Régent Sioui
May 27, 2011
Wendake

"We've been guiding since 1534."

Régent Sioui, Wendat

Like their father and grandfather before them, Hughes and Régent Sioui have been guides for a long time. For these generations of men, it was the only way to return to their hunting grounds, to find peace and the taste of fresh trout, beaver and porcupine. It was a hard job, especially during the portages, but they wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. Times have changed. Motorboats have replaced canoes, fishermen arrive by seaplane, guidance is slowly disappearing, but pride remains. "We are the ones who built this country," says Régent Sioui with conviction.

Hugues Sioui sits in a dining room, on the left of the screen. He’s holding in his hands a walking stick. Régent Sioui, his brother, sits on the right. He’s wearing a bear claw necklace around his neck and glasses. On the table in front of them is a topographical map.

Interviewer

Well, I think both of you have worked as guides.

Régent

Yeah, we guided, that’s right.Yeah!

Interviewer

How did you, uh... What did it mean to you?

Hughes

Well, like all generations, like my grandfather, my father, and I, that’s three generations who lived that way to return to the woods. Because the only way to return to the woods was to be a guide.

Interviewer

That was it!

Hughes

So, when they were hired as guides, they could go back to their hunting territories. They secretly trapped a little, and earned money as well. I started to trap... to guide at 13 years old. At $6 a day.

Interviewer

With family members?

Hughes

Alone or with family members.

Interviewer

All alone? Did you already know the territory?

Hughes

Yeah. I guided with other guides and I was mostly raised in the woods. And there was always an older guide to help you, one who, who’ll tell you what to do, or where to go. So,...

Interviewer

Any why did you practice this profession, Hughes?

Hughes

Because I liked going into the forest. It was like, uh, a drug for me, being in the forest. I would have volunteered to do it. Just because I felt good there.

Interviewer

That's what I wanted to ask you: why did you like the work? What was there to like?

Hughes

I don't know, it was innate. It was the quietness, the peace of mind. The good food as well, because I was only eating trout and beaver and porcupine. So...

Zoom in on Hugues Sioui. Close-up of his face.

Interviewer

Happiness!

Hughes

Yeah, happiness!

[…]

Sequence change. The two men once again appear on the screen.

Régent

Paul Provencher, the...who’s a, yeah, a forest engineer, a geometer, in any case, uh. Paul Provencher, in the preface of his main volume, there are many pictures of Innu. And, uh, he's a man who learned a lot from the Amerindians. He’s called the last “coureur des bois”. This may also be true, or at least the real, the real coureur des bois. Well, uh, in the preface, he states that he did all of the mapping of Temiscamingue, with the Sioui Huron guides. And, uh, I wonder, how did my grandparents know about the...

Interviewer

Temiscamingue...

Régent

...The... that much. And, uh, actually, it's true. Why? Well, I understand it today because Hughes guided right up into northern Quebec. I guided in places where I'd never been before, and we managed. We’re capable of understanding geography. I don't know. It’s part of our culture. I guess, you learn it over the years.

Fade out.

Interviewer

And being a hunting or fishing guide, it... it doesn't exist anymore as a Huron expertise. Does it disappear with new generations? Can this profession be transmitted?

Hughes

It can be transmitted, but, uh, they don’t hire guides anymore. It's like Régent said. Once they’ve known the portages and the lakes, uh, they don’t hire anymore. They say that it was their grandfathers and grandmothers who showed them that. That’s what they tell their children.

Régent

Or rather, by transportation methods. You’ve got the... Before, there was only the train and the canoe. The canoe, it was replaced by small planes, the, uh...

Interviewer

Seaplanes.

Régent

Seaplanes.

Hughes

There are a few of them up North.

Régent

Yes, they’re obliged to have them up North. There's still Native American guiding. But, uh...

Hughes

It's not traditional guiding like we once did, with canoe portages, all day long.

Régent

Yeah.

Hughes

They come here by motor, motor boats. Before that, they rowed, portaging everything, hauled things on their backs, all day long.

Interviewer

You two, your opinion on, uh...y’know, as part of the exhibition, which will stay in place for 10 to 12 years, which is the most visited exhibition at the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City... Is that something we should talk about, the guiding profession performed by Amerindians, the First Nations.

Hughes

Yes, it is!

Interviewer

Or do you think it's something that may not be a glorious part of the history?

