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Trapping through the years

Former LLRIB Chief John Cook with the footwear he wore during his trapping days.

John Cook saw many changes in the trapping industry throughout his more than 60 years on the trapline close to Stanley Mission.

Cook remembers when it was a free-for-all, when you could try to establish a trapline and anyone could come in and take over.

A trapper could go in anywhere “someone would kill all the beaver.”

“Before the Block System it didn’t work. I had mine (trapline) over there and someone else could just come in (and trap). That didn’t seem right to trappers and there was no conservation,” Cook said in an interview with The Northerner, with interpretation by Brian Hardlotte, a trapper and Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) Councillor from Stanley Mission.

The government controlled trapping in the early days Cook remembers trapping.

Also Cook and other trappers wanted the stability of staying where they were close to the community, and the church, they didn’t want to move around all the time.

Farmers, unable to farm during the Depression years, came north to trap and, although they may not have been aware, they infringed on the trappers territory as well, this caused animosity between the farmers and trappers, although friendships were also formed at times.

But the main reason the trappers wanted a change was conservation.

They trapped by dog team and sometimes they didn’t have a strong team.

Cook was 22 when he got married to Susan at Holy Trinity Anglican Church and moved out onto the trapline. Over the years the Cooks would have eight children, the youngest child died in an accident, but the others are still living, many in the Stanley Mission area. They had a full life living on the land.

Conservation was always important, “we never took more than we needed.” Conservation is a message Cook repeats to his sons and grandchildren.

“In the early summer and you see a cow moose with a calf, you shouldn’t bother it.” The exception to that could be if the people were starving.

Trapping resulted in all the famiy needs being met with nutritious food and clothing. “Nothing was wasted.”

Cook spent the winters on the trapline, raising a family. In the summers, the Cooks grew a garden and continued to live on the land. Cook also worked throughout the summer in various areas of the mining industry.

But life on the land was a healthy way to raise a family, they were healthy and you didn’t hear of illnesses like diabetes among trappers, because of the healthy lifestyle and diet.

At 89 Cook lives in Stanley Mission, having moved from the trapline three years ago at age 86.

Over the years Cook’s sons took over the trapline and it’s still in the family. The major change Cook remembers in the trapping industry was the CCF government initiating the Block System in the mid to late 1940s.

Under the Block system, trappers have a designated family trapline, and the trappers are in the driver’s seat when it comes to decisions about the industry.

The trapper Blocks were further broken down into Zones. The area which includes Stanley Mission, Grandmothers Bay and Brabant Lake became Trappers N Block and Cook’s trapline is in Zone 3.

The zones were further broken down into family traplines.

Cook remembers when trappers came together for a “big meeting” to fl esh out how the Block System would be organized.

“Most trappers need the same thing, you trap the same animals. That’s why we had a big meeting so all the trappers would be satisfi ed where they were going to work.”

The Saskatchewan Trapper’s Association grew out of the Block system, but did not serve northern trappers, who felt their voices weren’t being heard. “Southern Saskatchewan trappers were being heard more when it came to resolutions.”

In the 1980s the Northern Trapper’s Association was created to change that and give northern trappers a voice. The Northern Trapper’s Association formed a co-operative in recent years and is now the Northern Trapper’s Association Cooperative.

Cook, an active member of the Northern Trappers, also remembers some of the trappers involved in the NRSTA during the early days, Malachi McLeod, John Morin, Albert Ratt from Pelican Narrows, Oscar Beatty, of Deschambault Lake, Jim Carriere, of Cumberland House, Robert Keighley, of La Ronge, Vitel and Louis Morin of Turnor Lake, George and Martin Smit, of Pinehouse Lake.

Under the Block system each block had a chairperson, a secretary-treasurer and zone representatives.

“The government used to collect a trappers licence, it used to be $30. $10 actually went to the trapper’s licence, $10 went to habitat. The other $10 was for the Block to be used for spring and fall meetings so everybody pays for this from the whole Block,” Hardlotte said.

“A few years back the government stopped collecting the $10 Block funding. The reason – they did not want to collect third-party money. It made it very diffi cult to operate the blocks because it became voluntary. We made in voluntary to pay the $10. When the government introduced the Block System they had annual conventions ”

Cook said he hopes the livelihood of trapping continues into the future, but it has to be supported by the various level of government including First Nations government, the Federations of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) and the local band level, “because if our people want to be healthy in the future, they must get back on the land, not to live entirely, but to take their families out once in a while because when you are out there you work, so you are active, you’re eating the right foods, the foods of the land, and it’s peaceful. You can have quality time for your family.”

John Cook is a former Chief of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) and the father of former Chief Harry Cook.

Over the years Susan Cook also continues working with hides, beading, for which she has won many trophies.

Valerie G. Barnes- Connell