Wendy Stephenson

Idaa Trail Wendy Stephenson

Etseh and Etsi traveled the Idaa Trail when they were children and as they paddle north with their grandchildren, they pass along their knowledge of special sites along the way -- the history behind an abandoned village, the legend of the wolverine and its babies at the Sliding Hill, the story of a mysterious gravesite. They also explain how their people survived in the old days - building birch bark canoes, fishing with willow lines and muskrat-tooth hooks, and ambushing herds of caribou.
This remarkable work documents the past and present of one of the most intact tribal cultures of North America. The land, and how people have survived both with it and against it, is one of the great subjects that preoccupy the First Peoples. The loss of contact with that land is one of the great tragedies wrought by the residential schools system. This book, which aims to reconnect children with their ancient relationship to that land, is moving, empowering and instructive for us all.
The information about the sites encountered along the Idaa Trail is based on ten years of research by archeologist Tom Andrews and several Dogrib elders. The book will also be printed in Dogrib.
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