This item is a tape of dictation from the Metis Development Corporation recorded in 1980. The original source item is side A of a 60 minute audio cassette. The speaker may be R. J. Greene, General Manager, and is directed to secretary Mrs. Mandeville. The items on the tape include: Newsletter #2, a memo to board members, a February 6, 1980 summary of the Norman Wells project, and a February 14, 1980 letter to W.M. Pearce, Interprovincial Pipeline Ltd., on the Norman Wells Project.
This item consists of a discussion between Joe LeMouel and an unidentified man that occurs as they review the LeMouel family's scrip applications and receipts. The original source item is side A of a 60 minute audio cassette tape. The scrip is dated July 7, 1924 and was issued to Joe, his mother Mary Rose, brother Jean Marie, and sister Dora. Mary Rose's father was Jean Baptiste Bouvier, who submitted a separate application. Joe and the other speaker discuss the similarities and differences in rights between Treaty Indians and "half-breeds" (as Joe refers to people of mixed ancestry). The men also discuss why money scrip was provided instead of land scrip and what the understanding of recipients was about what the scrip was for and what rights they retained as Indigenous peoples. Joe also talks a little about his family history, describing how his father came to the Fort Providence Mission as a brother (or perhaps a novice), but left the Mission to work for the Hudson's Bay Company and as a trapper when he saw the opportunities available. The family subsequently moved to Rae (Behchoko), Arctic Red River (Tsiigehtchic), and Wrigley before Joe's father died and his mother moved them back to Fort Providence to be near extended family.
This item consists of a recording of Metis Association President, Richard McNeely, being interviewed by the CBC's Marie Wilson. The original source item is side B of a 60 minute audio cassette. The interview is related to those on side A and occurs later the same day. McNeely expresses suspicion of officials in Indian Affairs and perhaps of Dene Nation, and is also less optimistic about the speed with which one organization could be formed. McNeely is firm in his statement that funding is not worth compromising basic democratic principles and indicates that the timing is not good for negotiations anyway, although he would like them to go ahead. He also makes reference to some meaningful concessions he advanced at the Drum Lake meeting and offers Marie Wilson a transcript.
The interview starts mid-way through this recording.
This item consists primarily of two interviews, possibly conducted by Phoebe Nahanni. The original source item is side A of a 90 minute audio cassette. The first is the second part of a two part interview that started on the other side of the tape (see CN-19B), with a Public Trustee Officer named Barrie (female speaker) regarding wills and estates. The interviewer asks lots of questions about what happens with estates and assets in various circumstances and the interviewee identifies things people should know but might not be aware of, available resources, and various problems that arise in the administration of estates. Some terms of the Dependents Relief Ordinance and Intestate Succession Ordinance are also explained. The second interview is with another female speaker, perhaps in the Metis Association, on the topic of land claims and elections. A comment purportedly made by candidate Lynda Sorenson regarding Dene-Metis unity is discussed and reference is also made to sending a letter to MP David Nickerson.
This item is the first part of a two-part interview of Helena Mandeville (age 80) at Fort Smith, recorded on March 12, 1992 by 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 item CN-28B. Helena grew up in Fort Chipewyan and she and her husband and children also lived in Fort Smith, Wood Buffalo National Park (Rocky Point and Fifth Meridian), and Fort Resolution. Topics covered include family background and origin, family members, housing, difference between immediate family and relatives, duties of husband, wife and children, marriage, naming children, adoption and orphans, death, expectations for children, education, extended family (including grandparents), relationships between groups, wedding customs, childbirth, expectations and roles of women, retirement and pensions, hunting customs and activities by season, wood cutting, clothing, housing, staying warm, dog teams and sleds, animals trapped for fur, goods exchanged for fur, traders and trading posts (Hudson's Bay Company and independent traders such as Hamdan and Ali and Colin Fraser), and employment (fishing and mail). Helena also tells some remembered stories from her childhood. The recording ends abruptly.
This item is the second part of a two-part interview of Helena Mandeville (age 80) at Fort Smith, recorded on March 12, 1992 by Sister Agnes Sutherland as part of the 1992 Metis Heritage Project. The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 90 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-28A. Helena grew up in Fort Chipewyan. Topics covered include employment (mail, missions, and sewing), food gathering, preservation and preparation, caribou, fish, wild plant use, gardening, clothing for men, women and children, sewing tools and materials, footwear, hide preparation, decorations, treatment of sickness and medicines, diseases and epidemics, changes in the community from when she first came, hopes for all the young people, and her relationship with her grandchildren. After the interview is over, Helena and the interviewer continue a casual conversation about Helena's children and where they are living now. Finally, Helena gives the Metis Association permission to use material from her interview.
