Margaret A. Lafferty

I was born at Rabbit skin River on November 10th 1928. My mother was an orphan from Fort Good Hope who grew up at the convent. Her name was Veronique Lecou. She married my father George Bouvier when she left the mission. From then on she lived here in Fort Providence and she never went back to Fort Good Hope.

When I went to school at the mission there were students from different places such as Fort Simpson, Wrigley, Fort Norman, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells, and some from around Fort McPherson. Our schooling was mostly catechism and religion classes. We had to study the bible. We also learned arithmetic, spelling, reading and one hour in the afternoon was French class. We also had to practice for the church choir.

My brothers and sisters and I used to go to school from home, but one year my younger sister and I had to stay in the convent. The reason for this was because my father had gone to work for the R.C.M.P. in Fort Simpson and he had taken the family with him. There was no school in Fort Simpson then so we had to stay. That year I remember there were over one hundred girls at the convent. I am not sure how many boys there were on the boy’s side. We were lucky to have our grandmother in town and she came and got us at Christmas so we were able to spend Christmas Day with her that year.

In the spring the students at the mission school would have to prepare for the Bishop’s visit by practicing for the choir and concerts. Local people from town helped the brothers to place spruce trees from the doors of the church along the road to the dock. When the Bishop arrived, everyone followed him from the dock along this path that had been prepared to the church for mass. This was the way Bishop was welcomed to town then.

When I was growing up at home our parents were strict with us and we had to receive communion on every Friday of the month. My grandmother Marie Bouvier, who was very religious expected us to follow the way of the church. She would come over every Thursday to make sure that we did what was expected of us. We all used to go to confession in the evening and at six o clock the next morning we had to be in the chapel in the convent for mass. From midnight we weren’t allowed to drink water or have anything to eat. If we did not follow this we were forbidden from receiving communion the following morning. I loved my grandmother and always visited her as a young girl. She would often tell me stories about they way our people lived in the earlier days. I was told stories about my great grandmother “Kokum Bay” Catherine Bouvier- Lamourouex, who was a very capable woman in her day. She was known in this area as “Grandmother of the Winds” for her courage and hard work that she did during her lifetime. Her family was one of the first to settle in Fort Providence when the mission was established it at this site.

My grandmother had once said that in her days as a young girl it was dangerous for young children when sled dogs got loose. This story had always stuck in my mind probably because it scared me as a young girl. She said that in those days there were many dogs in town as everyone had dog teams. Some families had two or three dog teams. The dogs were kept in corrals made out of wooden poles or pickets, because most people didn’t have dog chains back then. These sled dogs were vicious and would sometimes break out of the corrals. During those times stray dogs were attacked by dog packs and sometimes killed.

There was no electricity in town when we were young. At that time, we didn’t know about television and there were very few radios around then, but we didn’t mind. The kids always found something to do and we had our own games that we made up. When our Father and brothers were away from home we had to haul our own water, cut our own wood and help our mother out with chores around the house. She use to set rabbit snares in the bush not far from where we lived. I remember going to check the snares everyday before the ravens or other animals would get them.

I learned everything I know from what my mother taught me. We depended on hunting and fishing for our food. We had a big family and sometimes we ran out of meat until the next moose was killed, but we always managed somehow. In those days everyone shared the meat when a moose was killed to help each other out. It is not like that now. People also had their own small gardens. In the fall fish was collected and hung on a stage for the winter.

In the summer Dene people came into town from down the river for treaty. They would come in from as far as Redknife and Axe Point. There would be a big feast and everyone from town was invited to go and eat as long as we brought our own plates and cups. Everyone got along back then and we didn't have some of the problems we have today, with all that is going on.

I remember hand games were played all day under a large tent that was open along the sides. Then they would have Tea Dance at night. People visiting for treaty sometimes stayed in town for one or two weeks. Everyone eventually had to go back to their camps after about two weeks because they would run short of food in town. There wasn’t much in the stores then, and everyone lived from the land so they had to go back down the river to willow river and other places where they lived.

People also came into town for Christmas and Easter. I remember in the winter when people came in they often stayed at our house. My mom and dad always welcomed people who were in town to visit from down the river. Some stayed with other local families and at the three houses that were built by the Hudson’s Bay to be used by Dene when they came to town for trading.

In the summer we used to pick blueberries and cranberries, which could keep and be saved for the winter. Everyone had birch bark baskets back then. Nowadays you don’t see many of those around. Raspberries, strawberries and Saskatoon’s were also picked but these had to be used up right away, as they don’t keep as well. The woman would have to paddle to get to their berry patches at places up and down the river because there weren’t many outboard motors in those days. Some times they would have to walk along the shore pulling their canoes upriver.

In the spring and summer my mother and other local woman tanned moose hides. Everyone made dry meat and dry fish as that was the only way we could keep our meat and fish in the summer.

When we were growing up, there were no diapers that people bought in the stores like now. Everyone kept their babies in moss bags. There were no cribs so everyone had homemade baby swings. There always lots to do, people didn’t have time to be idle. Even the down filled blankets for winter had to be homemade.

In the fall all the men would go trapping to earn money for Christmas. The woman from town would usually get ready for Christmas season by sewing for their families. I remember my mother and older sister doing a lot of embroidery work at the time. They would make gloves and moccasins for our dad and brothers. The whole family would get new moccasins for Christmas.

In the evenings people would go and visit each other. My father and older brothers always went to visit other men from the community. They would usually go over what had happened out on the trap line or on their last hunting trip. It was during those times that decisions were made about the community hunting trips. During those visits a lot of stories were told. When I think back now, I sometimes regret not paying more attention to some of the old time stories that were told. I was young at the time and didn’t take much interest in some of these stories.

There wasn’t much work in town years ago. I remember there would usually be someone from the Metis community who would work for the R.C.M.P. In those days the local R.C.M.P. had to make patrols to different places where people lived out on the land. They needed Slavey interpreters and guides to help them out when they went on those trips. My father and my uncle Albert Loutit had worked for the R.C.M,P. for a few years. People would also cut wood or hay for the mission. Local guys worked on the paddle wheelers. In the years later they would work for shipping companies such as Northern Transportation or People would also cut wood or hay for the mission. Local guys worked on the paddle wheelers. In the years later they would work for shipping companies such as Northern Transportation or Yellowknife Transportation as deckhands and river pilots. Some people worked for trading companies such as the Hudson’s Bay. As a young girl I did some housekeeping work for the Hudson’s Bay managers wife. My paycheck was $30.00 per month. Some times I would work from nine in the morning till eight or nine in the evening. On those days I must have been paid less then ten cents an hour.

Looking back now, one of the saddest times in my life was when our family was stricken with tuberculosis. I still remember my mother standing along the shore down by the mission dock as the plane lifted to take me to the hospital where I would spend eight years of my young life. At the time I didn’t know that I would never see my mother again. She was later sent to the Fort Simpson Hospital where she passed away without us being able to be with her.

I also remember some very happy times during my childhood. I will never forget the times when we were all together as a family at home with my mom and dad. Although we didn’t have all the things people have today we were happy and we made the best of what we had. Today life is much easier then it was back then. Some young people will never really know some of the things we experienced when we grew up as everything has changed so much. Now that I am older there is nothing that I really long for. One of the things I still enjoy is eating our traditional country foods that we were raised on, especially fresh moose meat. As long as I am healthy, I’ll be happy.

Source: Interview conducted in Michif (Metis French) Transcribed by Albert J. Lafferty