Contributors
Lynn Napier
Lynn also works in victim services, is an Aboriginal custom adoption commissioner. As president of the NWT association of communities she represents the 33 communities in the NWT.
“There are people who say that women shouldn’t drum but it is my belief that women are the original drummers. You are originally surrounded by water, hearing that drum beat. Having that drum beat, that connection to the water is something that’s life long, water is life.”
Dianne Dul
“I’m a Métis, I was born in Fort Smith. I wasn’t raised here though. We left when I was 2…. we never acknowledged our aboriginal roots… coming back and living in the Territories was the start of acknowledging those roots but what really brought me back to those roots was getting involved with the drumming.”
Lois Edge: Instructor Indigenous Studies at Aurora College, Fort Smith
“My understanding about the drum is that the sound of the drum awakens our cellular memory in a way that allows for a very deep seeded connection. It’s about relationships, about being in relation to the earth. There is such rapid and radical change occurring. If all of human kind had deeper understanding of Indigenous thought, then there might be hope for human kind.”
Julie Beaver: Community Wellness Worker
“When I first picked up the drum it transformed something in me. It woke things up. I’m aboriginal and I believe that my ancestors have drummed through all the good times and all the hard times.”
Julie Lys: Nurse Practitioner
“…our history in Canada… it was a near cultural genocide that happened in our communities. People could be arrested for doing some of this drumming and some of the ceremonies. A lot of that went underground and I think to protect women. One of those protective things – women don’t drum. You don’t want women being arrested or taken away from the community so there is a sense to me that that had a lot to do with it. I have friends that have memories in this community of their grandmothers drumming. To me that feels natural and I think it’s the way our people did it.”
Angus & Dorothy Beaulieu, Fort Resolution, NWT
Dianne met Metis fiddler Angus Beaulieu and his wife Dorothy on the shores of Great Slave Lake on her paddle north to Tuktoyuktuk. In October, while based in Fort Smith, Ann and Dianne traveled to Fort Resolution to visit Angus and Dorothy at their home. Angus grew up in the bush. Now at 86 he has been a master fiddler for nearly 70 years. Since recovering from a stroke, he has relearned the fiddle from the beginning. Angus on fiddle and Dorothy on the spoons, play some tunes, feed us pie, bannock and moose meat, and share stories and medicine. They took us into the woods in search of the forest’s medicines.
Paul Boucher
Chipewyan teacher at PWK High School, Dene drummer, Fort Smith
Elder Jane Dragon: teacher, artist, Fort Smith
“I’m Denesuline that means people of the land and they call it Chipewyan the government changed it to Chipiwyan. I came here when I was 9. I didn’t speak a word of English”
Of Dene-Métis ancestry Mrs. Jane Dragon has been sewing traditional native garments and crafts since she was a young child. She is a highly accomplished hide tanner and seamstress, well-known for sewing hide and fur clothing. She has received all three of the prestigious Queen’s Jubilee Medals (Gold, Silver and Diamond) for both her community service and stewardship of the traditional Indigenous way of life. She was also awarded the NWT Wise Woman Award in 2002. With her late husband David, she trapped on their trapline and provided many of the furs she works with today. She teaches Dene crafts, languages, bush skills and life skills to children and youth who call her Setsune’ (“grandmother” in Dene).
“later on in years after I am long gone hard times coming”
Earl Evans, chairman of the caribou management board for Territories, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunivit and a Member of the Métis nation