My name is Amanda Dumas I was born in Brandon, Manitoba on October 2, 1980. I am now 21. I lived in Brandon for the first two years of my life then I lived in Pukatawagan for most of my child hood. My parents' names are Frank and Diane Dumas and they both live in Puk. My dad is a councillor for the band and my mom is a teacher. I have one sister, Farren, 13, and a brother, Courtney, who is 11 years old. I also have a one-year-old son whose whole name is Aiden Richard Dumas-Bighetty. He was born on April 30, 2000 in The Pas, Manitoba. He has a cousin that was born one week before him. Her name is Jayden and their names sound similar too. When they play they get along, except when it comes to toys. They’re always running away from each other with a toy they both want to play with. Aiden goes to daycare while I go to school. After school when I pick him up I like to spend the rest of the day with him.I went to school in Puk untill I reached grade nine and then I went to school in Cranberry Portage for two years. I completed my grades ten and eleven there. I then completed my grade twelve in The Pas and graduated in 1999. The school was called Margaret Barbour Collegiate. To me that school was very difficult but I tried hard and I made it. When I finally finished school my parents bought me a nice red car.
My favourite things that I like to do is be with my son and friends and, probably like everybody else, I like to party with my friends. My favorite kind of music is usually new released music. The funniest movie I saw was probably Scary Movie. I can watch it so many times and still laugh a lot.
I have a lot of cousins here in Puk and most of them are girls and they all have their own little families too. I also have a step sister whose name is Anita. She has six children whose names are Brittany, Jodeen, Sunshine, Summer and the twins Skywalker, and Moses.
I also had a dog I cared about. Her name was jolly she was a Rotweiller. She was shot practically for nothing. She was a friendly dog who didn't look threatening or mean. I think I've said enough about myself because that’s all I can think of.
My three best characteristics are probably my personality. I’m a good listener to friends who want to talk, I’m an honest friend if they want the truth I tell them the truth and I’m always on time. My three worst characteristics are if you get in my way I’ll hate you forever, in other words I can hold a grudge for a long time if I want to, I also swear a lot.
The accomplishments I am proud of are probably finishing highschool and raising my son this far without giving up, he is almost two. My goal right now is to finish this course. I can’t think of any ambitions but right now I just want to keep my mind on what I’m trying to finish.
My three best characteristics are probably my personality, I’m a good listener to friends who want to talk, I’m an honest friend if they want the truth I tell them the truth. I’m always on time. My three worst characteristics are if you get in my way I’ll hate you forever, in other words I can hold a grudge for a long time if I want to, I also swear a lot. The accomplishments I am proud of are probably finishing highschool and ising my son this far without giving up, he is almost two. My goal right now is to finish this course. I can’t think of any ambitions. Right now I just want to keep my mind on what I’m trying to finish.
My views and tastes have changed a lot throughout the years. I have more friends now, I used to just hang out with my cousins now I hang out with a lot of different people. Music, movies, recreation, are getting more out there. Like movies are more interesting, recreation is more daring, fun and exciting like bungee jumping.
CHANGING VIEWS AND TASTES OVER THE YEARS
MY MOST MEMORABLE CHILDHOOD PLACETo me the most memorable place and time in my childhood was travelling to Edmonton, Alberta with a bus load of friends. The school took two students from each class for the trip. I was picked in my class to go for the trip so I was very happy. On our way to Edmonton we stopped at Jasper and Banff. In Banff we went up to the mountain on a tranny that was scary and exciting. But the best part was yet to come. We finally arrived in Edmonton where we stayed at the Fantasy Land Hotel that was really nice. We stayed in one of the theme rooms. Everybody was excited to be going to the amusement park. I got on all the rides except the baby rides. I had a lot of fun.
The only burial ceremony that I know of is going to a wake to pay any last respects to the person. It lasts about one or two nights. They have a funeral the following day that lasts about three hours, after which they go to the graveyard and bury the deceased.
