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This item is a series of nine short stories told by Bill Lafferty while on a boat trip on the Mackenzie River as he points out places of historical interest and speaks about the people connected to them. The original source item is side A of a 120 minute audio cassette. The stories have been edited and fiddle music added as an introduction, background, and conclusion to most of the segments. The first story is about Pete McEwan who lived by the delta of the North Nahanni and died after falling through the ice. Pete was an Irish Republican who spent 40 years trading with the Indigenous people of the area before his death. The second story centres on an area of high cliffs near where his uncle and father used to have beaver hunting camps, cabins, and trails from Carlson Lake Pass. Bill also speaks about Mount Camsell, where a face can be seen, thus giving the Indigenous name that a human spirit sits there. The third story focuses on the area near Berry Island and Carlson Creek, where Helge Carlson, a Swede, had a trading post. Bill makes special mention of Carlson's wife's gravesite, which is still cared for, and the fate of his two children who had been sent to Sweden for schooling. The fourth story centres on Julian Hardisty's Spring camp. Bill provides information on Julian's identity as a Metis man and his trapping locations and indicates that old stumps he cut and his beaver stretchers can still be found in the woods. Bill relates the fifth story at a bench Harry McGuerin (spelling?) used to cut wood. Bill discusses woodlots in general and the use of wood on steamboats, as well as providing personal details about McGuerin. The sixth story is about Ocher River and the origin of its name. Bill explains the use of the ochre clay in chinking cabins and also talks about a man panning for gold in the Ocher River. The seventh story centres on a strip of lime visible on one of the cliffs they pass on the river. Bill describes how such a landmark would be used by old river pilots to determine their distance from shore and also discusses the use of lime in building fireplaces. The eighth story centres on the location of old Fort Norman. Bill also talks about voyageurs and tracking along the sand beaches in the area when there was no wind. The final story is about an area where coal veins can be seen in the bank. Bill talks about the coal mine shaft that used to be there and the use of coal for the steamboats on the Mackenzie River.

This item is an interview of John Bouvier, likely recorded in Hay River in early 1994 by Margaret Bearard. The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 90 minute audio cassette. John Bouvier was born October 4, 1918 in Fort Providence. His ancestors came from St. Boniface, Manitoba. John's grandfather came with cattle on scows across Great Slave Lake and settled in Fort Providence on a farm. He also worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. John is the oldest son of George and Veronique Bouvier. His mother was in a convent when his father married her and her family was in the Hay River area. The Bouviers moved to Fort Good Hope for awhile, before returning to Fort Providence. John attended school to Grade 4 and also worked hard helping his mother and doing chores. His father trapped and the family lived off the land. John feels Metis kids should go to school and also learn traditional skills and language from their parents, so it is not lost. John’s first language was French and he also speaks Cree, Slavey, Beaver, Chipewyan, and English. John remembers getting Metis scrip at the age of 7. His grandfather, dad, and uncles all decided to take scrip rather than Treaty. John left home at the age of 26 to make his own living. He went to Yellowknife in 1945 and worked for Giant Mine, then went wood cutting, then back to Fort Providence to his mother, then to fight a fire in Fort Smith. John had tuberculosis and spent three years at the Charles Camsell Hospital in Edmonton. On his return to the NWT, he went on a boat and learned the river. John also worked for the mission for a long time (fishing and on the Mission farm), shoveling snow, trapping, and on the boats, including with ATL. John was married for 25 years before his wife died and they had four children. He now has another female companion. John also speaks about traditional medicine, Treaty days, trapping, death, his Kokum (grandmother), missionaries, chiefs, and entertainment, including dances and games. John frequently contrasts the present day with how things were when he was growing up.

