Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 13, 1960, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press saturday. February 13. 1960 Chipp Wayans of i Little Duck Lake had been warned repeatedly kill Only what you need the Caribou Are de they Call themselves Chipps the 240 persons whose entire culture was until recently shaped by the migrating Caribou. But the Chipps believed what they saw. The sight of Caribou in one Small area was convincing. Dying out the Chipps laughed at the idea. They took away what they needed for food and clothing. The rest were wasted. In 1956, the Little Duck Lake Chipps were packed off to Churchill to learn the White Man s Way and seek pioneers and navigators Are Indian Eskimo and Metis. But Only 40. Men two to a boat Are required. The monumental Grain elevators of Churchill lie dormant during the Winter months. When the first Ocean vessels arrive to wards the end of july the Chipp Wayans find temporary jobs. The season is All too Short. Dismal poverty or Bright Prosperity what makes the difference Story and photos by Thecla Bradshaw employment in his Indus tries. The results Are de pressing to see. The Cari Bou Hunters Are uneducated and adult education has not been attempted. Only the extraordinarily gifted few can attain a Liv ing Standard above meagre subsistence level. Last summer i was Well treated by the thirty famil ies of Chipps camping be Side me. Our tents were pitched on the turnip size rocks comprising the Bleak Eastern Shore of the Chur chill River. A scattering of families live on the West Ern Shore. But Camp 10, the town s principal Chipp Community. Is a dismal collection of Frame houses provided by the govern ment and aft on a Rise of the Barren treeless land. From december until March a few of the Hardy people from these areas set out singly or in groups with dog teams and sleighs to trap Mink and Hunt the White Fox. They live on shredded or dry slab Cari Bou and sleep in tents or out in the open. But the Price of furs is to say the least unrewarding. What is the employment potential at Churchill for the Chipp Wayans the whaling Plant is closed for the Winter most of t h e year. In summer the har for More consistent employment the department of Indian affairs settled its Hopes about the military base of fort Churchill. But with the Competition of workmen already skilled in mechanics and engineering the Call for Caribou Hunters As labourers is faint and in frequent. Chief Cheskie s people Are getting used to their Odd jobs As handymen to Relief measures in Between and treaty Days still thrown in for Good Mea sure. But the Price is High _ a morale that sinks steadily lower. Leaving Church no i crossed the province to Northern Saskatchewan and set up my tent with another Chippe Wayan band. There is a Stark yet exciting and hopeful contrast Between the Chipp Wayans of Saskatchewan and those of Manitoba s Churchill. The Saskatchewan Chipps Are still materially under privileged. But the great gnarled Root of. Poverty of a kind that destroys human initiative no longer exists in the Little Community of 150 Chipps who live a Semi nomadic life entering about Wollaston Lake in Northern Saskatchewan. Wollaston lies 150 Miles South of the . Border line. And it is Here that Here s How the indians make fish Nonast in the rain. The pot holds water being boiled for Tea. Feiffer these two Indian women Are both 40-year.old Chippe Wayans. The husband of the sad and wrinkled woman wearing the is a victim of the Odd jobs situation at . The Chipps have come into their own thanks to a Down to Earth fishermen s cooperative on the big Lake s Shore. There Are varied facets in the Chippe Wayan Settle ment of Wollaston the Lively Coop fishing Industry the store gradually but harmoniously transferring from private to. Cooperative management the Christian religion that is wisely administered through a supplementation not a negation of the people s knowledge and learning and the Chipps emerging new social order founded on an Economy that is progressively Eling. Unating unstable programs of Charity. Shortly after my arrival in the Little forested settlement chief Jose Younnen arranged for me to Man. The cheerful lady scraping the lamed to a successful Chipp Fisherman in Northern Saskatchewan. Accompany a Chipp Fisher Man Jimmy Dzen Lioun on one of his daily 12-hour trips to his fishnets Hung in the deep Waters of Lake Wollaston. An Active member of Wollaston s co operative fishery during the summer in Winter Jimmy still chooses the Cari Bou into Chipp Hunting territory that ranges across 1800 Square Miles. Jimmy and Alphonse his Young son and fishing apprentice were in Good spirits. As we chugged along in the open Skiff on a cold Rainy Day with a Nasty East wind Jimmy said this Best fishing Day. Good Day. Me like every four or five Miles Alphonse spotted the nets markers tiny hour sack flags hoisted on painted poles jutting up from the Tell tale Drivers no. 18-the great Lover buoys. Jimmy and his son raised five gangs of nets that Day three 100-Yard nets to each gang. And since the As the fishermen Call it Cost Jim my it was exciting to see 426 pounds of White fish and speckled Trout drawn up from the Waters. It was noon when we Drew up to an isolated is land for our fish in the steady Grey Down pour Jimmy and Alphonse kindled an astonishing fire arranged two. Sticks with one end in the ground and impaired on the other end a great Whitefish and boiled their much loved Tea. In a matter of minutes the fish was Laid out on clean paper Alphonse spooned up the fish from head to Tail and i met him half Way working from direction. On the return trip Al Phonse Laid a Broad Wood slab across the Width of the and began cleaning his catch. Late in the Day after the was washed and iced and the boat scoured Jimmy rested for a few minutes and smoked in silence. As we docked a can so taxied Lake bearing pounds of fresh Liah american palates. Jimmy s catch was unloaded. The fish boxes were rolled swiftly up the ramp to the Plant there an All Indian staff filleted the fish boxed them for the retail Market and stored them in Gigantic freezers. There is nothing unusual about the commercial fishing operation of Wollas ton except that Jimmy Dzen Lioun and every fish Erman in the co operative shares the profits. The Saskatchewan department of natural resources Guaran tees an initial payment for fish landed. But the final payment has become the