This item is the first part of a two-part interview of Elizabeth Bourke at Fort Smith, recorded on March 16, 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 item CN-29B. Elizabeth grew up in Fort Chipewyan and Peace Point and after her marriage, she with her husband and children, moved to the Gros Cap commercial fishing camp, Hay River, and Fort Smith. Elizabeth provides information about her family background and history. The interviewer also guides the discussion to cover the topics of marriage, naming of children, orphans and adoption, expectations for children, what her children are doing now, education, elders, pensions and welfare, childbirth, behavioural expectations and roles for women, hunting customs and tools, animals hunted and trapped by season, fishing, dog teams and sleds, trapping, fur trade, relationship between Metis and traders and Hudson's Bay Company and community, commercial fishing, employment, men's work, and gathering and preparing food. An unidentified male voice chimes in occasionally to add supplementary information. The recording also includes a lot of background noise.
This item is the first part of a four-part interview of Marie Anne McDonald (born October 21, 1915) at Fort Smith, recorded on March 17, 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-30B, CN-31A, and CN-31B. Marie tells portions of the story of her life and background interspersed with more general responses to the interviewer's questions of what life used to be like. Marie shares that her ancestors were from Winnipegosis and she and her parents, Pierre Tourangeau and Mary Rose Mercredi were from Fort Chipewyan. When her mother became ill when she was about 5 years old, she was taken by her father to live at the Convent and remained there until she was about 9. Marie's father remarried and she lived with him and her step-mother until her marriage as a teenager to ___ Daniel. They lived with her in-laws at first. Marriage was hard for Marie and after 12 years and 6 children, she and her husband broke up. She supported herself and her family by sewing. Additional topics covered include summer fish camp at Quatre Fourches, winter trap lines, shelters, special places, family relationships, employment, duties of men and women, family history, sewing (clothing, materials, prices), relationships between groups of people, marriage and family life, pregnancy and childbirth, adoption, parental expectations for children, punishments, and education (formal and by observation).
This item is the second part of a four-part interview of Marie Anne McDonald (born October 21, 1915) at Fort Smith, recorded on March 17, 1992 by Sister Agnes Sutherland as part of the 1992 Metis Heritage Project. The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 90 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes items CN-30A, CN-31A, and CN-31B. Marie tells portions of the story of her life and background interspersed with more general responses to the interviewer's questions of what life used to be like. Marie shares that she sewed to support her children and husband. When she and her husband separated, she put her kids in the Convent and went to work as a housekeeper in Fort Chipewyan for the RCMP. She also worked for the Wylies before moving to Fort Smith in 1946, where she made a living by sewing. In 1951 she moved to Yellowknife for five years, before returning to Fort Smith, where she has lived since then. Additional topics covered include marriage, childbirth, appropriate behaviour for women, retirement, hunting customs, tools, supplies and rules, animals hunted by seasons, trapping, dog teams, traders, fishing, dryfish, employment, roles for men and women, food gathering, preservation and preparation, and various kinds of food.
This item is the first part of a four-part interview of Frank Laviolette (age 66) at Fort Smith, recorded on March 18, 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-32B, CN-33A, and CN-33B. Frank provides details of his family history and origins. Frank's mother was from Salt River and his father from Fort Chipewyan. His father's family had come from Winnipeg. Frank was born close to Fort Smith and has lived there his whole life. He has 13 children, including two adopted and two deceased. Both of his parents died of tuberculosis before World War II while Frank was quite young. He was taken in by Chief Squirrel's wife, then Bill Lyall, where he stayed until he was an adult. Frank was educated up to about grade 2. Frank became a catskinner and travelled up the Mackenzie to work in Tuktoyaktuk for a couple of seasons. More recently, he ran Bison Big Game Outfitting. Additional topics covered include housing, fishing, cemeteries, role of husbands, wives and children, trapping, relationships between groups and families, marriage customs, naming customs, adoption and orphans, and celebrations. The recording ends abruptly.
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.
This item is the first part of a two-part interview of Sam Norn (age 82) at Fort Resolution, recorded on March 19, 1992, by Jeanette Mandeville, as part of the 1992 Metis Heritage Project. The interview is in English. The original source item is side A of a 100 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-38B. The interview is relatively unstructured, consisting mainly of personal and ancestral stories told by Sam Norn. The interviewer also appears to have strong family connections to Fort Resolution and often asks about her family connections and things she wants more information about. She also shares information she has gathered from reading about the Metis people of the area, including the Beaulieus. Sam tells the story of his poor eyesight and how he went blind and shares some family information about his mother’s death of appendicitis when he was about 14, the Beaulieu’s log house on Jean River, his uncles Johnny and Alexi, spring camp, family members who were involved in a court case, and the arrival and marriage of William Norn, his grandfather. He then tells a lengthy story about a set of twins who go in separate directions, which is perhaps the Dene story of Yamoria and Yamozha. Sam’s story follows one of the twins, who encounters several other people had has adventures. After 400 years the twins meet again and fought and they had when they were kids. Sam then tells a few stories about his Uncle asking for a cigarette, using gunpowder to blow something up, and having a dog sled tip on him. He then starts a story about ghosts, which is continued on the other side of the tape. Sam is frequently hard to understand, which makes it difficult to follow many of his stories. There are also occasional interruptions of the interview and the recording ends abruptly.
