DETTAH - Michel Paper gingerly walks to his kitchen table in his Dettah home, leaving his cane behind.

"So, let me tell you a story," he says as he takes a seat.

Michel Paper, 97, sits in his house in Dettah. He says his recent lottery winnings will go to help his family. He also bought new furniture for his home and donated $5,000 to the Catholic church. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

At 97, Paper definitely has his share of memories, from gliding through the waters of Great Slave Lake in a birch bark canoe with his father, to working on the development of the Mackenzie Highway in the 1950s to the terrifying moments of seeing his first plane soaring overhead when he and his community had never heard of airplanes before.

Paper has a new memory to add to his long list of experiences. In November, he joined the ranks of the rare few who have won a lottery jackpot. Shortly after his last birthday, he scratched the $1 million prize on a Set For Life ticket. He doesn't focus on the cash windfall, however; he chooses to remember simpler times.

"Before Hudson's Bay (Company) come, nobody needed money. What is money anyway? In the old times, everybody hunted for food," he said.

"The old times were tough. They had nothing. No guns, no axe, no knives, no matches, no nothing from white man. That's when people lived here before white man. Times were hard. Times were good."

Paper remembers stories of the first "white man" to arrive in Fort Resolution at the Hudson's Bay Company store and fur post in the 19th and early-20th centuries.

"Hudson Bay came here in 1819. Fort Resolution, first time we see white man ... First time treaty in 1900," said Paper, speaking of the historical Treaty 8 signed in the NWT between First Nations and the Crown making provisions for land, schooling, hunting and fishing rights, and other benefits.

It was a time when everyone used dog teams and would traverse the woods with snowshoes.

"It was country all over. Now everybody flies over there and you never see that," he said as his arms rise and fall to describe the kilometres of terrain and paths created by the snowshoes of his people.

Paper remembers the first time he saw an airplane overhead. It was 1931.

"Everybody was on Ptarmigan Point. Nobody told you about airplanes, nobody told us nothing.

"Everybody was standing there. We see something. Everybody said 'devil,' and we prayed like that," he said as he crossed himself. He laughs about it now but remembers it was a terrifying moment.

Paper explained how he would go on trips across Great Slave Lake with his father in a birch bark canoe to trade at Fort Resolution. His hand hits the kitchen table with a forcefulness belying his slender body as he describes the paddles of 16 men, eight on each side, rising on the waves and smashing into the water.

"Father would paddle in one from here to Fort Resolution, it is quite a ways across the lake. Hudson Bay store there. Everybody would go there," he said.

"Holy jeez, old times were good."

Paper said in his time, family taught you everything. He was raised by his parents in the Yellowknife area and spoke Dogrib and Chipewyan. He said he notices young people leave the home early now, distancing themselves from family. In his time, he said you would marry young, and continue living with your family.

"The old times were a long time ago. Now all the young kids are saying old times are finished," said Paper.

Paper never went to school, but learned bits and pieces along the way. He taught himself English while working in the mines and on the highway. He worked in Con, Giant and Negus mines and was employed as a surveyor for 26 years during the development of the highway from the Alberta border to Highway 3.

"First time white man came, I didn't speak English. But I worked for 25 cents an hour, and learned something anyway. Now Grade 12 still no good for job. Everybody's poor."

"Summer time, (it was) hot. Stand in the road every day and in the winter time, still I work on the highway. Twenty-six years, I was there every day.

At 66, he retired.

After more than 30 years of living quietly in his Dettah home Paper is now adjusting to life as a millionaire.

Paper's daughter-in-law, Shelley Leonardis, said Paper went down to Edmonton with his family in December to receive his winnings.

"It was too much, the big city. He stayed in the hotel in Edmonton for a lot of the time," she said.

Other than buying new furniture for his home, Paper said the money will be invested in his family, consisting of his son, Frankie, his daughter-in-law, and his two grandchildren, who all live together.

He also gave $5,000 to the Catholic Church.

"Now I win some money. I feel good now. I feel better now. Kids are happy, too," he said.

"I don't know how long I'm going to live yet, so I think this way. I stay this way 'til I die. I'll stay in the house, thank you very much, until I die."

The money seems to be a blessing and a curse for Paper. He said he gets asked for money constantly.

"A lot of people ask for money, money, money. Give away thousands of dollars just for nothing. Now people ask, I don't like that. Every time people see me, they go up to me all the time. Even if I'm sitting in the coffee shop they come to me and sit down. It's pretty hard," said Paper.

Paper is still extremely active for his age, going to bingo and playing cards most evenings. He said he enjoys staying busy and will continue to be social as long as he feels good.

"All my life, I never go to jail. I don't get sick either. I drank before, when I was young ... I quit smoking and drinking and that's why I live that long now," he said.

Shelley Leonardis, Paper's daughter-in-law, said another secret she thinks adds to his longevity is the fact the majority of the meat Paper eats is wild, not store-bought.

"I think that's why he's so healthy. He's faster than his son, I always tell him. He's very active and has all his memories."

Paper's granddaughter, 12-year-old Rosalie Paper, is named after Paper's late wife. She said living with her grandfather and hearing his stories brings her an amazing gift that many others don't have.

"I remember him teaching me Dogrib when I was little. We used to pray in Dogrib every night when I was little. I learn a lot from him," she said.

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