When you do stuff for the land,
the land does for you.
That I never knew I had.
[Melissa Matheson] Even though
it has everything we need,
was not something I really knew.
When I came north,
all around you.
Long time ago.
We still are right now,
but we have to find it again.
It's more than just a story,
it's a teaching handed down
generations after generations.
[fire crackling]
he said,
[speaking in language]
Stories are living,
and growing up,
of listening,
you've got your screens,
I grew up very westernized.
I grew up in Whitehorse.
I was a city boy.
I wanted to be a big-time actor.
Which in no way is a bad thing,
it's a great thing.
[singing and drumming]
but...
I was so nervous
because I didn't know anything.
I didn't know how to pack...
[shots cracking]
I'm loud in everything I do.
c.font-styleitalicHoo-haw!
c.font-styleitalicHoo-haw!
The moose are runnin'!
c.font-styleitalicHoo-haw!
I wanted to be full capacity.
In my young life,
that I only found
when I was in nature.
And Ogilvie River.
I was so excited.
I have at the time
is just such a huge environment.
It simplifies your life.
I think I thrive on that.
It's just so big,
so this was all new.
There was four of us,
which is over 200 kilometres,
Just to be up there,
You realize that, you know,
To me, that's living life.
Nature just is.
It's a balance,
and maintaining that balance,
it's a part of who we are.
Our family camp
from Old Crow.
It's a fly-in-only community,
very small,
everybody knows each other.
Every summer,
famous woman.
Beader, sewer,
first woman Chief in Old Crow.
She was very self-sufficient,
and wanted us to learn
She really instilled that in me.
[Dennis Shorty] There's more
It's right in front of us,
we just don't see it.
Nowadays, we hear it, we listen,
That's blinding our spirit
for what's really out there.
Actually was born under a tree.
That's home for me,
just living off the land.
c.font-styleitalic[rushing of water]
You could hear water roaring.
[imitating rushing river]
[imitating tumbling rock]
Because the ground is alive, eh?
Mother Earth is alive.
Always remember it.
[Johnson] I've been in the bush,
or provide.
I was afraid of the dark,
and afraid of canoes.
c.font-styleitalic[frogs croaking]
It was foggy,
and it was pitch black.
c.font-styleitalic[owls hooting]
and I got really scared.
c.font-styleitalic[gentle
morning birdsong]
That next morning, I woke up...
I'm scared of the small birds,
so when I saw this big bird,
I was like, "Oh, my god!"
and it calmed me down.
I started talking to him...
[speaking in language]
"You scare me.
I connected...
and he had this huge wingspan...
[Pilon] We know that there's...
a balance
to show curiosity.
And we needed to be smart.
The way this was going to work
the Dempster Highway,
hitchhike down,
and then we'd bring the car
back up to where our gear was.
As soon as we hit the water,
we were just in awe.
It was the 67th parallel,
c.font-styleitalic[slow footfalls]
In the middle of the night,
I hear this little sound...
c.font-styleitalic[footfalls]
and a little bit closer,
and then...
and my heart starts pounding.
It's a wolf.
The wolf took a circle
My anxiety was already so high,
so we hollered...
c.font-styleitalic[Elizabeth
hollering at wolf]
and off the wolf went...
for the wilderness we were in
Code: Select all
It's important,
and one of them is your intent.
And you have to show respect,
and I was the last person.
c.font-styleitalic[ice crackling softly]
the snow bridge fell...
and then you just keep skiing.
So you're kind of like,
"Well, this wasn't my time."
c.font-styleitalic[wind blowing]
A storm hit.
It's quite common in that area,
c.font-styleitalic[goose
honking overhead]
c.font-styleitalic[honking]
c.font-styleitalic[honking]
It struck me as odd,
It was away from its flock,
c.font-styleitalic[Michael honking]
and the goose came...
[honking]
whether or not we're dangerous,
whether or not to trust us.
You know, normally,
they don't make it.
Including humans,
there was some safety here.
[Matheson] Love.
Respect.
On a daily basis.
All morning, all afternoon,
just running around,
eating spruce pitch,
collecting tea for our grandma.