This item is the second part of a two-part interview of Sam Norn at Fort Resolution, recorded on March 19, 1992, by Jeanette Mandeville, as part of the 1992 Metis Heritage Project. The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 100 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-38A. The interview is relatively unstructured, consisting mainly of personal stories told by Sam Norn. Sam starts by continuing a story about ghosts and premonitions that something is going to happen. He then speaks about medicine men, his personal experience, people that know something, and plants for healing. He briefly mentions Jewish people in the country, including the Pinskis. The interviewer leads him into a discussion about catching muskrats and asks about trading stores and trappers, which leads Sam to talk about Bud Ali. The interviewer asks about sicknesses and epidemics and Sam responds with a couple of stories, then main one of which seems to centre on the 1928 epidemic. The interviewer then asks Sam if he knew her dad’s uncle Alphonse Mandeville, which leads Sam into stories about Alphonse and the actions of Father Duchene (spelling?) after his death. A side story about Bishop Fallaize is also shared. Sam then shares stories about Augustin Beaulieu, who had served in the army, and a related story about his shooting by Lambert (spelling?). The interviewer asks if he ever went to the Mission school, which leads Sam into the story of this short-lived school career and how his grandfather took him out of school and taught him to trap muskrats. The interview concludes with the interviewer speaking of her desire to visit her family’s old camp and Sam providing information about its location. Sam is frequently hard to understand, which makes it difficult to follow many of his stories.
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 second part of a four-part interview of Sonny (D'Arcy) Arden at Yellowknife in 1976 by Elizabeth Hay for the CBC program "Mackenzie Journal". The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 90 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-48A and CN-49A. The recordings are parts of episodes of the weekly "Mackenzie Journal" program, which were edited from the original interview and also include music and commentary by Elizabeth Hay. In this recording, Sonny continues his description of the family's journey from Fort Smith to Jackfish Creek time there and at Peace Point, while his father was a Buffalo Ranger for Wood Buffalo National Park for a couple of years. Sonny mentions that he is able to understand Slavey, since his mother always spoke to them using it. He also speaks of his short time in the residential school at Fort Providence and the impact a lack of education has had on him, particularly in later life. The recording then includes a reading from "Narrative of My Life 1914-1935" written by D'Arcy Arden in which he describes leaving the Yukon, travelling to Edmonton, then leaving for the north via Athabasca Landing, Smith Landing (Fort Fitzgerald), and Fort McMurray. After a brief gap in recording, Sonny returns to the narrative of his family's travels from Fort Norman to Fort Smith to Rocky Point, where the family lived for about 10 years while his father was a Buffalo Ranger. Around 1933, they returned to Great Bear Lake, to Cameron Bay where there was silver mining activity. In 1936, Joe Vachon returned to Cameron Bay after a summer of prospecting north of Gordon Lake. When his samples were assayed in Eldorado, they were rich with gold, starting a staking rush the following spring, which D'Arcy and Sonny joined in March 1937. They travelled by dog team and on foot from Cameron Bay to Gordon Lake, via Fort Rae (Behchoko) and Yellowknife. Sonny provides some descriptions of Fort Rae, Yellowknife, and the mining camps at Gordon Lake. Sonny mentions that he and his father staked a couple of claims, then he went to work for the Guggenheim Brothers whipsawing lumber and doing a mail run by dog sled. Sonny describes the disappointment caused by poor assay results and mentions the rumour that perhaps Joe Vachon's samples had gotten mixed up with someone else's. The narrative then mentions Jack Hornby, who was acquainted with the Ardens at Great Bear Lake and visited them again while they were living at Peace Point. Sonny provides some information about his mother, who was a Hare (North Slavey) Dene woman. He describes her as the backbone of the family who always told them stories and managed alone in the bush with the children while D'Arcy was on patrols or prospecting trips, teaching them about living on the land. The family was reunited in the spring of 1938 when D'Arcy brought her and the other two boys south. Sonny's mother was also able to speak the Inuit language (likely Inuvialuit) to do interpreting when D'Arcy was a free trader. Sonny also tells the story of a time when two Inuit boys stayed with his parents and one died of pneumonia. Sonny discusses some bush medicines, including rat root and spruce gum. The recording concludes with Sonny's account of him and his brother, Hughie, joining in the staking rush at Pine Point in 1965. The recording ends abruptly.
