On Sunday February 22, 1998 Liz Burke and Judith Desjarlais went to visit Jimmy Stubby and Mary Capot-Blanc on the Fort Nelson Reserve. The lifelong residents of Fort Nelson welcomed us with an offering of tea. After that we explained to the elders the purpose of our visit was to record some of the traditional and historical ways of life for the First Nations people in the Fort Nelson area.
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Some of Jimmy’s memories surfaced as humour aided in the comfort of the living room. Jimmy shared that George’s house was the first one here on the reserve, as he remembered that he used to walk 10 minutes down that road outside his window to get to work.
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Jimmy - photograph provided by Jimmy Stubby and Mary
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Mary reminded Liz that her father Fred Burke was a drummer and singer when he was around 15 years old. She continued to say that his music was so good others always joined in. Liz asked what kind of music it was that her Dad used to sing and Mary said 'medicine man music'. This was a role of respect in any community.
Mary - photograph provided by Jimmy Stubby and Mary |
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In the entertainment field six people used to sing on the radio on Friday Saturday and Sunday’s. Some of those people were George Behn, Johnny Clarke, Michelle & John Deere. Every Friday & Saturday at the Old Fort Baptiste was a guitar player in Mrs. George’s warehouse. They played for the dances held in the hall.
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The army guys used to drink there but the Natives didn’t drink, says Mary. After a dance everyone would play cards until the new day started. We also held tea dances. At this celebration the teacher would bring native people from all over. This memory of Jimmy’s was used in a comparison as Jimmy looked across the road at a large cluster of willows that was left standing, and said about that many people would come.
Transportation to the Old Fort was by boat. There was a sawmill there also, the Old Bumstead used to have a sawmill there. People used to own horses as well. Jimmy shared that Liz’s father had about 40 horses. The two of them used to go hunting and come back with enough moose to share with the people of the community. Now today not too many want to hunt the traditional way. It seems like now the people are afraid of the wildlife Jimmy stated as he concluded his thoughts on hunting for the moment.
Lacrosse was often played at the Old Fort school yard. Then Mary asked Liz if she knew how to make a whistle out of bark. Liz hadn’t yet been taught this skill so Mary offered to teach her in the summer.
The elders told us that kids learned by trial and error, back then they were given the trust of freedom and honesty. Someone always seemed to know where the children were.
Jimmy and Mary often laughing and smiling when reminiscing about the past, which in turn brought smiles to the faces of Liz and Judith.
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Liz was soon to get Jimmy to write in the traditional language using English Athapaskan syllabics. There is a sample of what was shared in the image to the left. [click the image to see a larger copy]
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writing sample provided by Jimmy Stubby
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