Micmac Elder recalls history for international film

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Joe Augustine never expected to be in movies, but at 82, Red Bank's oldest male resident is making his debut.

Beaver Creek Pictures of Toronto, Ontario plans to produce two films on his Micmac village of Metepenagiag.

One half-hour episode is for the Sketches of Our Town TV series. The second, extended version, is for international audiences.

Conrad Beaubien, producer and director of the show, came to Miramichi with cinema photographer Helmfried Muller to film New Brunswick's oldest village.

Traditional and modern Micmac life is best depicted through Augustine, discoverer of the ancient Augustine Mound burial ground and the historical Oxbow hunting ground.

Both of these properties, now declared national historic sites, have proved to be of vital importance in the history of Micmac traditions and cultural activities.

As Beaubien and Conrad prepared to film Augustine in his home, the old man sat rocking in his favorite chair. His daughter, Madeline Augustine, and Noah Augustine were nearby. Later, Adam Augustine, another of his 14 grandchildren arrived.

"Do you know my grandson, Noah," Augustine asked getting out of his chair. "Adam is a smart boy, too."

"You know they're both well educated," he said, leaning closer.

It is these young men Joe Augustine hopes will carry on the stories of his people and their way of life.

"There has to be somebody to take over when I'm gone," he said, smiling gently, his eyes sparkling.

The kind, soft spoken gentleman recently had a heart attack and his health is now at its best, but he doesn't complain.

As Augustine sat on set in the dining room, he smiled as he looked at the camera monitor and saw himself.

"I look pretty good," he said.

Beaubien laughed.

"Joe, you look like a famous movie star," he said. "Would you like a glass of water, cup of tea, or anything? "No, I'm fine," replied Augustine, and he counted to 10 in Micmac so Muller could ensure the sound was just right. Then the filming began.

Augustine recounted being born in Big Cove and moving to Red Bank with his family when he was two or three. As a young boy, he and his brothers anxiously awaited the arrival of the spring fishery in the Little Southwest Miramichi River.

"The first species to arrive was the smelts. The next fish to come was the trout and salmon. That was in May and June," Augustine said. "In early June, the gaspereau arrived and the shad."

"Many years ago, I often heard my grandfather talk about this river. He said it was very narrow and deep."

But logging along the river banks left no protection from snow and ice, and the soil washed away, he explained.

"Every year, the river gets wider and more shallow. Not too many salmon go up the river now.

"There have been many changes," Augustine said.

He recalls a time when moose on the reserve were plentiful and when his people would ensure nothing on the carcass was wasted. Everyone would take some. The tongue, even the muzzle, is good, he said.

In 1972, when reading a magazine about the discovery of an ancient burial ground in Arizona, he recalled a similar mound near his home. He went there with his father and years later a new curiosity was sparked.

The next day he took his shovel and went to the mound which was later to be named in his honor.

The discoveries of this burial ground and nearby hunting ground proved to the world there was life on the Miramichi more than 2,000 years ago.

Augustine and his family are proud of the discoveries, and the community they call home.

"I don't know how to describe it," said the elderly man. "I have quite a few memories. It's quite a few years since I can remember."

"Sometime in May of 1929, I landed in Restigouche. I worked every day until the 21st of November. The first week, I got paid on Saturday. They had a street about two feet wide, and I saw this girl coming up real fast.

"She said, 'Where are you going?' I said, 'I might go to Campbellton after awhile.' She asked me my name and said, Where are you from?'

"I told her and she said, 'Do you have a girlfriend?'

"I said, 'No', and she took my arm and said, 'You have one now.'

"That was my wife," Augustine said smiling. "We married in 1936."

Mary Metallic Augustine died a few years ago, but her presence is found throughout the house in cherished photographs.

She and Joe Augustine had eight children. Photos of them, their children and grandchildren are also on display.

Some of the photos are of Joe Augustine in his younger days, the days when he made baskets from black ash, axe handles and snowshoe bows from white ash.

Those are the days he recounts to Beaubien and Muller.

He also tells them of the award he received from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1988 for the top lot of beaver in their December 1987 sale.

"A world wide attendance of leading fur buyers recognized these pelts as the most outstanding Eastern size three in sale," a certificate on the wall reads.

"Beaver tail is the est thing there is (to eat)," said Augustine, who has eaten many in his time.

(Courtesy of Miramichi Leader)