WEBVTT

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What you see here is
how my father taught me,

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long before I could make things on my own.

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He told me which tools
I should use here at home

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and when I am out on the land hunting,
making implements.

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I was taught a lot of things
and all that you see here,

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I was not the first one to know about it.

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My father made all these tools for me
and also my mother,

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so I could do things when the time came
for me to be on my own.

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Ever since I’ve been making things,
I have been very busy making things

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requested by other people who don’t have
the knowledge on how to do them on their own.

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Once a person knows how to do things,
that person can help many people.

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For instance, making poles for a teepee, some people
cannot do this so I make the poles for them,

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including other things like these snowshoes.

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I have made many pairs in my time.

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I am now eighty-three years of age.

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I was fourteen when I made
my first pair of snowshoes.

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This is a snowshovel and
can also be used in shoveling sand.

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It is called “akwaaskupaan”.

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A person can create many things
when he knows how to do them properly.

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It is also used when doing
hunting activities out on the water.

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Non-natives call it a shovel,
it’s called an ‘Indian shovel’.

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This is a woman’s spoon
used for stirring stew and juice.

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This fork is used for stirring boiling food
without burning your hands.

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You can use it when cooking goose.

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This spoon is used for cooking
and scooping out fish.

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These are snowshoes,
but I did not bring the ones that are worn.

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This string is used for lacing snowshoes.

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It is called ‘aschiminaayaapii’.

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This one is made from moose skin.
It is called ‘muuswaayaapii’.

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It is not so strong, this one is stronger
and it is better when traveling on wet snow.

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This lacing gets easily wet
when walking on melting snow.

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It’s like you dipped your snowshoes
in water, that’s how it is.

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This one here is the best.

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Lacing can also be made from bear,
caribou and also from beaver and otter skin.

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These four are enough for four snowshoes.

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My lacings are starting to thaw out.

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This one is used on the front
and back webbing of the snowshoe.

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It is called ‘atips’.

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This is used to drill holes.

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Long ago, it was a long process because
you had no drill, you had to do it this way

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and then you put the string
through these holes.

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This string is called ‘pishiminaapii’.

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It depends what kind of snowshoes
the person wants,

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different colours are used for the webbing.

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Some people like to use the colours
of their favourite hockey team.

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Sometimes it is hard to
make them in a particular colour.

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Many different things are used in making the small
and large snowshoes and other items.

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I did not bring all the things
I use to make them.

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I make adult-sized snowshoes and sleds.

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I also make decorations like birds.
This is what I make for others.

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When the shape of an item is finished,
this is used to sand it down.

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This sandpaper is called ‘shushiwaaskuhiikin’.

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If you have to be really careful how
you handle tools as you work, for instance,

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for instance, not to cut your hands
or other places of your body.

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Also with the axe, you have to
use it carefully so as not to cut yourself.

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You can also injure yourself
when working with wood,

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such as getting a splinter in your hand.

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When carving wood, if you are wearing just a shirt, you can cut yourself with the knife.

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Once an old man cut himself out on the land,
so deeply that his intestines were showing.

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This is why you have to be
extra careful when carving wood.

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Also when you use a saw,

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it can slip and you can cut
your hand or knee.

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I, myself, cut my knee with an axe twice

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and once with the carving knife.

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You will always be alert when using
different tools when making implements.

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For those of you who will later know
how to make things,

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you will always making implements
and other things for others.

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Some people do not get the right information,
especially when using their cellphones

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to get instructions on how to do something.

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This tool is used for carving wood.

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This one is used for carving
small wooden things

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and is not hindered when carving
in small spaces like this fork.

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I made this out of a scissors blade.

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This is a tool made by non-natives
which I got from Ottawa.

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It is used to smooth out whatever
you’re making by scraping it like this.

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This carving knife is used to make a wooden
snowshovel in making the grooves like this.

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I’ve had this one for approximately
30 years and I still use it today.

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The person who made this
has passed away 20 years ago.

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I already told you about this,
which is used for sanding wood.

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Before sandpaper was available,

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people just used knives
to smooth out their implements.

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This little piece of metal is used
for lacing the snowshoes.

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This comes from non-natives
for lacing children’s snowshoes.

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It is called ‘aschiminaayaapii’.

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There is a lot of vocabulary
just for making snowshoes.

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To prevent the string from unravelling
you burn the ends.

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The wood call ‘ushkui’,

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which is birch and
is not available in this area.

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You can find it at LG-2.

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Long ago before canvas was available, people would
use the bark of the birch for making canoes.

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They would use gum from trees
to seal the pieces of the bark.

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When making miniature
canoes for decoration,

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using the bark from the birch
makes them look very good.

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Another kind of wood used
is the tamarack, ‘waachinaakin’.

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It is used in making different things
as well as snowshoes.

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It is not easy to find
the right kind of wood to use.

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A person who knows which tree
is good to use for snowshoes

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knows which one is right
just by looking at the branches.

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This also goes for the type of wood
suitable for making other things,

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which type is strong enough for certain uses.

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Skin from other animals or fish,
such as the pike, were used for lacings.

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I heard a story of a man who had nothing
available to use as lacing for his snowshoes

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except for a small dog he had.

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He killed the dog and used
the skin for snowshoe-lacings.

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The first time he used the snowshoes,
he happened to kill a caribou.

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From that caribou he got
plenty of lacing string.

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Without that dog, he wouldn’t
have been able to travel in deep snow.

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Our people had to be resourceful in the past.

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This type of axe was called
‘utishkiwichiikihiikin’.

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These type of axes were still around
when we lived on the island of Fort George.

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Once when people were out cutting firewood,

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a man managed to hit and
cut his head with this kind of axe.

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Luckily the cut did not injure
his skull, just the skin.

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These kinds of axes are very dangerous.

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They are more dangerous
than these types of axes.

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I use this for making snowshoes
when I work inside.

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A person uses many different kinds of tools.

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There are not many of us left who can still
make these things used in traditional activities.

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Black Spruce, ‘iiyaahtikw’
is used for making paddles.

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The boughs of this tree
are used as flooring in a shelter.

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I will stop for now.
I have talked too long