Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

NDILO - Kalvin Sangris loves to get out on the land.

It shows when he starts talking about trapping - relating how he's picked up tips from elders, his uncle and friends in Fort McPherson and Aklavik, how he sets up his traps and what he uses for bait.

Kalvin Sangris, 19, from Ndilo, sets up a marten trap. Sangris was named the NWT's Youth Trapper of the Year. He learned much of what he knows about trapping from his father, Frank, who called Kalvin a "quick learner." Kalvin can't wait until the ice thickens so he can pick up his bait and begin the season. - Herb Mathisen/NNSL photo

Sangris, 19, grew up in Ndilo and learned how to set up traps from his father, Frank.

He's anxious for the ice to thicken so he can start trapping marten and larger animals.

"I want to move up to bigger game this year," he said, "like wolverines and wolves."

Sangris was recently recognized as the NWT's Youth Trapper of the Year. He has taken a role in the Take a Kid Trapping Program, which started up in 2002. Four thousand young people have participated in the program.

John Colford, manager of traditional economy, agriculture and fisheries from the department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI), said the mentoring program was created to encourage more young people to trap. When considered ways to improve the trapping and fur industry in the NWT, a question came up, said Colford.

"Someone said, 'do you know what the average age of our trapper is?'"

"We discovered the average was in the 60s," he said. "The late 50s and early 60s."

Guy Erasmus, an investment analyst for fur management and traditional economy with ITI, created a small trapping workshop and tried it out a couple of afternoons at K'alemi Dene school in Ndilo.

Just six years later - in 2008 - more than 1,100 youth went through the program territory-wide.

Sangris was one of the first students involved in the initial workshops at K'alemi Dene school in 2002 and said the program has been a benefit to him.

"I think it's really encouraged me to get out on the land more," said Sangris.

The program has evolved to incorporate more traditional life skills, said Colford.

"The evolution happened quickly, without pressure," he said.

Erasmus agreed.

"It fits all the other things that compliment the traditional life skills that a trapper would need, whether it's winter or summer or fall," he said.

It teaches many of "the things the kids don't know and they would never learn at school," he said.

On the land, for instance, elders teach youth how to cook, survey the land and find wood, judge ice conditions, determine which tracks belong to which animals, where to find animals and how to set traps.

This past summer, around 200 kids were involved in tanning moose hides and building a birch bark canoe out at the Yellowknife River. As well they played Dene games, dried meats and prepared traditional foods like duck for a feast.

Erasmus said the program helps bridge the gap between elders and youth, letting elders tell stories and show the traditional lifestyle.

"There is a big generational gap. Everybody is in school until they are a young adult and the elders don't have a lot of influence or contact with them anymore," said Erasmus.

Sangris said a lot of parents don't have time to teach their kids traditional skills.

He said he has started bringing friends out on the land - some of whom have never gone out before.

"I show them what I've learned," he said.

Lawrence Casaway, 60, said youth have lost many traditional skills.

"If no one helps them, how are they going to learn to trap?" he said.

"They are good trappers but they have to be taken out on the land and shown their traditional lifestyle."

He said youth are not to blame for the loss because they spend so much of their time in school.

"When I was younger I used to take (my son) in the bush," he said. "Every time I took him to the bush, he failed at school. I had to let my culture go so he wouldn't fail in school."

Casaway said youth should get school credit for learning lessons in the bush, just like they do in town.

The Take a Kid Trapping Program is tailored to the different regions of the North and will receive $125,000 from ITI and $100,000 from municipal and community affairs next year.

"Demand is outstripping supply, but that is not bad news," said Colford.

Erasmus said the program has produced some young trappers who are now able to pass on the skills.

Sangris is a prime example.

He now assists his father in delivering the program at schools, passing on the traditional methods and skills of trapping to others.

"He just loves it," said Erasmus. He added the traditional way of life is not for everybody, though.

"The world is changing," he said.

"It's a really fast pace. Some like living on the land. Some don't."