Return to Sambaa K'e

Decades after the Berger Inquiry ended, I returned to the north to
visit communities where the Inquiry held hearings in the 1970s.

My first stop was Charles Tetcho School in Sambaa K'e. Students gathered
to hear see the photos I took during the hearing almost 40 years earlier.

Edward Jumbo described the long journeys that families used to make -
on foot and by canoe - in the early 1900s.

Then students went to the lakeshore to record an interview with Chief Jumbo and
his friend, Joe Punch. Younger students took still photos to use in the finished video.

Videographer Felix Isaiah taught older students to use the camera and sound equipment.
Meanwhile, the students prepared their questions.

Edward Jumbo remembered his testimony. He had been angry about the damage
that the oil companies' seismic blasting was doing to the land and wildlife.

When the interview was finished, it was time to go fishing!
The students caught fish to be shared with the whole community.

Elizabeth Hardisty showed the students how to prepare the fish.
Then students took the fish to families across the community. Delicious!