NATIVE BURIAL CEREMONIES
SUSPENSFUL DAYThe most suspenseful day of my life was waiting for my baby to be born. I didn’t know when, what time or if it would be a girl or a boy. I got up early in the morning and I was doing errands for family back home. While I was shopping I started getting bad back pains that was in the afternoon. By 6:00 pm I went to the hospital and they told me it was time to wait for the baby to come out soon. That’s when I got excited and scared at the same time. Then I started wondering if it would be long and hard. I also couldn’t wait to see if it was a boy or a girl.
It was hours until the real pain started and I was in real pain for about two and a half hours. But some people say that for some girls that have babies go for that kind of pain for 12 to 24 hours. I was glad it two hours for me.
Then, finally at about 2:00 am, my son was born.
It is a cold crisp morning and I am getting ready to go for a ride. A ride to go check out a good fishing spot for this man to go icefishing. He doesn’t seem to really know anything about the north. He seems to be dressing a little too cool for a cold day. He thinks he doesn’t have to wear any skidoo pants. He pulls me to start me up. I warm up for about 20 minutes he’s ready to leave now. He jumps on and takes off like there’s no tomorrow. You can tell he’ s freezing and its only two minutes into the ride. He turns me around and we go back to the cabin. He goes inside and doesn’t come back out to go for another ride.
SOUTHERN GREENHORNS (From a Snow Mobile Perspective)
AN ANIMAL THAT REPRESENTS MY PERSONALITYThe animal that I choose that represents my personality is probably the elephant because I can remember a lot of things from a long time ago, I remember all the people I have met growing up. And if you don’t bug me I won’t bug you.
WHO NEED ENGLISH (PBS Video Documentary)Who needs English? Everybody seems to need English. To get a job you need to know English. Millions of people speak English. If they don’t know English they’re learning to speak it. About 75% of worldwide telegrams, letters, postcards, e-mail are in English. Most movies, and music are in English. A long time ago public schools made students learn English if they didn’t know how to speak it. People of all backgrounds were taught English and were taught to speak it in the same accent. We all speak varieties of English developed by our backgrounds. Most schools, libraries, Public buildings, shopping malls, TV stations, news broadcasts, restaurants, newspapers, are in English. If you don’t speak English and you want to live anywhere you have to learn it.
CONFLICT WITH NATUREWhen I was attending school in Cranberry Portage a wild animal came to visit the school. I was in the library when I heard commotion. Students were running outside and looking out the window yelling, "Check out that moose that's coming to the school." I then looked out the window not believing what I was hearing. I then saw the moose walking across the field. Students started walking towards the moose trying to get close to it. The moose was frightened by all people running towards it so it started running wildly all over the place looking for a way out of the school yard. The school was fenced all around so the moose just jumped the fence and ran back into the bush. As soon as it knew it was out of danger it just started to walk slowly into the bush. One teacher was giving the students that ran towards the moose heck for putting themselves in danger. The teacher said that moose would have attacked them. Around that time too, bears were coming to visit the residence a couple were spotted early in the morning looking into the window of the lobby of the residence.
That was around breakfast time at about 7:30am. After that I didn’t want to walk to the cafeteria alone when it was breakfast time. I always walked with a friend that ran slower than me so I could outrun my friend if we met up with a bear.
All the pros of living in Winninpeg are probably the cost of living would be less expensive, there are 24-hour stores, more entertainment, more shopping places, and you can meet a lot of people. There are some cons of living in Winnipeg too, like the dangers of the streets and gangs, drugs, all the noise at night.
PROS AND CONS OF LEAVING PUK FOR THE CITYThe cons of leaving Puk are missing family members, friends, and just miss seeing Puk. The pros of leaving Puk are getting away from all the mud in the spring and fall.