This item is the second part of a two-part interview of Hughie Arden at Yellowknife, likely in 1995, recorded by Gordon (Lennie?). The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 90 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-47A. This part of the interview focuses on the predicted socio-economic impacts of diamond mines in the NWT, in particular, the proposed BHP Diamonds Inc. operation. The interviewer continues the set of questions discussing the socio-economic impacts of the mine including effects on people, families, their lifestyle, traditional values, local economies, and archaeological and burial sites caused by people leaving communities to work in the mines, wage labour, and the influx of outsiders to the area. The interviewer introduces the concerns already raised by others and solicits Hughie's opinions as to effects he feels the mine will have, whether he shares the concerns of others, and any other concerns he has. The link between environmental and socio-economic impacts and the employment of Indigenous people are also discussed. Hughie often draws on his experience with other mines to make comparisons. The interviewer spends a lot of time talking through the questions and concerns, with the result that he frequently puts words in mouth of the interviewee. The interview then moves into questions for the Metis Heritage Association regarding Hughie's previous involvement with prospecting and mines. In the 1910s and 1920s, Hughie's father had a store on the east end of Bear Lake. After that, he worked for the government, looking after dogs and as a Game Warden at Wood Buffalo National Park. Then he became a prospector. Hughie relates how he started off with his father at Great Bear Lake in 1934, which is how he picked up most of his experience. Sonny (D'Arcy) Arden, Hughie's brother, also started with their father in 1936. They prospected in the Hottah Lake area, around Port Radium and northeast, right up to the Coppermine area, as well as spending a couple of years in the Mackenzie Mountains. Hughie relates stories of travels by canoe and dog team and how Sonny walked all the way to Yellowknife ahead of the dogs. The Arden family got in on the Yellowknife Gold Rush in 1938. Hughie also describes the movement of ore from the mines on Great Bear Lake down to Hay River. The interviewer asks about old things Hughie has run across on his travels, which leads Hughie to talk about the remains of settlements and camps that can be seen at Faber(?) Lake and Fishtrap Lake. Brief mention is also made of Hughie's other employment, which included working on the DEW Line putting in airstrips starting in 1955, working with John Denison on ice roads in the 1960s, and driving a cat train. The recording ends abruptly.

This item is the first part of a four-part interview of Rosalie Dempsey at Fort Smith, recorded on March 11, 1992 by Sister Agnes Sutherland as part of the 1992 Metis Heritage Project. The interview is in English. The original source item is side A of a 90 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes items CN-26B, CN-27A, and CN-27B. Rosalie grew up in Fort Chipewyan and Fort Vermilion and the interview focuses on aspects of her life and what she remembers about the old days. Topics covered in the first part include: father's and grandfather's employment, summer camps, religious celebrations, roles and responsibilities of women and children, marriage, naming children, adoption, education, clothing, dog teams, hunting, trapping and fishing by season, employment, and traders (including Hudson's Bay Company and Syrian traders). Rosalie also tells some remembered stories from her childhood. The recording ends abruptly.

This item is an interview of Margaret Morin, recorded in Hay River, likely in early 1994 by Margaret Bearard. The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 60 minute audio cassette. Margaret Morin was born in Green Lake, northern Saskatchewan on October 1, 1927 to parents Gilbert Roy and Flora Sinclair. She was 66 at the time of the interview. There were 15 children in Margaret's family and the family lived on a farm. Her father worked in the winter hauling freight with horses and sleigh and in the summer on a boat. The family spoke Cree at home and her parents also spoke French. Her brothers hunted and her mother and the girls in the family prepared moosehides. Margaret attended school to Grade 3, when she had to quit to care for her sister who was ill with tuberculosis and had five small children. Margaret began working at the age of nineteen in a shelter for children, with her brother-in-law and sister-in-law. She worked there for seven years in the laundry and cleaning up the office. Margaret speaks about measles and tuberculosis being diseases that affected her family and community. She does some sewing, including beadwork and embroidery, which she learned from her mother. There is also brief discussion about traditional medicine, clothing, religion, and dances. Margaret met and married her husband, Alphonse Morin, in Green Lake. The family moved to Hay River in 1953 when Alphonse came up to fish. Alphonse and Margaret had three children.

This recording includes sides A and B of the tape.

