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A place of peace and quiet Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, May 21, 2012
In fact, as far as Fabien knows, he is the only year-round resident of the beautifully scenic area where the river flows into Great Slave Lake. "I always loved it around here, just the peacefulness," he said. "It's a little bit of isolation. You don't have to worry about people being drunk and bothering you, and just the noise from town." In fact, Fort Resolution - a community of about 500 people - is even too busy for him. Plus, he noted it is a lot less expensive for him to live in a cabin than to pay rent in Fort Resolution. Fabien built his log cabin in 1988. At that time, he was living and working in Pine Point, where he and his family relocated from his hometown of Fort Resolution when he was 13 years old. His 17 years at Pine Point included nine years at the mine as a mill operator and then a shovel operator in the open pits. Fabien, 55, said he decided to build the cabin at Little Buffalo River Village when it became clear the Pine Point mine would be closing and the town site would be shutting down. After leaving Pine Point, he spent a year at his cabin before moving to Fort Resolution. "Off and on, I spent a lot of time here," he said of the cabin. Fabien has now lived there during all seasons for four and a half years. There are about 25 cabins in the area, which is busy in the summer. Some people also drop in for a week or two at a time during the winter. "You look forward to coming here and relaxing," Fabien said, noting he works hard for two weeks at a time as a shovel operator at Ekati diamond mine northeast of Yellowknife. However, he noted, after two weeks away, he sometimes has to shovel snow before he can get into his home. "What I'm doing right now is I'm setting myself up for when I retire," he said. "I've been doing a lot of work around here." At his cabin, he cuts his own wood and provides his own electricity through a generator. Plus, he doesn't have a telephone or television service, although he listens to country music and watches DVD documentaries. Fabien, who is of Metis heritage, noted it takes a good work ethic to live in a cabin year-round. "You got to be focused and you got to be on the ball," he said. Fabien explained the work is worth it for the seclusion and quietness at his cabin, adding, "You can hear the wind in the trees." When he is at the cabin, his teenage son, who lives in Hay River, often visits and they go on summer fishing trips to the Simpson Islands in Great Slave Lake. Fabien explained his love of Little Buffalo River Village probably goes back to his own childhood when he would visit his grandfather and grandmother, who owned a cabin in the area.
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