acknowledged salvation of the Saskatchewan Fisher men. The fishermen elect their own Selling agent and share the profits hence the final payment at the end of each season. Each Fisherman owns or is buy ing his own equipment. They no longer need to rent it. At present in the Wollas ton Lake co operative fish eries ltd., five of the seven Board members Are Indian two. Are White. An in Many fishing areas across the province the Saskatchewan government fish filleting Plant at Willaa ton Lake the coat of which was somewhat above the required of Coop fishermen through percentage deduction from profits. Since the number ii of families choosing to remain in Wollaston for the Winter fishing season is steadily increasing Winter schooling will be provided for the children of the Stalwart Caribou eaters. The Chippe Wayans admit without Hesi tation that summer school ing been insufficient for they too foresee the Ever increasing imposition beneficial and otherwise of White civilization. Today almost All areas of the Chippe Wayan culture seem successfully to strengthen As the Wollas ton fishermen s Coop takes Root and the native people experience for the first time the wholesomeness of a sound Economy. Even the old crafts and customs that seemed hardly Worth the salvaging revive and acquire the new look that accompanies the entirely new perspective of the the morale of the Indian Canadian is High at Wol Laston Lake and with Good reason according to the manager of the Community Supply store. He spoke of their Coop. he said they earn what they get and they get what they the sleek Grain elevator and. Scrap Wood Shack in which at Churchill provides a contrasting backdrop for the. Canvas an Indian family lives. No hands at least no hands on wheel. Love making in speeding car is not an uncommon nor very enjoyable i sight but to Thea mawkish fellow a car is a. On which to Demon strata for Public edification his lady killer prowess. He sometimes literally kill the lady and himself and anyone else who unfortunately by. Character analysis men who display this characteristic Are Gener ally afflicted with an excess love of self. They Are pre a coupled with own Beauty of face and figure. They have a very shallow emotional nature and Are incapable of Loving very deeply but Are de St. Valentine was no Lover manding of Devotion and. Admiration. They Are generally unreliable fickle and opportunistic. From the Days of the roman festival of Lupercalia held in mid february in Honor of Romulus and Remus the legendary founder of Rome As some think in Honor of the gods pan and Juno Lov ers have made this their time of the year. The Young romans Drew from an urn the name of a Maiden who became their Ner in the revelry which lasted for the Days of the feast. Also in Rome during the reign of the emperor Claudius the second there lived a priest who was Tor tured and beheaded during the persecution of christians at that time and who was later to give his name to the lovers festival. This is commemorated by a Gate at the Church of St. Praxedes in Rome where his remains Are preserved. There was another St. Valentine too a Bishop said to have great Powers of Healing who accidentally choked to death on a fish Bone and died on the same Day As the martyred priest. During the Early years of the Christian Church Church leaders tried to abolish the Pagan superstitions and festivals like the feast of Lupercalia but found their task difficult. So they named some by Ivy by Jules Feiffer a Ravs cheats and to set the fro 6000 dirty of the festivals after christians who had died on a Date Cloce to the festival hoping that in time they would lose their Pagan meanings. Thus the festival of Lupercalia became St Valentine s Day in Honor of the two St. Valentines who died on february 14th. The custom of drawing names for partners was car ried on for centuries and is written of up to the last Century when both men and girls Drew names and wore the names on their sleeves or dresses for Sev eral Days. Dances and other treats were arranged and the couples who became Valentine partners often married each other eventually. In Charles the Sec Ond s Day married people As Well As single were chosen As Valentines and presents often expensive ones were Given Between people of the upper classes. Samuel Pepys in his diary in 1667 wrote this morning come up to my wife s bedside i being up dressing myself Little will Mercer to be her Valentine and brought her name writ upon Blue paper in Gold let ters done by himself very pretty and we were both Well pleased with it. But i am also this year my wife s Valentine and it will Cost me five Pound but that i must have Laid out if we had not been Valen and the next in 1668, he gave his wife a Ginny in Gold for her Val Entine gift another belief prevalent especially among country Folk was that the Birds chose their mates on St. Valentine s Day. Shakes Peare alludes to this in Midsummer night s where he wrote St. Valentine is past be Gin these but to couple now Young girls used to be Lieve that the Flat Ellgie Man they saw on St Valen Tine s Day would be their future husband. If the first Man they knew they would see waa undesirable they often kept their Eye closed opening them Only when the Man of their Choice came near. John Gay in his Rural verse wrote of this Alao of the Birds mating. Last Valentine the Day when Birds of kind their Paramour with Mutual chirping find i Early Rose just at the break of Day. Before the Hail chased the stars away a Field i went amid the morning Dew to milk my Kane for should housewives do thee first i pied and the first Awatin we Aee of Fortune eau our True love be. Valentines have been exchanged Between lovers for centuries though to Day s mass produced cards Are a far cry from the painstakingly drawn and beautifully written offer Ings of past centuries. Some of the earliest of Valentine. Verse is Bald to have been written by Charles Duke of Orleans who fought at the Battle of Agincourt a master of both pen and sword. The old superstitions Are dying out now. But it is said if a girl wishes know the name of her fun. Ture husband she can write the names of the she on of paper wrap each one in Clay and drop them in will All sink except the one bearing the name of her True love and this one will float to the top. Or Ehe can pin five Bay Leavea to her Pillow on St Valentine i eve one at each Corner and one in the Centre and will dream of the Man will marry ;