My Family
by Cecilia Burke

Most of our family was raised in a village called Snake River, located about 18 miles down river from Fort Nelson. Some of the houses are still standing. They had dog teams at that time to travel to town and back in the winter which often made it difficult to get the things you needed, like grub and some other supplies. In the summertime, they made canoes out of birch bark or spruce bark to go to town, and they would tell someone to help them pull the canoe up river. Eventually most of the families that lived there moved to Old Fort Nelson, where they settled. Finally, Harry Dickie, chief at the time, told them they could move to the Mile 295 Indian Reserve, so that is how I came to live on the reserve. We haven't moved from the Sikanni Road since then.

Background Information

Talk about your past, memories of childhood and/or any moves you made during that time. Also, talk about what you know about the Reserve system and the Aboriginal way of life.

Questions

1. What does the word grub mean?

2. How far was Snake River from Fort Nelson?

3. Do you think life in Snake River was hard? Why or why not?

4. What is an Indian Reserve?

5. What is a birch bark canoe made out of?

6. Use the word village in a sentence.

7. What does up river mean?

8. What does the chief do?

9. What do you think it would be like to travel by dog team?

10. These days, do people stay in one place for their whole lives?