WEBVTT 00:00:10.677 --> 00:00:14.389 I got married when I was about fourteen years old. 00:00:15.348 --> 00:00:23.523 I didn’t know anything when I first married Simon. 00:00:23.523 --> 00:00:34.242 So he taught me everything like making bannock and directed me to do the house chores. 00:00:34.242 --> 00:00:39.205 I would follow what he told me to do. 00:00:39.581 --> 00:00:43.501 We also lived in a tent. We used spruce boughs for our flooring. 00:00:43.752 --> 00:00:48.548 It wasn't like this floor in our home. 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:54.137 We would collect the boughs, pile them up and set them in place. 00:00:54.137 --> 00:01:00.185 He taught me how to arrange them in place. 00:01:00.602 --> 00:01:05.231 I helped my husband with getting firewood. 00:01:05.899 --> 00:01:08.318 We carried the logs. 00:01:08.818 --> 00:01:14.783 We used hand saws because back then, there weren't any chainsaws. 00:01:14.783 --> 00:01:18.369 Saturdays were the time for us to get our firewood. 00:01:18.369 --> 00:01:24.292 The Elder we lived with said, "Sundays aren't the time to get firewood.” 00:01:24.292 --> 00:01:33.343 “You should get it on Saturdays." It was Elders Louis and Frances. 00:01:34.302 --> 00:01:39.182 So Simon would go out and chop the firewood. 00:01:39.182 --> 00:01:46.856 He would pile the firewood on the sled and pull it to our winter cabin. 00:01:47.232 --> 00:01:54.280 We would then cut the firewood to the length of a woodstove. 00:01:54.614 --> 00:01:58.743 Simon and I would do that. 00:01:58.743 --> 00:02:10.421 We would cut the firewood and bring it inside. We filled the porch with pre-cut firewood. 00:02:10.588 --> 00:02:13.967 Which allowed us to have Sundays off and not have to do work. 00:02:13.967 --> 00:02:21.057 We didn't do much work, only cooking or doing small tasks indoors. 00:02:21.808 --> 00:02:25.311 We don't work on the firewood on Sundays 00:02:25.311 --> 00:02:29.065 because we followed what the Elder said to us. 00:02:29.315 --> 00:02:31.943 Initially, I was worried about what was asked of me 00:02:31.943 --> 00:02:38.199 because there were many things I didn't know how to do, I didn't have the skills. 00:02:38.825 --> 00:02:44.956 Being out on the land made me feel like everything was difficult, because it was just Simon and me. 00:02:45.623 --> 00:02:49.794 A woman had much work when she was in the bush. 00:02:49.794 --> 00:02:54.465 She cooks and makes bannock. 00:02:54.674 --> 00:02:58.386 We even did work around the camp. 00:02:58.386 --> 00:03:07.270 We piled up the wood and boughs nearby to easily pick them up. 00:03:08.396 --> 00:03:14.903 At times, it does get too cold and we can't go collect boughs as they easily break. 00:03:15.320 --> 00:03:22.076 So we would keep the boughs warm by covering them with canvas. 00:03:22.076 --> 00:03:28.249 The boughs would be in one location, so we could get more if we needed them inside. 00:03:28.791 --> 00:03:35.298 I do remember when we had our firstborn. It was fall. 00:03:36.424 --> 00:03:41.554 We left for the bush leaving from Miquelon. 00:03:41.554 --> 00:03:46.142 We did about two portages and reached our destination. 00:03:46.935 --> 00:03:53.775 The baby was born in August, was still small and he became sick. 00:03:54.275 --> 00:03:59.989 With freeze-up, lakes and rivers weren't accessible for travelling. 00:04:00.990 --> 00:04:09.374 Then for a week, my baby was sick. Even when we tried to help the baby, we couldn't. 00:04:10.833 --> 00:04:18.216 Then it became too cold. Louis, the Elder, said, "We should now try going back.” 00:04:19.384 --> 00:04:26.224 “We'll pull our shelter, stove and all we need." 00:04:26.641 --> 00:04:33.106 We left as early as we could in the morning. 00:04:33.606 --> 00:04:37.819 By 5 a.m., we were heading back, our dogs pulled the sled. 00:04:38.528 --> 00:04:46.703 Halfway back home, Simon carried the baby on his back in a cradleboard and noticed something. 