This item is the third part of a four-part interview of Sonny (D'Arcy) Arden at Yellowknife in 1976 by Elizabeth Hay for the CBC program "Mackenzie Journal". The interview is in English. The original source item is side A of a 90 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-48A and CN-48B. The four recordings are parts of two episodes of the weekly "Mackenzie Journal" program, which were edited from the original interview and also include music and commentary by Elizabeth Hay. In this recording, Sonny continues the story of him and his brother, Hughie, joining in the staking rush at Pine Point in 1965, selling the first claims they staked and then continuing on with staking contracts and on their own. He then relates how he lost the money he made with poor investments in his own contracting and construction companies. The recording concludes with Sonny's description of the back injury he suffered in the 1950s, but which has badly affected him in later years.
This item is an interview with Susan Lavoie at Yellowknife, likely recorded in 1982 or 1983 by an unidentified female interviewer. The interview is in English. The original source item is side B of a 46 minute audio cassette. Susan Lavoie is the Metis Association representative working on the Datsedi radio program produced by the Native Communications Society with support from the Dene Nation and the Metis Association and aired on CBC. Susan was born in Renfrew, Ontario and came to Yellowknife in 1972 or 1973. She gives some information about her previous jobs in Yellowknife, then describes how she became involved with the Datsedi program and the additional training she has done in radio. Susan talks about topics featured on the show and outlines the process involved in taking a program from an idea to the final edited version. She also describes her feeling when doing her first show.
This recording also includes side A of the tape.
This item includes two interviews. The original source item is side A of a 46 minute audio cassette. The first interview is with Cathy Marlowe at Yellowknife, likely recorded in 1982 or 1983 by an unidentified female interviewer. The interview is in English. Cathy Marlowe is the producer trainee working on the Datsedi radio program produced by the Native Communications Society with support from the Dene Nation and the Metis Association and aired on CBC. She was born and raised in Snowdrift (Lutselk'e) and lived there before going away to residential school in Fort Smith, Fort Simpson (stayed with a family), and Yellowknife, where she took Grade 11 in 1974. She got into broadcasting, with Datsedi, a year before this interview. Cathy describes her feelings when doing her first show and what she enjoys most. She mentions an award she recently won and future ambitions to get into other areas like television. She gives some details about the Datsedi program, including her role in production, whether it will continue to air, CBC channels carrying it, languages used, and oversight structure. The second interview is with Joey Horesay at Yellowknife, likely recorded in 1982 or 1983 by an unidentified female interviewer. The interview is in English. Joey Horesay is the Dene Nation representative working on the Datsedi radio program produced by the Native Communications Society with support from the Dene Nation and the Metis Association and aired on CBC. Joey was born in Fort Simpson and went to school in Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, and Yellowknife, finishing High School in 1975. He went into mechanics and then into broadcasting, after spending time in the Fort Simpson radio station with a friend who worked there. His first radio show was at the studio in Fort Simpson and Joey describes his feelings when doing it. His role on Datsedi is as an announcer. He speaks Slavey for the show.
This recording includes sides A and B of the tape.
This item is the first part of a two-part interview of Pat Tourangeau on the Norweta (boat on the Mackenzie River), recorded in July 1996 by two unidentified female interviewers. The interview is in English. The original source item is side A of a 60 minute audio cassette. The interview also includes item CN-55B. The interview takes the form of a series of interconnected stories, rather than strictly questions and answers. Pat tells stories about his brief involvement with his cousin Jean Doris Burke while living in Fort Fitzgerald, working on the Distributor, cutting wood, working for NTCL moving buildings, how he met and married his wife in 1945, trying to get a trapping license, his mother's death and his placement in the mission at Fort Chipewyan for 14 years, his father's treatment of him, ways of earning money, and trapping with a friend. Pat's grandparents were Metis from Winnipeg and his father was Pierre Tourangeau. Pat was born in Fort Chipewyan in 1917.
This recording includes sides A and B of the tape.
This item is an interview of Michael (Mike) Bopp, likely recorded in 1983, by an unidentified male researcher. The recording is in English. The original source item is side A of an audio cassette. The interview discusses the work Michael Bopp has been doing with Dene Nation in the areas of education and learning. He states that the Dene people are at a critical time in their history in which they are making decisions that will have an impact far into the future. He sees them as having an opportunity to create new way of living on the earth that is better for all people, not just the Dene. Michael mentions some of his recent projects, which include reviews of the Territorial educational legislation, research into Dene values and the traditional concepts of what make a person and society good, research into Dene learning styles, and assisting with the community training program for community development workers in the Norman Wells impact area. Michael also outlines his vision for greater communication and cooperation between the Elders and the Youth to better share wisdom and vision for the future. He also shares thoughts about spirituality and its role in communities and education.