I had no idea it would be
c.font-styleitalic[rain pouring]
c.font-styleitalic[thunder rumbling]
c.font-styleitalic[thunderclap]
any doctor,
c.font-styleitalic[thunderclap]
I was going to die.
c.font-styleitalic[thunderclap]
[speaking in language],
the wildlife.
Everything has life in it.
The next world's a breath away.
It's right here, right now.
Things we can't see.
When you're quiet,
[leaves rustling]
c.font-styleitalic[drum beating]
c.font-styleitalic[drum beating]
c.font-styleitalic[singing]
[]
and then,
When you feel those things,
you just know you're not alone,
and all I could think about
was Haa Shuk.
"Haa Shuk" means
"The ones who were before us."
working together as one.
It was a particular day
I decided to follow moose trail.
[imitates marmot whistling]
I hear marmots whistling.
[imitating whistling]
There's something there.
It's not only just hearing,
Like, when you're walking,
On that day,
You change your destiny already
just when you do that.
Come over that ridge...
nine ram sheep looking at me!
I took careful aim, and I shot.
c.font-styleitalic[dull shot]
[claps, imitating shot] Pa-kow!
Ping!
Way up high!
c.font-styleitalic[shot skidding]
That sheep didn't even move.
I looked at my r*fle,
I took a shot at it, I hit it.
c.font-styleitalic[shot cracking]
Nothing wrong with my g*n.
Then I look again,
the sheep's still there.
c.font-styleitalic[reload clicking]
Shot again.
c.font-styleitalic[dull shot]
Boof! That side.
c.font-styleitalic[shot skidding]
Shot again.
c.font-styleitalic[shot]
[shots skidding]
All around it!
c.font-styleitalic[firing]
I shot a whole box,
20 rounds of shells.
I couldn't land a single shot.
Then I thought to myself,
[Pilon] We got up the next day,
[water rushing]
When you're going upriver,
to help direct it.
So, water's coming down at us,
we're walking up,
and it was quite a trudge,
and then the rain started.
[rain pouring]
It was this whole other realm.
The clouds had settled down
and the river was rising...
[thundering]
and then when that would end,
If you can imagine
the hardest you can move,
the hardest you can run,
because if you don't make that,
[rain pouring]
almost right away.
We would see a fresh wolf track
filling with water
It didn't feel dangerous,
but it didn't feel safe...
c.font-styleitalic[thunder rumbling]
c.font-styleitalic[thunder rumbling]
c.font-styleitalic[thunderclap]
and it was, like, days.
More and more each day.
And the spirit world,
c.font-styleitalic[thunderclap]
c.font-styleitalic[river rushing]
and I was like, "Ew! Gross!"
This isn't gross.
This is our food.
This is our medicine.
And this animal has a spirit,
and it gave its life for us,
and we have to honour that.
You have to have respect for it
no matter what."
It was a teaching that just...
it really hit me hard.
Blue Fish Caves
which is what it's named after.
The caves are actually where
some of the oldest human remains
and tools
in North America
which is why I think
that ancestral connection.
[fire crackling]
She had to make a decision.
Do we get her medical help,
like, Western medicine help,
and do that?
c.font-styleitalic[rain pouring]
up in the ice fields.
You're stuck there.
It's a lot of monotony...
until the goose came around...
c.font-styleitalicHey, Goose.
c.font-styleitalic[pecking lens]
c.font-styleitalicThere's Ducky.
He was kind of a comedic relief,
c.font-styleitalicHow
are you doing, Goose?
He sort of trusted me, I think,
more than anyone else,
or a friend.
What your intent is.
I just want to take your photo."
our intent wasn't to eat it.
It was to help it.
I felt so connected to the land.
One thing I learned
and...
we found a canoe...
[sighing heavily]
and I was like, "No,
I'm not going in this canoe."
were prevalent right there.
I was in the darkness.
I was in a canoe,
I was on the water,
"We should make it back, guys.
We should go back,"
but something told me not to...
c.font-styleitalic[insect buzzing]
of the Deshitan Clan,
c.font-styleitalic[wings buzzing]
and as it flew away...
[splashing]
Let's follow this beaver."
c.font-styleitalic[splashing]
c.font-styleitalic[river rushing]
It's still raining.
