![]() ![]() He translates a few words for me.Life insurance is a financial protection that delivers money to others when the policyholder dies. Half the page is printed in the Latin alphabet, the other in syllabics. Andrew pulls out a hymnal and selects a random song. Lester heads inside, and moments later I hear the organ going. Dating back to 1854, it’s a provincial historic site, recognized as the oldest wood-frame church in Canada west of the Red River, and the oldest standing building in Saskatchewan. We also make a stop at Holy Trinity Anglican Church. On the way back we stop to observe a series of rock paintings, human figures and the unmistakable form of an animal with big antlers. Nistowiak, in Cree, refers to the convergence of waters. One of the highest cascades in the province, they froth and thunder over several levels, draining Lac La Ronge into the Churchill. Ascending a path through the forest, we reach Nistowiak Falls after a 15-minute walk. We cross a few small lakes and land the boat near a small tourist camp. “You didn’t think I’d go down, did you?” Andrew says with a smile. Revving the engine, Andrew steers expertly, descending through the rushing water, as if he’s done it a thousand times. When we arrive at the top of Stanley Rapids, they say we’ll head straight through them. Petroglyphs in the region are just one of the many signs that Cree communities have inhabited the land for hundreds of years. The people who have made this place their home for millennia and blend their cultural and spiritual values seamlessly with the natural world around them.Ĭharles taught Woodland Cree to communities here as an Indigenous language instructor, and spoke it in Ottawa when, as a reporter, he asked a question from the press gallery during a press conference of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when its interim report was released. ![]() This relatively remote and endlessly beautiful corner of Saskatchewan, that has the tiny village of Missinipe as its hub, is known best by those who fish, hunt, hike and paddle it. Among them, Plains Cree, Swampy Cree and Woodland (or Woods) Cree, which is what’s spoken here, across northern parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta. He explains the difference between dialects. “It’s a living language that will continue to adapt over the years,” he says, noting it will take effort by younger generations to keep it going. While Indigenous languages are struggling to survive in many parts of the country, here people still speak it on a daily basis. ![]() “Cree has been my passion, my whole life,” he says. Now, in addition to his radio show and serving as an elder in the community, Charles leads tours that explore islands covered in evergreen boreal forest and girded by the granite of the Canadian Shield. “Moose, deer, caribou, lynx, grouse, rabbit – we rarely saw a store,” he says. Fish in the summer, and a bounty to hunt and trap in the winter. Back then, in the late 1950s, the land provided most of everything that people here needed. “I was born out here, right on the trap line,” he says, pointing out the very spot. As we roll out on a pontoon boat, deep into the verdant greens and sparkling blues of the Churchill River, he shows me how it all began.Ĭharles grew up on a rise covered in evergreens on an idyllic little cove called Smith Bay. His audience includes listeners in the region and around the world (the show is broadcast on FM radio and online), but right now I’m lucky to be his only listener. Today, it’s the home of local legend Abel Charles.Īmong his many claims to fame, Charles is the host of a popular Cree radio show, Achimowin, on which he discusses topics of the day in his Indigenous language. This northern Saskatchewan waterway was once a major thoroughfare for fur traders. It looks like a lake, but it’s called the Churchill River. ![]()
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