This item is an interview of Leonard Cardinal, recorded in Hay River, likely in early 1994 by Margaret Bearard. The interview is in English. The original source item is side A of a 60 minute audio cassette. Leonard Cardinal was born in Fort Chipewyan in March 1928 and will be 66 years old in March. His father was Magloire Cardinal and his mother was Nellie Loutitt, the daughter of Hannah McSwain and George Loutitt. He had two brothers and three sisters. Leonard was married to Yvonne Cardinal for about 33 years and had eight children. They had been separated for about 12 years at the time of the interview. After his mother's death in 1935, Leonard was raised by his uncle and aunt (his mother's sister). His chores included caring for dogs and chickens. Leonard attended school in Fort Chipewyan at the Anglican school and the Catholic Convent mission school up to Grade 8. He was raised in the Anglican church. Leonard left home at about 15 years old. His first job was in 1943, when the US Army came north. He worked as a dockhand for NTCL, unloading barges and loading trucks in Fort Fitzgerald. He later came to the Great Slave Lake area, fished for a number of years and had various jobs around Hay River, including in service garages, trucking, taxis, and as a school bus driver. In 1970 he was given the opportunity to take a boom of timbers to Inuvik with his tugboat for NCPC. He picked up the boom and a river pilot, Jonas Lafferty, in Fort Simpson and got as far as Tsiigehtchic before the river froze. Leonard spent the next six years in Inuvik, doing barging, timber cutting, pile cutting, and trucking with the oil companies operating in the area. After the Berger Inquiry halted pipeline plans, Leonard left Inuvik in April 1978 and moved to Grande Prairie, where he operated an oilfield servicing company. When the bust came, he started trucking on the Dempster Highway for a short time, but it wasn't profitable. He returned to Inuvik and went back to the small tug and marine service he had retained there. He also went into the taxi business with Delta Taxi and had a service station. Leonard sold out and left Inuvik in 1989, with the aim of retiring, but went into the tour boat business with the Arctic Star. After doing a couple of runs on the Mackenzie River and a summer season in Yellowknife, he moved operations to Hay River and also got back into commercial fishing. At the time of the interview he was fishing in the summer and running a couple of camps in the winter. He had recently suffered a stroke but was recovering well. Leonard mentions learning hunting skills from his uncle, which he still enjoys. His uncle and aunt lived off the land hunting and trapping, ran a small general store and bought furs, and had a boat and barge. Leonard's father trapped out of Fort Chipewyan in the Birch River Mountain area, Wood Buffalo National Park, and into the Northwest Territories. Leonard speaks briefly of the fancy clothes Metis people used to wear for celebrations and the way the dressed their dogs up too. He mentions some ways people entertained themselves in the past and games kids used to play. The interview concludes with Leonard advising young people to learn to be good workers, get themselves a job, and stay away from alcohol and drugs.

This recording includes sides A and B of the tape.

This item is the first part of a two-part interview of Mabel Heron at Fort Smith, recorded on February 7, 1992, by Joe Mercredi, as part of the 1992 Metis Heritage Project. The interview is in English. The original source item is side A of a 60 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-44B. Mabel provides many details about her life growing up on her parents' farm at Johnson's Landing, as well as answering general questions. Mabel was born in Fort Chipewyan in 1924. Her mother was Katie (Catherine) Alice Cooper from Fort McKay and her father was John Wilfred Johnson, who had emigrated from Sweden. While she was still a baby, the family moved to what became known as Johnson's Landing, where her parents cleared the land and established a farm. They kept cows, horses, pigs, chickens, and dogs, as well as growing vegetables, and running a trading store. Many people stopped there. Mabel's father also trapped. The children were educated using correspondence courses taught by their mother, who had spent a number of years in the Convent at Fort McKay after her father died. The family did not leave the farm and the children were not permitted to socialize with the people who stopped there. Mabel describes enjoying the visits of her Cree grandmother, who told them old stories. A priest also came to instruct the children in their catechism and they took first communion and confirmation as a group on the farm. After her mother got sick, Mabel describes her father as getting mean, blaming the children for everything, and beating them frequently. Her mother died of cancer at the age of 32. At the age of 22, Mabel ran away from the farm with her brother, reaching Hay Camp the first night and Fort Fitzgerald the next day. She stayed with her aunt for awhile. Her younger sisters also ran away from the farm. In 1948, Mabel moved to Fort Smith, where she worked in the kitchen at the HBC hotel. She married Charlie Heron about 7 months later. Mabel did not visit her father again until her son Brien was four years old. Other topics discussed include: entertainment, clothing, education, hunting and fishing, food preservation, dogs, trading, sickness and death, and traditional medicine and medicine men.

This item is the first part of a three-part interview of Dora Tourangeau at Fort Smith, recorded on March 31, 1992 by Sister Agnes Sutherland as part of the 1992 Metis Heritage Project. The interview is in English. The original source item is side A of a 90 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes items CN-36B and CN-37. Dora provides biographical information about herself, while answering interview questions. Topics covered include mail, duties of wives, marriage, adoption and orphans, tuberculosis, expectations and activities of children, clothing, shopping, retirement, trapping, fishing, transportation, hunting, caribou, dog teams, provision for widows, sewing, relationship of the Hudson's Bay trader with the community, employment, cattle and horses, and preservation of food. Dora shares that her mother, ___ Paulette, was born in Fort Fitzgerald, and her ancestors were from St. Boniface, Manitoba. Dora was born in Fort Fitzgerald around 1904 and remained there until 1927, when she moved to a camp at Halfway for a few years. Dora's father had died of tuberculosis when she was 8 years old and her mother died of chicken pox when Dora was 16. In 1917, she attended the convent school at Fort Chipewyan for about a year and a half, however, she was sick for much of the time. Her mother also instructed her in sewing and knitting. After her mother's death, Dora lived with an uncle for awhile, then began working as a cook and housekeeper to support herself. She never married. Parts of the recording are of poor quality with audio blips. The recording ends abruptly.