00:04:46.703 --> 00:04:58.214 He says, "I can't hear the baby crying. The baby cried while we walked." 00:04:59.007 --> 00:05:01.259 We stopped. 00:05:01.259 --> 00:05:07.682 From there, the Elder pitched the tent, woodstove, and woodfire. 00:05:07.682 --> 00:05:12.979 He hastily and roughly cut tree boughs used for flooring. 00:05:13.521 --> 00:05:17.025 Simon placed the cradleboard gently in the roughly made flooring 00:05:17.025 --> 00:05:23.406 because he was the one who carried the crying baby. 00:05:23.740 --> 00:05:28.536 Simon said, "I can't hear the baby crying." He stopped walking and said to the Elder, 00:05:28.536 --> 00:05:36.252 "I think my baby has died. I think the baby has passed away." 00:05:36.669 --> 00:05:42.717 So the Elder set up the camp and we slept there for one night. 00:05:43.092 --> 00:05:51.559 When morning came, we cared for our baby's body, wrapped it up and pulled it on the sled. 00:05:51.559 --> 00:05:54.645 We continued and left the following morning. 00:05:54.645 --> 00:06:00.151 We rested near Miquelon as there were houses there. 00:06:00.151 --> 00:06:07.492 We then slept in another place called "the round lake" for one night. 00:06:08.451 --> 00:06:11.662 We didn't bring the baby's body inside. 00:06:11.662 --> 00:06:16.542 We placed the body in a porch-like area. 00:06:17.418 --> 00:06:20.630 We left the following morning. 00:06:21.506 --> 00:06:28.179 Following the railroad track, we see an elderly lady walking toward us. 00:06:28.471 --> 00:06:33.518 That was Sophie’s late mother, whose name was Annie. 00:06:34.018 --> 00:06:43.361 She paused as we reached her asking us, "Why are you back here?" 00:06:43.361 --> 00:06:51.994 Elder Louis responded, "They're not doing good. Their baby died while getting here." 00:06:52.495 --> 00:07:00.795 He told her, "We stayed in Miquelon to see Mary Ratté." 00:07:00.795 --> 00:07:07.135 She was the nurse and took the body to Senneterre. 00:07:07.718 --> 00:07:11.013 We waited for the body to be brought back to us. 00:07:11.347 --> 00:07:17.353 We told Mary that we had lost the baby while coming back here. 00:07:17.353 --> 00:07:24.235 We also told Mary the baby had been sick for a month and we decided to come back here to Miquelon. 00:07:24.444 --> 00:07:30.032 And while coming back, the baby passed. 00:07:30.992 --> 00:07:35.121 We didn't return to the fall camp because of our loss. 00:07:35.121 --> 00:07:47.175 After the funeral, the Elder told us to stay put and that the trip would be too long. 00:07:47.842 --> 00:07:55.600 So Simon and I didn't go back home. We lived with my father in Bachelor. 00:07:57.977 --> 00:08:01.647 Some cabins already stood there. It was their winter camp. 00:08:01.647 --> 00:08:03.983 That was my late dad's trapline. 00:08:04.400 --> 00:08:08.696 Many family members settled there. 00:08:10.781 --> 00:08:18.080 I would go with my husband to hunt for moose as he sometimes asked me to. 00:08:18.080 --> 00:08:21.292 I knew why he did this: he grieved and felt sorry 00:08:21.292 --> 00:08:27.840 that I stayed inside without caring for our baby who passed on. 00:08:27.840 --> 00:08:32.762 He would say, "Come hunt moose with me," and I did join him. 00:08:32.762 --> 00:08:39.852 We would walk all day until we tracked a moose. 00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:44.524 He would say, "If my bag lays around, know that I am on a chase." 00:08:44.524 --> 00:08:53.783 He continued, "Bring the bag as you follow my trail." And that's what I would do. 00:08:54.116 --> 00:09:00.706 We also had a puppy that I would tie up and bring. 00:09:00.706 --> 00:09:05.044 We took care of it. 00:09:05.378 --> 00:09:10.883 One time I go with Simon for a moose hunt. 00:09:11.634 --> 00:09:15.888 We walk. There aren't ski-doos 00:09:16.389 --> 00:09:22.812 Simon says, "If you see my bag on the ground, you carry it." 00:09:22.812 --> 00:09:28.776 I look for the bag, and he knows I am looking for it as he chases the moose. 