Indigenous trapper Duane Iron. (Submitted photo/Duane Iron)

By Angela Brown

Life on the land

Meadow Lake area trapper to share stories during Aboriginal Storytelling Month

Jan 25, 2024 | 6:00 PM

Returning to nature for traditional land-based practices is part of Duane Iron’s story.

The longtime Indigenous trapper and fur seller from Canoe Lake First Nation will recount many of his experiences when he gives a talk during the Storytelling and Culture night at Meadow Lake Library at 7 p.m. Feb. 22, as part of Aboriginal Storytelling Month’s activities.

“We spent some time in the bush,” he said. “People enjoy going out to their cabins spending time there, maybe up to a week, and doing some trapping, just being with nature. A lot of people enjoy it. Being out there, you learn to be patient.”

Iron focuses his trapping practices in a fur-conservation block area in Canoe Lake, north of Meadow Lake.

“I started off as a young adolescent teenager. I went away for school, and when I came back I wanted to revive how my father taught me,” he said. “I know I’ve missed out a lot, but I have to relearn the new techniques of new ways of trapping, and new traps that we are using now, unlike the old traps that were a little harsh.”

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Now at age 54, Iron wants to encourage more people to learn about trapping and continue the tradition.

“I’d like to get the youth involved, and hopefully the schools,” he said. “I represent the N-13 Trappers Association for that area for Canoe Lake, Jans Bay and Cole Bay. I’m slowly [also] doing activities for other areas.”

Iron is currently fundraising to have a youth land-based educational camp this summer, with help from co-instructor Métis trapper Rylee Couillonneur, from Cole Bay Métis Local #41.

“It will be my first time,” he said. “I know I’ll be missing [things], but I’ll learn as I go.”

Iron noted trapping is part of Indigenous people’s history and culture, so they need to try to keep it alive.

A member of the Northern Saskatchewan Trappers Association (NSTA), he usually traps lynx, otters, beavers and sometimes wolves.

“A lot of trappers come from the La Ronge area as well as the Cumberland area,” Iron said. “We need to establish more people from the north-west [Saskatchewan] side as well. We need more people from our side because there’s still an abundance of fur out there.”

The First Nations have a long history in the trapping business.

“We just finished hosting a Fur Table in Prince Albert. We’ll be hosting another one in Lac La Ronge coming up in April, along with our annual general meeting,” Iron said. “We’ll hopefully start July 1 for our organization [for fur sales] after that.”

He noted he is seeing a gradually increased interest in more people buying fur skins.

“There isn’t a huge demand, but it is slowly coming up again,” Iron said. “We need to find markets for those who wants them. That will be a big task on our end.”

This is just one of the many activities planned at the Meadow Lake Library during Saskatchewan Aboriginal Storytelling Month in February.

The Meadow Lake Library is partnering with the North West Friendship Centre and Meadow Lake Early Years Family Resource Center for this year’s event.

“We have the opportunity to bring in people right from our community – from Meadow Lake, from Flying Dust, from Waterhen to share their stories and their skills, or in some cases we can reach a little farther and bring in people that residents in our area might not have had access to before,” said Library Programming Clerk Tawn Marshall of the importance of Aboriginal Storytelling Month. “It’s an opportunity just to share culture, share knowledge, and hear the stories that people have to tell us.”

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @meadowlakeNOW