LIFE IN PUK IN 40 YEARSLife in pukatawagan will probably be a lot more organized and heavily populated with more homes, big buildings, more successful students coming back to puk. There will also be more women running the show and more jobs for the people instead of living on social assistance. Fewer dogs will be running wild. There will definitely be a nicer environment around the reserve. With a road leading to town Puk will no longer be an isolated reserve.
On the other hand, alcohol will probably be a major problem as a lot of parents will be spending their social assistance on alcohol. Their children will probably be under social services. That’s one sad situation I don’t want to see in the future.
A WORD PICTUREI see my son everyday, as soon as I wake up in the morning and when I go to bed at night. I hear him cry when he’s lonely, hurt, sad ,or just wants to be a brat. He smells like his blueberry shampoo every night before I put him to bed, and in the morning. He likes to fool around before I put him to bed, it's just like he’s all hyped up on candy or pop. I always have to chase him around, find him when he’s trying to hide, but he’s not a good hider. For example he’ll try hide under the blankets but half his body is only covered, or his feet will be sticking out. He also likes to give me dirty looks, then he’ll laugh out loud. He also doesn’t smell pleasant at times, like when takes a crap.
Dear Penpal,
COME TO PUKHow are you? I am fine. What is the weather like today? The weather here is just fine.
I think you would like it over here in Pukatawagan. You can do a lot of things here in the summer and winter. In the summer you can go fishing, camping in the wilderness with no disturbances, go boating, ride around in quads, and go on the puk rock that says Pukatawagan. In the winter you can go sliding, skiing, ski-dooing, and icefishing. The people are friendly. You would love the area. We have our own Hollywood sign too, but this one says Pukatawagan, and you can sit on top of it. It’s a big high rock and you can see the reserve from on top.
LEGENDSA tall tale that I can come up with right now is when the forks was first built, and everybody moved into their new homes, the forks existed for about a year and there was a lot of partying going on at the forks. Where ever you look there would be drunks standing around. Well the elders started talking about some scary looking man walking around in the middle of the night. They described him as a tall man wearing a long black trenchcoat with a black hat that hid his face. They said that the man would just stand somewhere and watch all these people party. When they were drunk the man would go to them and wont say a word. That seemed to of scared some of the partyers. When word got around that people were seeing this weird man, the parties died down. The elders warned people that it was the devil coming to visit, and to show them evil, if they really wanted to see evil. Now these days there isn’t much partying. I guess just on special occasions: weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, engagements.
Another legend I can share is in '89 when Puk nearly burnt. The reserve was evacuated in one day and all the residents were flown to a variety of places like Thompson, The Pas, Flin Flon and Cranberry. They used all kinds of aircraft like helicopters, Hercules, floatplanes, and planes. The fire was as close as one mile away. You were able to see the flames from puk. The residents that were evacuated stayed in places like school gyms, hotels, and where ever they could find room. My family stayed in Cranberry in a house where my auntie lived. Her house was just packed. Everybody was finally able to go home about a month later. The only living things that probably stayed were the dogs.
LIKES AND DISLIKESI hate most sports especially violent sports. The only sport I can ever recall enjoying is probably square dancing. I enjoy watching professionals. Especially The Zachius Daniels Memorial dancers. They are probably the best in Manitoba and they are from Pukatawagan.
I was always afraid of the dentist, I use to be forced to go. Then when I was about 12 I went for an appointment to see if I would still be as scared as I was when I was younger, but when the dentist was done I didn’t feel a thing. That’s when I got over my fear of the dentist.
In high school I was usually involved in school activitys like student council, fund raisers, and book buddies. My family usually have gatherings on special occasions, birthdays, christmas, easter, thanks giving, and other little occasions. Some family members usually brings something they cooked or baked and we have a feast. I like it when my family gets together we have a lot of fun.
