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Tuesday June 30 2015 5 LETTER TO THE EDITOR 15 Years Ago... Staking a claim Band members negotiators and concerned residents of Fort Smith lled Roaring Rapids Hall on June 20 for a public information meeting on the Salt River First Na- tions treaty land entitlement negotiations. On hand for the meeting were SRFN Chief Jim Schaefer chief federal negotiator Tim Christian chief NWT negotiator Hugh Richardson SRFN chief negotiator Henry Beaver and SRFN consultant Jerome Slavik. Issue June 27 2000 20 Years Ago... Fort Chip comes out in force for grad Congratulations and recognition for a job well done are a given in Fort Chipewyan. Two students gradu- ated from Grade 12 at the Athabasca Delta Community School on June 23 and over 200 people showed up to help celebrate. The ceremony supper and dance were an impressive show of community spirit. Issue June 28 1995 30 Years Ago... Beaver enters third term Raymond Beaver has entered his third term as chief of the FitzSmith Native Band beating his only rival for- mer sub-chief Danny MacDonald in the election Mon- day. At present the future is on Beavers mind. His aim is to prepare his people for the land claims settlement. Issue June 27 1985 ARCHIVES Northern Journal 2015 Join us online LikeNorthernJournalonFacebookand gettheweeklynewsdeliveredtoyourfeed FACEBOOK FEEDBACK After almost four decades of teaching students at Keyano Colleges Fort Chipewyan campus the institu- tions rst-ever instructor Maureen Clarke has decided to graduate into retirement. Fort Chipewyans original college instructor retires Stella Wasylyshyn Congrats look too young to retire Traditions take centre stage at Fort Smith Aboriginal Day celebrations Patricia Sepp Looks like a great time By DAWN KOSTELNIK Seals live under this mas- sive expanse of ice in front of us are miles of white. The edges of the world drop off with the curve of the earth and the blue sky reaches up to God. There is a small black line way off to the right on the far horizon. Sunshine and millions of snow diamonds glint back in radiant light. We are very very little out here. It is a strange feeling being the only visible creatures in thisexpanseoftotalwhite.The small black line is growing it appears to be oating above the sea ice. Droning engines onthe skidoos bring us closer to the line. We sit high on the Komatik perched on caribou hidesforwarmthwithourmit- ted hands tucked under the ropes that tie the load down and keep us onboard. Some- times the skidoo disappears from sight and sound and we swish through the sugar snow. Slowly up the ice packs we climb and then crash the front of the sled slams down hardontheiceaswebeginour descent down the backside. TravellingbyKomatikstarts offasfunbutafterafewhours wearegrowingtiredofthecon- tinualbangofthesled.Lookin theskywhatisitLooklook Holy what is that The black linehasbecomeaoatingisland withamirroredimageofland thrownhighupwardsintothe heavensanhourglassconnec- tiontotheearth.TheHallelujah MountainsinthemovieAvatar mayhavebeenconceivedfrom the visuals of mirages on the sea ice but somehow I doubt it. There are no waterfalls and absolutelynothinggreentobe seenanywhereonthisoating mountain.Toseeislandsoat- ing in the sky is mostly unbe- lievable. The concept for the Hallelujah Mountains must have come from an ocean in a much warmer place. Campispositionedjustbelow the oating islands on the ice whitetentsonwhitersnowwith awallofsoaringblackstoneas abackdrop.Theislandsfadeas the sunlight changes. Our 50- footwalldropsandbecomesa 20-footbumpontheforeverice. Thereisanexpandablepoleto hold up the centre of the tent and the sides are restrained by tying them to the Koma- tik. With the skidoos freed to go and hunt we remain in camp to set up I will have to wait to see how they sneak up on the seals. Inthespringtheseaicethins asthesunwarmsthesolidfrigid surface.Sealshaveairholesin theiceandasthesunmeltsthe surfaceicetheholesgetbigger. Seals come up on the ice sur- face to bask in the sun laying besidetheirlifelinetheholesin thesurfacethataretheirescape routes back into the liquid ice oftheArcticSea.Huntershide behind a kite made of white material usually a bed sheet andstealthilygetcloseenough to the seal to get a head shot. If they hit the seal inthe body thesealwilldropbackintothe holeanddisappearintothesea. In order to have fresh food for thespringbreakupheadshots are necessary. To be continued www.thewhitegirl.ca White Girl Easter in the Arctic Betty Gunn Congrats Maureen on your retirement... Finding My Great-Grandfather Editor I never knew family his- tory meant so much to me till now. When I was younger I was told I had a great grand- father by the name of Alfred and that he owned a little barber shop in Brandon Manitoba. We didnt know very much about him just that he was a barber lived in Brandon and passed away in his early years. A couple of months ago I was searching online for my great grandfather and I just happened to spot his adver- tisement on the Brandon Uni- versity website. The Brandon newspaper I found back then was called The Sickle not the Brandon Sun. At the time my great grandfather would place his little business ad in each newspaper. He called his business Alf The Barber and he just wrote he was near the M.M.T. bus depot. Thats all I found at the time those were my only clues. One day we headed to the Manitoba Legislative Li- brary and thats when every- thing started coming in. The researchers started helping us and right away we found that my great grandfathers namewasAlfredGeorgeTin- nings. The people helping us even found the events Alfred attended and where he was born. It took a few hours but we found his and his wifes obituaries.Atthattimewhen wejustfoundoutwhohewas readingtheobituariesjustfelt like we had lost two family members dear to our heart. At the end of the day we had been given so much in- formation that our hearts felt full of love. With all the infor- mation I started going back online to nd more. I typed in his whole name and I spotted somehintsrightinfrontofme. With a glance I saw the name MoosoAlfredGeorgeIknew by instinct that had to be him. I found when he was young his name was Alfred George Mooso.HelivedontheKeyFirst NationinSaskatchewanwhen hewasyoung.Istartednding hiswholefamilybythistime.I foundmygreatgrandfatheras wellasmygreatgrandmother.I foundoutthatAlfredlivedwith hisgrandmotherwhenhewas a young boy. With nding all this infor- mation about my family his- toryIfeelIhavelearnedeven more about myself. Through nding my great grandfather andlearninghisfamilywasfull FirstNationsIhavefoundout I am Mtis and I have never been so proud. Knowing I am Mtis I feel I am much closer tonatureagain.WhenIgofor hikes I now feel the trees are telling me a story with the wind blowing through them. When seeing a wild animal heisactuallytellingmesome- thing. I see water running through the creeks I know it is Mother Earths blood ow therocksbeingherbonesand the drums are her heartbeat. Theimportanceofnaturehas come back to me. Slowly I am learning about myAboriginalcultureandtry- ing to pick up on every little thing I can. I have also joined agroupwheresoonwewillbe given our spiritual name and I cant wait. I have to say I re- ally believe nding my great grandfather was my lifelong gift to me and I will never forget that. IseriouslybelieveIfoundmy great grandfather for a pretty bigreasonbecauserightafter IfoundhimtheTruthandRec- onciliationCommissionpapers came out. I feel I have been given the strength to help my people and thats what I am going to do. I am going to help the First Nations in any way I can and this will be for my great grandfather Alfred. We are all there for each other Carly McIntosh Calgary Alta. COLUMN