We made a plan
so we all had tools we needed,
if we felt we needed them.
It was, like, full flood.
Looking at the map, you know,
and we were so disoriented.
We were...
It wasn't... It wasn't true.
We couldn't find it.
c.font-styleitalic[river bubbling]
We were lost...
c.font-styleitalic[gasping awake]
c.font-styleitalic[soft footfalls]
and once again,
the wolf comes walking around.
c.font-styleitalicGo on, go on.
c.font-styleitalic[clapping] Ap, ap, ap!
c.font-styleitalicYou gotta go!
Didn't respond, didn't jump,
and the feeling changed.
c.font-styleitalic[banging]
The bear banger... Bam!
and off the wolf went.
We were pretty scared.
c.font-styleitalic[shots echoing]
c.font-styleitalic[shots
skidding in the dirt]
I'm wondering what's going on.
Like, why me?
c.font-styleitalic[rain pattering]
When I got back to the camp,
my dad, the first thing he said,
[chuckling]
what all the sh**ting was about.
Then Mom kind of looked at me,
and, [speaking in language]
She said, [speaking in language]
"Sit down."
[speaking in language]
"I'll tell you a story."
every time we put you to bed,
c.font-styleitalic[echoes of screaming]
"You were always in pain,
screaming and hollering."
c.font-styleitalic[screams echoing]
I was screaming my head off.
c.font-styleitalic[screams echoing]
That's how painful it was.
c.font-styleitalic[screams echoing]
and sure enough,
they put me to bed, eh?
I start screaming, and...
she figured out...
said, "My goodness.
I was sleeping in sheepskin.
That was my blanket.
c.font-styleitalic[shot
fires, piercing sheep]
c.font-styleitalic[shot
fires, scream echoing]
The pain is intense...
physically and spiritually,
you could feel it.
For the longest time,
I relived that over and over
How could I go to sleep
c.font-styleitalic[beaver splashing]
[Johnson] He was leading us,
and just then...
[speaking in language]
He, like, swam real fast...
[imitating speed] Whoosh!
and right then and there,
this huge moose comes out...
c.font-styleitalic[trigger
clicking harmlessly]
Didn't fire.
Click!
Nothing.
c.font-styleitalic[wind blowing]
otherwise they don't know.
They can see it,
but you're not asking them.
[speaking in language]
"Guide me.
[Johnson] Something inside of me
told me to speak to my grandpa.
I knew he was with me.
[speaking in language]
"My grandparents, my grandpa,
please help me..."
and right then and there,
In every way, shape, and form,
it was an offering.
c.font-styleitalic[r*fle firing]
c.font-styleitalic[rain pouring]
and it was moving...
which seemed really strange...
and then it went away,
and we were like, "Oh, my God,
That's the Dempster Highway,"
and that just gave us
to make that call.
We finally got to the road.
We had stuck it out together.
I felt grateful
and it was either die
or take his chances with us,
a totally different species,
and I'm kind of glad he did,
surviving up there.
c.font-styleitalic[birds chirping]
[Matheson] I was better.
If it wasn't for her.
My grandmother,
she went to that creek
and got that beaver somehow.
This is medicine,"
The thing that got me sick
and that was the only way
Because she asked.
That energy is still there.
It's in our DNA.
And the pain was instantly gone.
c.font-styleitalic[ram snorting]
c.font-styleitalic[ram
breathing and snorting]
as my spirit helper.
That's why I couldn't sh**t him.
They're my brothers and sisters.
To keep us safe, eh?
[speaking in language]
sitting here around the fire,
my sheeps are all around,
I feel them.
[Johnson] This moose was a gift,
For your first k*ll,
After that moment,
and talking to me differently.
I'm part of something more...
and once I was sure of myself,
that I thought I wanted
c.font-styleitalic[faint
drumming and singing]
the c.font-styleitalicHaa Shuk
Those stories live on forever.
Because it's really important
[Code] Just to remind ourselves
that there is something else
is that there's something more,
something more in all of it.
[Shorty] Grandpa always told me
[speaking in language]
"We're all one,"
with nature,
with animals,
with the universe...
We're all together as one.
That's who we are.