Day 4

Well, we danced until 1 a.m. at the Gathering after listening to a talent show and a “welcome home” celebration for Freddie Throassie and the 10 kids who came in from Flett Lake with him. It was a short trip of about 100 miles, but over the course of the first three weeks they built a log cabin on Flett! The kids are all young – I think in the 10- to 14-year-old age range – and those I talked to were pumped about all they had seen and done.

The chief of Black Lake, Victor Echodh, flew up with Father Murray (the local priest) to visit the group at Flett, and last night Victor couldn’t say enough good things about the group that he had visited. Father Murray actually stayed at the camp and paddled home with the kids and Freddie.

I missed their arrival at the main dock, as I had to take someone to the airport in Stony, but from all I heard it was a heroes’ welcome, complete with a parade through town. Plaques were presented to those who made the month-long trip in the bush, and Victor and Freddie pledged to keep doing this type of trips on an annual basis – well, annually at least until they are simply too worn out by the kids’ energy! I visited Freddie before the awards ceremony and he was sleeping. When he got up, he said he was “whupped”, but right before that I had seen some of the kids playing hackeysack for an hour in the school yard. A tough group is all I can say!

We feasted and visited for hours at the outdoor kitchen, where the rule was “help yourself.” I cooked a bunch of trout and caribou meat, and I, Lynda and Shauna Archibald from Northern Dene ate until we could hardly move. The only problem was that I kept getting talked into cooking more and more trout for all kinds of people who loved to see me stuck at the fire! By the time I got out of the teepee that covered the fire, I smelled like I had done a month-long canoe trip. The hand games and drumming were still going strong when we left, and the competition is heating up for the big prize of $6000.

Thursday saw us packing to head back to La Ronge to re-pack and get ready to head to Damant Lake to the North of 60 meeting on Sunday. The set up crew is going in on Saturday, and there are two Twin Otters lined up to fly the elders and band officials up all day Sunday and Monday. The elders are all talking about “going home” to “the land of little sticks” – the tundra.
We got the huge plough wind that Brabant and Southend got – or perhaps it was a different one? – and it was wild. A Cessna 185 broke loose from its mooring in Stony, and only quick thinking by the pilots and “dock swampers” saved it. John Elander from Wollaston told us that the dock where he had his plane parked in Stony almost broke loose from shore. Luckily it didn’t, as there would have been four planes floating away with it. A bunch of trees fell over the power line and kept shutting down the talent show and the hand games as SaskPower raced to get everything up and running again. It was quite a night!

By the way, apparently the last head count was well over 500 people, and that was with lots of people who attended but forgot to register. The only bad news is that they are all going to get to try the buffalo meat and tongues, and Lynda and I are back in La Ronge.

I’d like to extend a big thank you to the chief and council and all the local volunteers. It was a great event!

Norcanair's Chieftan		Norcanair's office in Wollaston