Régent

On the contrary, on the contrary, uh, uh... It's the foundation of our country. it's how we welcomed the first explorers. We’ve been guiding since 1534.

Hughes

It seems like slavery, huh, but it's not slavery.

Régent

No, no! We've been guiding since 1534. It's the opposite. We're hosts. We're our country’s hosts. We need to showcase it, we need to talk about it. It's important. If there hadn't been any guides, firstly, who welcomed the first sailors, the first of Jacques Cartier, the first Champlain, uh, the first cartographers, the first engineers, the first prospectors, the first surveyors, the first, uh... who wanted to open, clubs here, and cities, and mines. We’re the foundation of all this. We're proud of this. We built this country. We took in Europeans and foreigners in our countries, and uh, this must be stated.

Phil Einish
March 1, 2011
Kawawachikamach

"It's fascinating to see how well our ancestors knew the land."

Phil Einish, Naskapi

Phil Einish holds a map. Red lines to mark caribou trails; dots to indicate fishing lakes, campsites and burial sites. In syllabic characters, the names of mountains and rivers. Here, the border where friendly peoples lived side by side, without a treaty. On the left, the Cree, on the right and bottom, the Innu neighbours and in the centre, the Naskapi, cartographers of an immense territory bearing traces of a long-lasting presence. Memory work that Phil Einish would like to leave to future generations so that they can also draw a map of their roots and identity.

Indoors. Low angle close-up of a map showing Naskapi hunting trails and the toponymy of the lakes, rivers, and landmarks of the territory. Phil Einish points to some areas with a pencil.

A map of, uh, of the traditional routes the Naskapis people, our people used, way back, uh, since time immemorial, as far as they can remember. This is the, the work collected evidence, collected by our ancestors who are gone today. And some of, some of the survivors are still around to confirm this. These are the, the routes that they used to take following, to follow the, the caribou herds. As a matter of fact, I would say these are caribou routes according to the, to the work collected by them. And these are the routes, uh, they used to travel during winter and, and summer. Routes, fishing lakes and rivers and… And, uh, I don’t know how to gain it. It’s abandoned, unavailable. Uh, but uh, and this work has been done, collected by the Naskapi who did it themselves. And it has the names of the lakes, mountains, rivers… Campsites also, and even the, the burial sites that are all along the, the territory. As up here as today we’re living here in Kawawachikamach. And these are the main, the main hunting, trapping, fishing routes I’d say also. During the summer and winter months. And, uh, there’s so much work to be done. This, this amount of work that was already collected has to be passed on to the, to the, to the next generation to be fully aware of their identity and where they’re from. Where they’re originally from.

The footprints are still shown today, that were left by our ancestors. Their trails. And it’s, uh, let’s say it’s very, very, uh, fascinating to see how, how well they, they’ve known this area. Because this area all covers their, all covers the Naskapis’ footprints. So, and, so it means that the, they are, they were surely a fascinating group of people, nomadic people, following the earth. And, uh, the campsites left behind shows that they already knew the true characteristics of the land.

This is the tree, uh, the border line here where my people also used to live side by side with the Indian northern Quebec. There’s a tree line in that. This is all, all in the red line in here. There’s a lot of boud, of boundaries. Uh, all the routes of the, our nation *cough* ‘scuse me, the nation, uh, took itself. The, the and, to the, to the left of this map is the Cree territory. We, we went as far as, even though it’s wide locks ‘till here. James Bay area. We, we have connections there. And to the right, it’s the Labrador area. And, this is where we have travel routes here too, to as far as the coast. And this where we have, uh, we share also a common interests with the Labrador Innus anyways, without, without any agreement. But, uh, and to the south is the, the, the, our Innu neighbours, who have, uh, who have, uh, more interest also in the common area where… We all benefit from the same area. And the Labrador side, and the north, and the [inaudible] area. So we all use the common area with, we share with our neighbours. But the interior is mostly where we cover, and it shows on the map, where we, where we were living in hundred, thousands, since time immemorial, years. And then, so that’s basically what this map say towards, speak towards.

We are the central body, as connections to the up north, west, east, south. We were the central caretakers. And the languages were important. Because we understand. We can speak Cree, can speak Innu, and we can. We have, uh, Inuktitut. Our ancestors, when we used to live with the Inuit. Our ancestors used to speak Inuktitut. I remember. So, we have a lot of connections, on both sides.