You live your life, sometimes without realizing the reality of how you live is way different from other people. My moment of realization always comes when it comes up in conversation that both of my kids, in grade 7, had a winter bison hunt as part of their school curriculum. Definitely a conversation starter, or maybe even a conversation stopper.
After passing the Hunters Ethics and Education course with a certain grade requirement, the successful students were permitted the opportunity to participate in a bison hunt… in a very remote camp comprised of canvas tents in the middle of the Yukon winter. For those not familiar with Yukon winters, the temperatures can dip to 40 below. Celsius or Fahrenheit, it doesn’t matter. At 40 below they are the same.
Preparations began months in advance with parents being involved in planning, coordinating food and supplies and some parents attending the hunt itself. Both my kids elected not to have me attend the trip, I totally understood. The trip was a bit of a rite of passage.
On a very cold winter’s day I sent both my kids off in their respective grade 7 years to live in a canvas tent in the Yukon winter with 30 other kids. They went off with cold weather gear, sleeping bags, tents, wood stoves, skidoos, RCMP sharp shooters, First Nation Elders, doctors, teachers, parents, conservation officers and more. They set up camp, cut wood, made fires, and cooked meals. All before the hunt began.
“But a hunt?”, I can hear some people. “Yes, a hunt.” They had 5 days to complete their objective: a bison to feed the school population. A school with 50% of the students of aboriginal ancestry. A school with students whose families knew the importance and significance of a successful hunt for the survival of a community. A school with students who respected the bison in advance of their journey.
In the bush, with experts with them, the students were taught to track the bison. At the site of the hunt, as out on skidoos in the bush, students were taught to respectfully field dress the animal and pack up everything and bring it back to the camp. 5 days in the bush; if no bison, no feast.
Both of my kids were on successful hunts and later, in the school, the meat was prepared and the students hosted a feast and fed the entire school population, across several generations. Any extra meat was provided to the Elders in the school community.
The students came back changed, and from my experience as a parent, changed for life. They came back with a unique experience that seemed to be rite of passage, an understanding of what many people across the western world do not understand about the source of our food. They were respectful, bonded and understood the importance of working together to achieve a goal. They acquired a greater respect for everyone in the role of producing food for a community and distributing food for a community.
They came back balanced.
I also know firsthand that there was a greater understanding between students of who they are. It’s a hard concept to explain and while in their classes some kids struggled, they did not struggle on the land. All I can say is, and you don’t understand until it happens to you, you are who you really are when you are on the land.
The program that was the first of its kind does not exist anymore. Politics change, tolerance of these types of programs change. It’s a shame.
