By Bryan Eneas

Alvin Moostoos: Life in James Smith

Feb 3, 2017 | 1:00 PM

February is Indigenous story telling month. To honour this month, paNOW will speak with First Nations Elders and leaders, and share their stories with you.

For many of the younger generations, things like electricity, grocery stores and vehicles are taken for granted.

One man from the James Smith Cree Nation knows this well. Fresh from riding his snowmobile through the reserve’s territory, he sits in his second floor office wearing a puffy, slightly oversized, black and yellow jacket. The smell of sage lingers from the conference room next door.

Alvin Moostoos has been a James Smith councillor for almost 20 years. He speaks in a slow, quiet fashion, very deliberately choosing his words. He said he has a lot of respect for the Elders in his community because of the struggles they had to overcome in their lives.

“Those are the Elders who come up before us,” Moostoos said. “They’re the ones who had the hardest lives. They came through a lot back in the day, they had no power… not what we had today.”

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Moostoos said families, sometimes as large as nine or ten, would gather around their basic heating sources to tell stories and talk with each other every day. Furnaces had yet to arrive on the Cree Nation.

“Those stories came from their parents and their Elders – they communicated more than what we communicate today with social media,” Moostoos said.

He rubbed his hands over his knuckles slowly, saying he didn’t know what would happen to the youth today if they totally lost power or their internet connection.

As he leaned back in his office chair, he said he’s thankful for the lessons he learned from his Elders, because he gained such valuable life skills.

“I guess at my age we were also affected by some of that, no power either,” Moostoos said nodding his head. “But… we lived off the land. We have some good understanding of that, and it is a lot of hard work.”

At the age of 57, Moostoos said he still remembers when power was first turned on in his house. He arrived home from school one day, and like a line from the Book of Genesis; there was light.

“That changed a lot, that changed us,” Moostoos said as he clasped his hands together under his chin.

The councillor said electricity permanently changed his sleep habits. He went from going to bed with the sun, to staying up past 10 p.m. Moostoos’ father wasn’t a fan of the advancement. In fact, whenever his dad came home, he would cut the power in the house.

“I always remember that switch. Every time [you’d see him] ‘Oh, here he comes, that switch is gonna get pulled,’ and sure enough it did,” Moostoos said with a hearty laugh.

James Smith members routinely worked hard to support themselves and, often, large extended families. From cutting wood and hauling it via horse teams and sleighs, to trapping and hunting for food, Moostoos said life wasn’t easy.

His tone changed when he recalled the first car in James Smith.

“When it comes to medical stuff it was pretty difficult for someone to get the hospital,” Moostoos said quietly as his foot tapped the floor. “There was one fella down north… he had a car back then. I think he was pretty busy taking people to the hospital.”

Moostoos crossed his arms over his chest and said those were the toughest times he can remember, because many people wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time. He learned about traditional medicines from his grandfather who was a medicine man.

In the same fashion his parents passed on their knowledge of foraging to him, Moostoos said he’s passing his expertise to his family. He said he’s waiting for his grandchildren to mature before teaching them the lessons he learned growing up.

“I’m warming them up I guess, softening them up,” he said as he chuckled. “I’m looking forward to this grandfather stuff. I want them to continue on that [knowledge].”

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas