Dali's Elephants

Just before Christmas, I had the opportunity to check out Lutsel K’e, otherwise known as Snowdrift. This community of about 300 people is located on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake and is only accessible by plane year-round; in the summertime it can be reached by boat, and by snow machine in the winter. 

The South Slave Divisional Education Council worked with elders from Lutsel K’e to put together a Chipewyan dictionary in their dialect, a tool to help keep the language alive inside and outside the school. When the SSDEC chartered out for the launch, they invited me to fill an empty seat.

Out with the old and in with the new. 

Kyle Napier, when we chatted about the NWT Métis Nation's Cree Language Program’s compilation album Nehihaw Nikamonak: Oyoyowak Ohci Nanaskomowin, or Cree Songs: Howling for Gratitude.

This is not my best photo, but it is one of my favourite stories. 

Sisters in Spirit vigil, October 2014. 

Sisters In Spirit was a research, education and policy initiative driven and led by Aboriginal women. The primary goal was to conduct research and raise awareness of the alarming high rates of violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

Fire practice at the Fort Smith dump.

Take Back the Night

“Ko K’e is a place where people gather and tell stories around a fire.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits Fort Smith in August 2014. 

GUYS GUYS GUYS! I MET ROBERTA BONDAR!

For those of you who don’t know who she is, READ A DAMN BOOK.

Bondar was the first Canadian-lady-astronaut-neurologist to be launched into space. She went up with the NASA space shuttle Discovery in 1992. 

So what was Bondar doing in the Northwest Territories/northern Alberta? Good question! Not only is she a badass astronaut, she is also a professional photographer working on a project about whooping cranes. She sometimes ventures to Wood Buffalo National Park to take pictures of the endangered bird, and timed her visit to coincide with the Thebacha and Wood Buffalo Dark Sky Festival. There, she shared stories from space and judged a robot-building contest for kids, inspiring another generation of awesome Canadian astronauts.  

Spent the weekend in Enterprise, NWT at the Gateway Jamboree. 

Enterprise is first community you come across driving into the territory from Alberta with a population just under 100 people. 

It might not be a Coachella-sized affair, but the people who attend the Jamboree like it that way. Folks come in from northern Alberta and across the territory to enjoy northern music, crafts and camaraderie. 

People who know me know I love animals, so when a couple of bat researchers announced they were training community volunteers, I jumped on the story. 

The biologists set up their research base at Thebacha Cabins, about a 10 minute drive outside of Fort Smith. First, they set up a thin netting around one of the cabins to catch the bats. Then, they measure the weight, length of the body and wingspan. Next, they do a once-over, looking for any signs of disease or injury. The biggest concern for the scientists is white nose disease, a fungus that can block the bat’s airways over time. So far the disease has not spread to the 60th Parallel, however, it has been found throughout parts of North America. Finally, the bats are tagged with coded, lightweight metal clips and released back into the night.  

Read my full story here.

My buddy Mathieu used to be the executive director at the Northern Life Museum and Cultural Centre in Fort Smith. One day, he asked if I wanted to see the samurai armour kept in museum’s storage area. “Uhh, duh.” No one is really sure where exactly the armour came from, or how old it is.