Seven Long Time Residents Tell It Like It Is
Charles Darwin might have been describing residents of northern
Saskatchewan when he framed his theory of survival of the fittest.
Social chaos erupted there when the Department of Northern Saskatchewan's
flurry of infrastructure building in the 1970s catapulted formerly
isolated northerners into the 20th century. New roads increased
mobility. Telephones, radio, television and satellite dishes influenced
attitudes. Because there were no social programs to accommodate
the changes, dependence on existing social safety nets like welfare
became the norm.
Now in the 1990s, northerners are at last beginning to reap the
benefits of the changes. The demand for diversity is being met through
new educational and employment opportunities. Mining provides an
excellent complement to declining traditional occupations like trapping,
fishing and rice harvesting.
T. Alex Robertson adapted to the changes which took place during
his 51 years in the fur trading business. At Robertson Trading Ltd.
in La Ronge the old exists comfortably alongside the new. The internet
hums in an office peppered with native artifacts. The smell of hide
tanning wood smoke permeates the air. Outside a pelt filled storage
room stand rows of Crispy Crunches, Sorel boots and warm wool socks.
Steel traps dangle from hooks. Antler carvings, paintings, buckskin
jackets, beaded moccasins, and birch bark baskets compete for space.
Inside the post and out, seniors rest on benches placed there especially
for them. Most of the friendly staff speak Cree and, despite plunging
fur prices, a cheerful atmosphere prevails.
In the last decade, cross fox pelts dropped from $300 to $15 and
lynx plummeted from $1,000 to less than $70. Still, trading practices
remain active as customers and staff trade smile for smile.
Scott Robertson reminds his father, "it's a store dad, not a museum."
But it's both Scott. It's both.
Traditional northerners like Adam Charles frequent the post. Tumbling
a newly tanned moose hide to the floor, commercial fisherman Charles
recalls that "back in the early to mid 1980s, the price of furs
dropped to rock bottom but then the price of goods and machinery
wasn't that high. We could buy toboggans, outboard motors, boats
then. For the last 10 years prices haven't been so good. Fishing
no longer pays especially since there is no subsidy. Except for
walleyes, which are a little over $2 a pound and have to be federally
inspected and everything else, fish prices are way down. I got only
$12 for the whole year and gas cost me $15, so I lost money. Our
prices go down and food prices go up."
Charles worries about his children's future.
"They'll have to train for something else," he concludes.
Gill Gracie of Aurora Communications Ltd., and editor of Opportunity
North, tries to keep isolated northerners like Charles informed
so that they can adapt.
"Opportunity North is the only print medium that goes right across
the north."
Gracie is occasionally drawn into political conflict.
"The north is politically sensitive. Different groups have different
focuses. It splits communities: non-status, Métis, First Nations.
Sometimes the components within a single family are even different.
Far northerners say La Ronge is south, especially in hiring practices.
The population of the north is mushrooming. There won't be enough
jobs for everyone, even with the new mines. Some may have to look
outside the north. There are opportunities in forestry and tourism.
Arts and crafts are certainly a viable solution, but northern artists
need a committed co-ordinator who can market their art."
Franklin Carriere also recognizes the need for diversification,
particularly a balance between the old and the new. Carriere, who
counsels traditional workers like fishers, trappers and wild rice
growers, suggests that northerners can maintain their traditional
occupations, but only if they diversify.
"Tom Sanderson is a trapper, a fisherman and is involved in forestry.
Tom Berg is a fisherman but also runs a restaurant and confectionary.
Others go into mining, trucking or tourism. You've got to be prepared
to diversify by training for mining or whatever is out there."
Carriere is accustomed to change. Today this king trapper of 24
years is learning to surf the net. What advice does he have for
today's youth?
"Get your education and then just go for it. It's all there for
the taking. Take the opportunities when they come. And know enough
to ask. We made our own kids get their grade 12. We didn't have
any money so that's all we could give them."
Although Antoinette Rediron got her education, she attributes her
success to good luck. It is true that this secretary at Cameco's
northern office has sometimes been in the right place at the right
time. After upgrading, Rediron registered for a clerk typist course
at Northlands College, but the course was full. Shortly afterward
a student opted out and Rediron got the spot.
Over the next two decades, Rediron weathered the growing pains
of her home community, Air Ronge.
When her job at the Extension Services Department was abolished, Rediron
returned to school to study word processing. Saskatchewan Mining and
Development Corporation immediately scooped up the graduate. When
Cameco took over in 1988, Rediron was kept on.
At the grand opening of the North Mart mall, across the street
from her office, Rediron won a $1,000 shopping spree. Her grandson
won a bicycle. At North Mart's one year anniversary celebration,
Rediron won again. So maybe she is lucky, but luck has not kept
her employed. Rediron's willingness to adapt to workforce needs
and her sound work ethic are what ensure her place in the workforce.
Like Rediron, Bill McLaughlin, CEO of Northlands College, recognizes
the need for continued education.
"The education system has come a long way. Previously only larger
communities like La Ronge had high schools. Many children would
have to attend residential schools to complete their secondary education
but few would choose to do so. Today lots of communities have high
schools so that the number of graduates, although still lower than
the south, increased significantly. The northern teacher education
program (NORTEP), mentorship programs and increased access to university
level programs like those offered by the La Ronge Indian Band are
critical to northern survival."
Northlands College offers programs which prepare northerners both
for available jobs and social changes.
"We're much more than an educational facility. The Northlands board
perceives its college as one primary vehicle which facilitates economic
and social development in the north."
So what is the Northern Solution? It is diversity through education
and a willingness to adapt because, in Canada's north, only the
fittest survive.
