This week students at Elsie Fabian School learned practical skills for skinning animals trapped on Fort McKay First Nation traditional land. The animals were donated by Chief Mel Grandjamb, who also shared his trapping expertise with the students.
“I am Chief, but I am also a hunter and trapper and I want to share that knowledge with our youth,” said Chief Grandjamb. “There is no better way to show our youth our culture than to bring them fur.”
“In 1975 I was 10 years old when my father Wilfred first took me out to his trapline on a dog sled. It took three days to get there, and we had to camp outside for three nights. In those days the fur was our only income for the full year. We needed the money to survive.”
“Now I am able to donate the animals I trap to the school for teaching purposes,” said Chief Grandjamb. “I can also share my traditional knowledge with the youth.”
Instructor Junior Poulin, the school’s Land Based Learning Assistant, learned his skills from Chief Grandjamb as they trapped together for the last eight years. “My father taught me and his father taught him,” said Chief Grandjamb. “It used to be all family-based knowledge. Now I am able to pass on that knowledge to our youth.”
“I was very impressed and happy when I found out Junior was hired to be an instructor,” he said. “I taught him and now he is teaching others.”
Poulin is excited about the engagement and enthusiasm he sees from the students. “There is such a high level of interest,” he said.
“When I started in December, I didn’t know how much the students would like it, whether they would be missing their video games. But they really want to be outside and to be experiencing our land. They make me so proud every day. They go full tilt at learning, and they are doing an incredible job.”
The students have already learned a lot about skinning, fleshing, and boarding said Poulin. “Our next steps will be getting them out to the trapline and setting traps and getting all the experience around that.”
Poulin also takes great pride in passing along what he has learned about his culture as well as trapping skills.
“It is a privilege to be able to show our youth our land-based values and for them to experience that feeling of working together,” he said. “We teach the students about love and respect, to be kind to each other and to the animals. It is all about understanding our culture and our values.”
Chief Grandjamb spent 23 days on the trapline in late 2022 and donated the animals he trapped during that time to the program. “Any time I caught an animal, it was not to use for money but to train you guys,” the Chief told the students. “I thanked The Creator for the animal to use to train you.”
The students in the skinning class included Abigail McClure, age 12 in Grade 7, who skinned a fisher. Malibu Grandjambe, age 14 and in Grade 9, and Zyree Janvier, age 14 and in Grade 8, each skinned a lynx. Danica McDonald was in attendance.
While the other students had previously had training, Hailey Calliou, age 11 and in Grade 6, was learning for the first time. When Hailey completed skinning her mink, she got a round of applause and congratulations from fellow students and her instructors.
“It is a great supportive atmosphere,” said the Chief. “There were no girls doing this when I was growing up. It is good to see them interested and involved. The big thing is to develop the program for everyone.”
The skinning class is linked to the Elsie Fabian curriculum, which emphasizes land-based learning in all aspects. The enthusiastic students are already sharing their knowledge with each other and helping new students as they begin their learning journey. Plans for next year include day camps and an overnight trip.
The chief imparted his traditional knowledge to the students, teaching them about different types of fur and their unique properties. He handed around pelts at different stages of the process from stretched on boards to tanned so that they could see and feel the difference.
The most important rule, he told the students, was to honour the animal for its part in our nation’s traditions. “Always respect your animal. Never disrespect it. No laughing or joking. We don’t do that. Never, never disrespect an animal.”
The skinning class is just one of the ways the Chief passes on traditional knowledge. He and Birch Mountain Enterprises began a program several years ago called Awake Cultural Camp. The program teaches fundamentals of hunting and trapping and carries on the tradition of passing along knowledge. “When Chris Wilson was young, I passed on traditional skills to him,” said Chief Grandjamb, “and now we are working together to pass those on to the next generation.”
“Under the Awake program, I felt I had to give back to the community. Teaching trapping was how I was going to do that. Now is the time in my life to give back.”