody ever got sick. I never knew. And I never knew (inaudible) long time ago.

[Speaker 1] Mm-hmm. Well, that’s unusual, because there used to be a lot of people go out every Treaty time, didn’t there?

[Speaker 2] Yeah, yeah. But now…

[Speaker 3] The people they have to learn (inaudible).

Trading with Pauingassi

[Speaker 1] 4:43 What about the Pauingassi crowd? What’s happened there?

[Speaker 2] Well, you see, they belong to this Indian reserve. They belong to this reserve.

[Speaker 1] Yeah.

[Speaker 1]  They stay out there, see, because they got the better fishing out there. They eat fish, see. (inaudible)

[Speaker 1] 4:54 I see. I understand they don’t like the people here.

[Speaker 2] I don’t think so. Well, I don’t know much about that… (laughs)

[Speaker 1] Well, what do they do as far as trading, Walter, is concerned?

[Speaker 2] Well, they come down here to…

[Speaker 1] Oh, I see. They would come down once a week, or once every two weeks, you tell me.

Inaudible

Commercial Fishing

[Speaker 1] Oh, I see. I see. Well, Pete Lazarenko was in here commercial fishing, wasn’t he?

[Speaker 2] Yeah, he was, he was, he was… well, in the fall; every fall, October.

[Speaker 1] Oh, I see. Late fall, eh?

[Speaker 2] Yeah, late in the fall.

[Speaker 1] 5:44 And does he take fish right in the, in Berens River, or…

[Speaker 2] Oh, yeah, they take fish in this lake, and they take fish in this fishing lake.

[Speaker 1] I see.

[Speaker 2] In this lake.

[Speaker 1] Tracy’s up there now, is he?

[Speaker 2] 5:54 Yeah, Tracy’s out there. He’s got lots of… (inaudible)

[Speaker 1] Is he getting any business, any customers up there yet?

[Speaker 2] Yeah, he’s got a few now.

[Speaker 1] He has, eh?

[Speaker 2] Yeah.

[Speaker 1] I see.

[Speaker 3] It’s quite early, too. They only opened… (inaudible)

[Speaker 2] Oh, yeah. Oh, yes.

Inaudible

[Speaker 2] Sometimes rain, cloud. They never got wet.

Agriculture

[Speaker 1] 6:28 Oh, I see. So they, that’s another reason why they kept, moved across, eh?

[Speaker 2] Yeah. Yeah (inaudible). Another one way out there. Gardens.That was my grandfather’s here. Potatoes. He had lots of rhubarb.

[Speaker 1] Rhubarb.

[Speaker 2] Oh, yeah. Everything, they had here.

[Speaker 1] Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 2] They had two horses here.

Inaudible

[Speaker 3] 7:04 Well, they usually have many horses in this part of the country, right?

[Speaker 2] And since when we went out to Berens River, no more horses.

[Speaker 1] No.

Inaudible

Waste Disposal Practices

[Speaker 1] This is still the, the path, like, that they used to come up on, eh? And they hump the flour on their back coming up here. Walter, do you know where the garbage dump was, where they threw the garbage and that?

[Speaker 2] Oh, it was way up in the bank there.

[Speaker 1] I see. Doctor, uh, Walter was saying that their refuse disposal was way behind the house there. That might have been an interesting spot to look into.

[Speaker 2] Oh, yeah. Well, everything, they must have… they bury everything. See, they dig down the hole and they throw everything in there.

[Speaker 1] Is that, that was how they used it, eh? They buried all the garbage?

[Speaker 2] They buried out all that stuff in their cans and all that stuff.

Trading a Double Barrel for a Single Barrel

[Speaker 4] 08:13 Warden Crone, the manager, was at Pukatawagan.

[Speaker 1] Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 4] And he got it from, eh, in Dillon… Dillon, Saskatchewan.

[Speaker 1] 08:20 Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 4] 08:13 And I had, I got a double barrel. See, I got a double barrel in Pukatawagan and I traded him plus ten dollars for this single barrel.

[Speaker 1]  Oh, I see.

[Speaker 4]  But the double barrel, they sawed it off, you see. It was a sawed-off shotgun, just like it. So I wouldn’t, you know, this was in bad condition. I’ve got it at the post office.

[Speaker 1] Yeah, I’d like to have a look at it when we get back.

