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Lifelong trapper wins award from Fur Institute of Canada
Danny Beaulieu honoured with Lloyd Cook Award

April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 30, 2016

DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
Fort Providence trapper Danny Beaulieu has spent his life learning the ways of the bush.

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Premier Bob McLeod, left, and Danny Beaulieu were both recipients of awards from the Fur Institute of Canada on June 26. Beaulieu, from Fort Providence, was given the Lloyd Cook award for excellence in trapper training and education. - photo courtesy of Susan Fleck

Now, after a lifetime of trapping, hunting and managing the territory's resources, Beaulieu has been recognized for his dedication to the tradition.

On June 25, Beaulieu was honoured with the Lloyd Cook Award, courtesy of the Fur Institute of Canada. The recognition comes in the midst of a long career on the land for Beaulieu, who grew up learning from his father how to trap and handle fur.

Beaulieu has spent nearly 40 years now working for the GNWT - first in forestry, before transitioning in 2000 to a renewable resources officer.

But before that he spent the first nine years of his life on the trapline eventually attending school in Fort Resolution. When he was 15, he moved to Yellowknife for school, marking the only break in his life that he has taken from trapping.

Less than 10 years later, Beaulieu was back in the bush at the age of 24. Since then, he has been instrumental in developing the techniques of fellow trappers.

"I wasn't very happy with the quality of fur I was seeing (at the annual fur auction)," said Beaulieu.

He began to run trapper workshops in every community in the North Slave, showing trappers how to avoid damaging long-furred skins belonging to lynx, wolves and wolverines during the cleaning process.

In his free time, Beaulieu also runs a kennel of dogs and has become a familiar face at dogsled races in the Deh Cho.

As for the award, Beaulieu said he was notified that he had been nominated but that it was still a surprise to win.

"When you're nominated, you think there are a lot of other people being nominated too," he said.

"There are a lot of trappers in Canada."

He also spearheaded a week-long trapping program for youth, run for seven weeks in January and February. There, youth learn not only trapping and hunting techniques but also the benefits wildfires can have on the land.

"I took the kids out and we had a line in a four-year burn and a line in the green area where there hasn't been a fire for 100 years," he said.

"(That) let kids learn that fire's not so bad. We were catching more fur in the burn."

Beaulieu ran that program for 11 years, building up a camp from tent frames to cabins during his time there.

Then, five years ago, he moved to Fort Providence.

Now, Beaulieu works with youth in Fort Providence and Kakisa.

As to why he has focused so much of his career - and trapping time - on teaching youth, Beaulieu's answer is simple.

"Some kids don't have a father to take them out, or some people just don't trap - they do other things. They're grader operators and welders. They're working eight hours a day, so their kids don't get a chance to go out (on the land)," he said.

"If it wasn't for programs like this, out of the 800 kids (I've taught), maybe 600 of them would never have gone into the bush."

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