Abortion should be a crime, I really do think it should be banned. Or the doctors performing the abortion should get their license taking away permanently. It is really sick that people do that when they should be responsible enough to use protection when they want to have that kind of fun. That kind of fun could lead to no fun at all, having to make a decision of having the baby, aborting it, or adoption. If they did decide to ban abortion there would only be two choices adoption or actually raising the child yourself. But you still have to go through the pregnancy. Then there wouldn’t be any sad stories of how many girls aborted babies in a year.
LOCAL ISSUESA sad issue that is important is the alcohol in the community. It does hurt families a lot. It leads to even more sad situations when it comes to a young one drinking. The alcohol seems to be out of control sometimes, well…in my opinion it is out of control. One of these days that alcohol will get into the hands of a very young toddler and if that child ingests it, it could lead to some very serious trouble. But…who’s responsible? The supplier? The parent? That would be the question. Why wait until something tragic happens to start making some tougher penalties for people selling or being suspected of selling alcohol illegally. It’s not only the illegal sellers of the alcohol that should open their eyes and see what is going on. it’s the parents themselves that should think of their children first when they get some sort of paycheck. Instead they go out and look for the booze. The children at home hungry with probably no food in the cupboards, waiting for their parents to come home. But all the supplier thinks of is the money and all the buyer thinks of is the fire. (booze)
Suicide is like a deadly trend that seems to be spreading like wildfire in this small community. Somebody needs to do something fast! Not somebody, but everybody! The problem is not just small it’s out of control. There are so many attempts. There is an attempt like every passing weekend. We need to
help these people that are troubled. We need to take the alcohol out of the community fast. The alcohol seems to be another issue, but seems to be linked to all these suicide attempts, the ones that try are usually under the influence of alcohol. So the bootlegging must stop if we want this deadly trend to stop!Early explorers and the first Puk area
SOME TOPICS I PLAN TO EXPLORE
Dangerous encounters with bears and other wildlifeI encountered a weird little animal that looked like a beaver and a rat mixed together. I don’t know if it was dangerous or not but it looked dangerous to me. It looked as if it was trying to jump on me, it was hissing like a snake with its sharp teeth ready to bite if it had to.Injuries you have experienced
Northern adventures and survival stories
Native survival techniques
Pregnancy and birth traditions and procedures
Curses ~ superstitions ~ spirits ~ ghosts ~ supernatural ~ beliefs
Similarities and differences in Traditional and Catholic religious beliefs
A PHOTOGRAPH THAT MEANS A GREAT DEAL TO ME This photograph of my son when we first came home means a lot to me, because it was the first couple of days we were home. I was able to take him visiting, he saw his family for the first time. He visited all his aunts and uncles. I took many snapshots of him when he came home to Puk, He also has a cousin born on the same month as him, her name is Jayden Drake. You can tell they’re related. Aiden and Jayden rhyme and their dads are brothers. Aiden’s dad is William Bighetty and Jayden’s dad is Leslie. Rena and I are cousins so they are first first cousins.
WILL AND AIDEN FARREN DUMAS Dear Editor:
A LOCAL ISSUESuicide is like a deadly trend that seems to be spreading like wildfire in this small community. Somebody needs to do something fast! Not somebody, but everybody! The problem is not just small it's out of control. There are so many attempts. There is an attempt like every passing weekend. We need to help these people that are troubled. We need to take the alcohol out of the community fast. The alcohol seems to be another issue, but seems to be linked to all these suicide attempts, the ones that try are usually under the influence of alcohol. So the bootlegging must stop if we want this deadly trend to stop!
I encountered a weird little animal that looked like a beaver and a rat mixed together. I don't know if it was dangerous or not but it looked dangerous to me. It looked as if it was trying to jump on me, it was hissing like a snake with its sharp teeth ready to bite if it had to.