00:09:28.776 --> 00:09:33.864 For a while, trailing along, I wait for a gunshot. 00:09:35.366 --> 00:09:39.287 And it happens. He killed two moose that day. 00:09:39.287 --> 00:09:42.957 We were busy gutting them. 00:09:42.957 --> 00:09:49.213 Simon made a big open fire in the snow because we were there all day. 00:09:50.506 --> 00:10:00.683 Eventually, Elder Louis came to check up on us because we travelled separately then. 00:10:01.392 --> 00:10:10.026 He saw Simon make a meat cache where meat is stored. 00:10:10.735 --> 00:10:20.745 I was still inside the tent when I heard someone shaking their snowshoes as they removed the snow. 00:10:20.745 --> 00:10:23.414 I say to Simon, "I hear someone." 00:10:23.414 --> 00:10:31.422 Simon goes out and it is Elder Louis checking how we're doing, asking, "How are you both doing?" 00:10:31.422 --> 00:10:35.468 Simon replies, "I made time to kill two moose." 00:10:36.093 --> 00:10:41.057 The Elder says, "I will return to where we were during winter.” 00:10:41.849 --> 00:10:50.358 Simon tells Louis to get some meat, bring it to his camp, and share the news. 00:10:50.358 --> 00:10:58.532 Simeon Awashish came back with him. He wasn't married yet. 00:10:58.532 --> 00:11:03.496 Elder Louis had him as a shoe boy during that time. He lived with the Elder during that time. 00:11:04.163 --> 00:11:06.749 Simeon came with a dog sled. 00:11:06.749 --> 00:11:15.091 Simon and I were on our own and we did our travel. 00:11:15.091 --> 00:11:25.643 Simeon and Elder Louis arrived the next day with their dog sled 00:11:25.643 --> 00:11:30.523 and pulled back the amount of meat they needed. 00:11:31.315 --> 00:11:34.443 For a long time, the Cree did share food. 00:11:34.443 --> 00:11:44.370 If people lived near where we lived, they would say, "Pick up some meat." 00:11:44.954 --> 00:11:51.669 We smoked the moose meat because it prevented rot and flies. 00:11:51.669 --> 00:11:59.301 We sliced the meat thin and let it smoke. 00:12:00.928 --> 00:12:10.438 Simon would also say, “Let's make pemmican.” 00:12:11.063 --> 00:12:15.317 I was amazed by Simon making it. 00:12:16.152 --> 00:12:24.118 He would grind the meat finely. 00:12:25.327 --> 00:12:28.497 It was fine, like flour. 00:12:28.497 --> 00:12:33.419 He would add some fat from the duck to make it richer. 00:12:33.961 --> 00:12:38.883 He would say, "Try it, you will like the taste." 00:12:38.883 --> 00:12:41.844 For sure, it tasted good. 00:12:42.178 --> 00:12:48.309 I saw another way of preserving meat where birch bark was used. 00:12:48.309 --> 00:12:51.020 Meat would be placed there. 00:12:51.187 --> 00:12:54.857 I saw Elder Louis do this. 00:12:54.857 --> 00:13:03.157 He would peel off large pieces of birch and place the meat there. 00:13:04.074 --> 00:13:07.578 When he did that, I wondered why. 00:13:07.578 --> 00:13:14.126 He said to me, "This is to preserve the meat. You wrap the meat using birch bark." 00:13:14.543 --> 00:13:23.803 He'd spread the meat evenly, wrap it using birch bark and package it. 00:13:24.678 --> 00:13:31.268 He would look for birch bark that wasn't dry. 00:13:31.685 --> 00:13:35.272 He never used poplar. 00:13:35.272 --> 00:13:38.943 The Elder told us that when poplar was used 00:13:38.943 --> 00:13:48.118 it would darken the meat when used to dry the meat. 00:13:48.702 --> 00:13:57.920 I didn’t use white spruce or aspen, the one the beaver eats. 00:13:57.920 --> 00:14:04.885 We only used two types of trees: white spruce and deadwood. 00:14:05.719 --> 00:14:09.765 You can smoke anything, even the bones or large pieces of meat, 00:14:09.765 --> 00:14:15.062 all you have to do is slice it thinly and hang it. 00:14:15.062 --> 00:14:19.733 It needs to dry thoroughly so that the meat doesn’t go bad. 00:14:19.733 --> 00:14:24.154 You can preserve the meat for a long time.