Meander elder misses the wilderness

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When Frank Yatchotay left his home in Indian Cabins 30 years ago so his children could go to school, he was leaving behind the lifetime of traditional hunting and fishing he had enjoyed since he was a boy.

But there was a sadness in his voice when he told how he lost two of his 10 children since moving his family to Meander River, where they could get an education.

He blamed the deaths on alcohol and said he's learned to deal with the tragedies by helping to provide the best home possible for his grandchildren.

He misses the days he spent roaming the wilderness near the border between Alberta and the Northwest Territories, where he used to search for food to feed his family. The days spent along the lakeshores and river banks of northern Alberta are now only fireside stories for his grandchildren to enjoy. But he says he really wouldn't have changed a thing.

The 60-year-old Dene Tha' elder plays a major role in raising his grandchildren.

While relaxing at his home in Meander River, 78 km north of High Level, Yatchotay reminisces about his early days hunting moose, elk and squirrel. There's a twinkle in his eye when he speaks of hooking whitefish and bagging some ducks along the river. But what the jolly veteran of the northern wilderness seems to enjoy best now is the company of the younger generation.

"Indian Cabins is a damn, good place to live," Yatchotay insists. "(But) I take care of the kids now."

Indian Cabins, a small Indian community 90 km north of Meander River, has never been more distant to Yatchotay than it is now. But he says his life has never been more complete.