DANGEROUS ENCOUNTEROne injury I experienced that freaked me out was when I was about eight years old. My parents and I were camping down the river. It was going to be our first night. Well, I was going to get some water at the edge of the lake and I was running down the hill, and I tripped on top of a bunch of sticks. When I stood up there was a big stick sticking out of my knee. I stood there not knowing whether to scream in pain or fall again. I tried to walk up to the hill but I couldn't it hurt too much when I walked. So I took the stick out myself. It started bleeding like crazy, I cleaned it and waited until it stopped bleeding then I went back up to were my parents were. I didn't want to ruin our camping trip so I didn't tell them what happened. If I did tell them we probably would have had to drive back to Puk to go to the nursing station. I would have needed stitches or something. That is the accident that I can remember that hurt the most.
PERSONAL INJURYSome of the pros of living in Winninpeg include: the cost of living would be less expensive, there are 24hour stores, more entertainment, more shopping places, and you can meet a lot of people. There are some cons of living in Winnipeg too, like the dangers of the streets and gangs, drugs, all the noise at night. The cons of leaving puk are missing family members, friends, and just seeing Puk. The pros of leaving Puk are getting away from all the mud in the spring and fall.
PROS AND CONS OF LIVING IN WINNIPEG
A PUK ACTIVITYI hate most sports, especially violent sports. The only sport I can ever recall enjoying is probably square dancing. I enjoy watching professionals. Especially The Zachius Daniels Memorial dancers. They are probably the best in Manitoba. They are from Pukatawagan. I was always afraid of the dentist. I use to be forced to go. Then when I was about 12 I went for an appointment to see if I would still be as scared as I was when I was younger, but when the dentist was done I didn't feel a
thing. That's when I got over my fear of the dentist. In high school I was usually involved in school activity's like student council, fund raisers, and book buddies. My family usually have gatherings on special occasions, birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and other little occasions. Some family members usually bring something they cooked or baked and we have a feast. I like it when my family gets together we have a lot of fun.
A TALL TALEA tall tale that I can come up with right now is when the Forks was first built, and everybody moved into their new homes. The forks existed for about a year and there was a lot of partying going on there. Whereever you looked there would be drunks standing around. Well the elders started talking about some scary looking man walking around in the middle of the night. They described him as a tall man wearing a long black trenchcoat with a black hat that hid his face. They said that the man would just stand somewhere and watch all these people party. When they were drunk the man would go to them and wouldn't say a word. That seemed to scare off some of the partyers. When word got around that people were seeing this weird man, the parties died down. The elders warned people that it was the devil coming to visit, and to show them evil, if they really wanted to see evil. Now these days there isn't much partying. I guess just on special occasions: weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, engagements.
Another legend I can share is in '89 Puk nearly burnt. The reserve was evacuated in one day, all the residents were flown to a variety of places like to Thompson, The Pas, Flin Flon and Cranberry. They used all kinds of aircraft like helicopters, Hercules, floatplanes, and planes. The fire was as close as one mile away. You were able to see the flames from puk. The residents that were evacuated stayed in places like school gym's, hotels, and where ever they could find room. My family stayed in Cranberry in a house that my auntie stayed in. her house was just packed. Everybody was finally able to go home about a month after everybody was evacuated. The only living things that probably stayed were the dogs.
A movie that I can say is worth watching over and over is called "What's Love got to do with it?" it stars Tina Turner and her ex-husband Ike Turner. It came out in early 90's. The movie is about Tina being discovered and becoming very popular. She is also abused by her husband Ike. She eventually leaves him and he becomes nobody without her. I like the music she sings in the movie the most. She sings most of her popular songs. For example she sings the song "What's love got to do with it" that was one of her biggest hits in her singing career. Tina Turner is a very successful singer. she was very popular and still is popular today, as I see it. Anyway her movie and music is worth watching and listening to.
A FAVOURITE MOVIEThere is one curse that I've heard of and it goes like this. I heard when I was younger that if you disrespect an elder you would be cursed. Your face would slant on one side, and when you smile half of your face would look all crazy. That look would stay on your face until you knew how to respect your elders.
CURSES AND SUPERSTIONS
