Fort Resolution teen helps keep tradition alive
Tori Lafferty has been trapping since she was seven
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, March 9, 2015
DENINU KU’E/FORT RESOLUTION
Tori Lafferty is just 15-years old, but she has already been trapping for eight years.
Fifteen-year-old Tori Lafferty of Fort Resolution has been a trapper for eight years. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo |
She started learning the trade with her father, Rocky Lafferty, when she was seven.
"I wanted to try it," recalled the Deninu Ku’e First Nation member. "It’s a tradition and I wanted to try something new."
Ever since then, she has been helping her father trap marten, lynx, squirrels, mink, fox and wolverine.
Lafferty and her father harvest the animals on a trap line located on an old logging road on the other side of the Slave River from Fort Resolution.
As for what she enjoys the most about trapping, she explained, "It’s being out there on the land."
The teenager is one of a handful of Fort Resolution youth who go trapping.
"I’m one of the few," she said. "It’s a healthy lifestyle and it keeps us out of trouble."
In October, Lafferty was named the South Slave’s top youth trapper for the 2013-2014 season in awards presented by the GNWT.
She explained the territorial government picks the winners of the awards based on the amount of fur sold by the trappers, along with their ages.
The Grade 10 student of Deninu School said it was special to be honoured as the top young trapper in the South Slave, noting her brother Scott also won the same award eight years ago.
The NWT’s most productive trappers for the 2013/2014 season were formally announced last October. Individual trappers in each of the territory’s five regions are recognized annually in four categories - highest sales, most pelts and the senior and junior trappers of the year.
The annual awards program is part of the GNWT’s Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program, which is delivered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in partnership with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Along with being a trapper, Lafferty has also gotten experience on the land as a member of the Junior Canadian Rangers since 2012.
As for what she hopes to do after graduation, Lafferty said, "I’m planning on being an ENR officer."
She said she plans to attend the Environment and Natural Resources Technology Program at Aurora College in Fort Smith.
Lafferty also happens to be one of triplet sisters in Fort Resolution.
However, she noted her sisters Tanis and Tamara only occasionally go out trapping.
As for why she traps so much more than her sisters, Lafferty has a very practical explanation.
"There’s only room for one person on the Ski-Doo."