[Speaker 3] (inaudible)

Gallery

Photo Galleries

Photographer: Ōtake Hidehiro, May 2024
Keeper of the William Bones Leveque drum: Carlisle (Car Leslie) Bushie

Don Ferguson fonds (1987/273). Photographer: Don Ferguson, 2 July 1963
Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba 




William Bones Leveque with pipe
William Bones Leveque, medicine man, singing. Full name, according to Nurse Lowry: Flatstone Jackfish Whiskyjack Joseph William Bones Leveque, known as ‘William Bones’



William Bones Leveque (with pipe) and Chief Sam Bushie






Observers. David Duck holding baby on left 
Women dancing anticlockwise circling drum in small step and dip: 1. Louise Leveque; 2. Sarah Leveque; 3. Frances Bascombe; 4. Marion Eaglestick 



Extreme left David Duck with 4 men dancing. At drum L to R: Bones, Bascombe, Bushie, Keeper. 4 women dancing: Louise Leveque, Sarah Leveque, Frances Bascombe, Marion Eaglestick



David Duck (interpreter on the left) and Robertson (photographer in back)
Observers



HBC post buildings 



Bill Mayer Oakes 



Remains of old HBC post across river from present post 
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is HBCA-1987-273-022-1-1020x1024.jpg



Cemetery at Little Grand Rapids 



In stern of boat Eric Dranthee, post manager Little Grand Rapids, clerk (only stayed 10 months with Company) Barry Tuckett 

Hudson’s Bay House Photo Collection
Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba 

Little Grand Rapids HBC post, July 1963
William Bones Leveque (left), Little Grand Rapids, July 1963
William Bones Leveque (left), Little Grand Rapids, July 1963
William Bones Leveque (centre), Little Grand Rapids, July 1963
Little Grand Rapids HBC post buildings, 1967. Photographer: George Hunter
Little Grand Rapids HBC post, 1967. Photographer: George Hunter

Thank you to the Pimachiowin Aki Director for Little Grand Rapids First Nation for your efforts to connect people of Pimachiowin Aki with our cultural heritage. Thank you also to drum keeper Carlisle Bushie and photographer Ōtake Hidehiro for making it possible for us to share images of the William Bones Leveque drum today, and to the staff of the Archives of Manitoba for providing Pimachiowin Aki with digitized copies of the audio recordings and photographs donated to the Archives.

How to Harvest Manoomin (Wild Rice)  


The late Joe Owen of Pauingassi First Nation often reminisced about harvesting, traveling and listening to stories from his dad. Below, Joe describes the process of harvesting manoomin (wild rice).

Identify Harvest Time

The wild rice plant needs to be above the surface of the water, with the branch extended, and pockets for the kernels formed. Once this occurs, it takes about 10 days for the heads to fill out. At that point, the kernels are ripe and need to be harvested. If this narrow time window is missed, rain or wind will cause the kernels to fall back into the lake.

Pankissinon
(Better pick them quickly before they fall)

Kwiipit (Joe’s Dad) often used this word
Manoomin looks like floating grass before it grows up and out of the water.
Photos: Ōtake Hidehiro


Drying Manoomin (Wild Rice)

Once the kernels are harvested, they are placed in a tall metal pail angled against the heat of the fire to heat and dry them. It is imperative that they be thoroughly dried for two reasons. First, the husking process follows the drying period and the husks won’t detach from the kernel if the kernels aren’t entirely dry. The heat needs to remove moisture and result in temperatures that cause the husk to burn, but not the rice. The second reason for needing high levels of dryness is to preserve the wild rice.  Heating of the kernel is needed to prepare for storage.

In the pot, a paddle is used to continuously stir the rice for 10-15 minutes if the quantity of wild rice is 3-4 pounds. This process is repeated over and over again during the initial drying/stirring process if greater volumes are being dried.

Ahkihkan okii apichii’an (They used a pail)
Piiwapihk ahkihk (A metal pail)
Oki wanaweyaanan ima ahkihkwonk
(It was stirred in the pail)
Apwi oki aapachii’an (A paddle was used)

Separating Husks and Kernels

Photo: Ōtake Hidehiro

Once the drying is done, the rice is placed on a canvas in a shallow pit in the ground. Joe’s Dad would step into the pit wearing moccasins. He would stand on the rice and stir it in an agitator fashion, with his feet moving side to side, while holding a branch or stick to maintain his balance. The agitating action would separate the dry/burned husks from the rice kernels.   

Once the husks and kernels were separated, Joe’s dad would lift out the canvas and throw the kernels up and down, allowing the wind to blow away the husks.

Ahkihkwaabpihk  kii siikinaan oteshpiwepinaanan, wepash ikiweniwak (husks)
Kii pahkwachihsewak (they fall off)

Photo: Ōtake Hidehiro

Pimachiowin Aki is grateful to Joe for sharing his knowledge and Gerald Neufeld for recording Joe’s words.