SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Students from Yellowknife Catholic Schools were whisked onto the ice of Great Slave Lake in 50-year-old Bombardiers to take part in the cultural experience of ice-fishing for the past two weeks.

From left, Uyarrai Porter-Kameemalik, Kris McKay, Paul Valenzuela, Chance Brien and Brendan Lafferty hold up their catch from under the ice of Great Slave Lake on Tuesday, March 8. - photo courtesy of David Radcliffe

Last week, students from Grades 3 to 8 who were part of the Do Edaezhe program, which promotes leadership and resiliency, took part in the fishing camp.

This past week, Grade 4 students from Weledeh and St. Joseph schools skimmed along the lake to participate in the traditional activity as part of the Dene Kede curriculum.

Weledeh Grade 4 student Dagan Pottle went ice fishing with his class on Tuesday. He said he goes ice fishing quite frequently with his father.

"We learned how to set a net under the ice. My favourite part was casting the net, holding the fish," he said.

His class caught about 12 fish, consisting of whitefish and trout, filleted them and then ate the catch of the previous class in a shelter off the ice.

"I ate trout with potatoes, and bannock with raisins," said Pottle.

It was the first time ice fishing for Meredith Tyler, another Weledeh student. She said she enjoyed riding out to the site and spending the day heaving the net out of the water and seeing the glistening fish on the ice.

"The Bombardiers were really noisy. I loved when we pulled the net out and got to see all the fish lying in it," she said.

The groups of students were guided by Shawn Buckley, a commercial fisherman from Hay River.

David Radcliffe, aboriginal program activities co-ordinator with the Yellowknife Catholic School District, said students from kindergarten through to Grade 10 participate in cultural activities throughout the year, varying from birch tree tapping to making syrup to the fish camp.

"The Grade 4s take part in the commercial fishing operation. There's everything from traditional knowledge to science," he said

The students identified the types of fish they caught, dissected some of the catch on-site, and learned the aboriginal names of the fish.

"They learned about the importance of the fish to both commercial fishing and to subsistence fishing. It is first and foremost a cultural activity but we integrate science and social studies," said Radcliffe.

The last group of students, Grade 4s from St. Joseph, went out on the ice Friday.

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