Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this summer, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a spiritual gathering east of Reliance on Great Slave Lake near the mouth of the Lockhart River, along with many other constituents of Tu Nedhe. Also, we were lucky to have a visit by our Premier during this spiritual gathering. The spiritual significance of this river is not only very important to the spiritual well-being of the residents of Tu Nedhe, but it also allows residents of Tu Nedhe and surrounding areas to come together to share oral history and prayer along with many evenings of laughter and drum dancing.
Mr. Speaker, during the gathering, there were scheduled flights, about 15 minutes long, to a place called the Lady of the Falls where people go to pray, make offerings, and ask the old lady of the falls for help in any aspects of their lives that they wish. Although the plans for everyone who made the day trip to the falls were to be returned safe and sound back to the main camp, there was one group of 27 people who had the unfortunate but enlightening experience of spending the night out at the falls on August 11, 2004, because of cancellations of the return flights due to heavy smoke in the area.
Mr. Speaker, I was one of these people who had this opportunity to camp out without tents, blankets or food. With 19 of these people stranded, being elders, we had a formidable task of erecting two spruce bough shelters using one small hatchet which, luckily, someone had left behind from a previous visit, and also keeping the elders warm throughout the night. Mr. Speaker, with sound minds and good cooperation and high spirits, the shelters were erected in a timely manner before dark and in a fashion only experienced northern hunters and trappers could appreciate, not to mention the vast amount of blueberries and traditional tea we had available for consumption.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to say that everyone returned safely to the main camp the following morning thanks to people like Eddy Lafferty, Jerry Sanderson, Paul Boucher, my brother Gord, and many other individuals who stayed up all night to keep the three fires going, and others like Skinny-man and Archie Smith, who kept everyone's spirits up with their good humour. Everyone seemed to be quite content about the whole ordeal and opted to not express
any negative feelings about the whole incident upon return.
This was also reinforced by the silver lining of this whole experience...I ask the Members if I can continue my statement.