|
Arthur BeckAlternate Chair
Thaidene Nëné Xá Dá Yáłtı |
Arthur Beck travelled to the first meeting of Thaidene Nëné Xá Dá Yáłtı, the operational management board for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area, in 2020 by snowmachine, covering the 150 miles from his home in Fort Resolution to Łutsël K’é in 7 hours. “When I told the office that I was coming by skidoo, they said they’d never made mileage for a skidoo,” Arthur recalls with a laugh. Thankfully, there is a first time for everything.
Originally from Rocher River, Arthur is no stranger to long rides. As a younger man, he made trips like this by dog team. “I grew up with dogs,” Arthur explains. “They were my first transportation.” Arthur’s father, Ray Beck, was a trapper and dog racer, who won the Canadian Championship Dog Derby more times than Arthur can remember. Arthur followed in his father’s footsteps. He started racing dogs in 1968, when he was 11 years old. He competed until 2003. Arthur also became a hunter and trapper.
Having been raised on the land, Arthur feels like he is part of the land: “I do my best to protect the animals and the water and the fish and the plants because nobody speaks for them.” In this way, Arthur was a natural choice for Thaidene Nëné Xá Dá Yáłtı, which means the people who speak for Thaidene Nëné in Dene Yatı. Arthur is one of three NWT Métis Nation (NWTMN) members appointed to the board, as per their Impact Benefit Agreement.
In meetings, Arthur moves fluidly between Dene Yatı and English (he also has a working knowledge of Dene Zhatıé and Tłı̨chǫ). Arthur learned the language from his mother, Doris Smith, who was also from Rocher River, though she has relatives in Łutsël K’é. Arthur grew up hearing stories from his mother about trips to the tundra. “As a young girl, my mother would go to Artillery Lake every summer. They would harvest caribou, fix hides, and pack it all out. That’s what really made me want to go to the barrenlands.”
Arthur knows Thaidene Nëné well, having travelled and harvested in the area in both summer and winter since he was a boy. One of his more memorable trips through what is now the protected area was in 1992, when he and Justin Giroux guided two Japanese tourists by boat from Fort Smith to Aylmer Lake, following the route described by Ernest Thompson Seton in The Arctic Prairies (1911).
Arthur, like many who grew up south of the big lake, has long been wary of parks and protected areas because historically they have infringed on Indigenous peoples’ ways of life. (Following the creation of Wood Buffalo National Park in 1922, Métis families were forcibly removed from the park and were prevented from practicing their way of life within its boundaries.) Arthur agreed to the appointment to Thaidene Nëné Xá Dá Yáłtı because Thaidene Nëné promises to be different. “We’re not going to lose any rights here,” he asserts.
Looking to the future, Arthur wants to see more attention paid to the stories of the Indigenous peoples who have called this place home since time immemorial, rather than the exploits of Euro-Canadians like Seton. He also hopes that one day all of the roles in the protected area, including in the national park reserve, will be staffed by northern Indigenous peoples, “from the superintendent down.”
Originally from Rocher River, Arthur is no stranger to long rides. As a younger man, he made trips like this by dog team. “I grew up with dogs,” Arthur explains. “They were my first transportation.” Arthur’s father, Ray Beck, was a trapper and dog racer, who won the Canadian Championship Dog Derby more times than Arthur can remember. Arthur followed in his father’s footsteps. He started racing dogs in 1968, when he was 11 years old. He competed until 2003. Arthur also became a hunter and trapper.
Having been raised on the land, Arthur feels like he is part of the land: “I do my best to protect the animals and the water and the fish and the plants because nobody speaks for them.” In this way, Arthur was a natural choice for Thaidene Nëné Xá Dá Yáłtı, which means the people who speak for Thaidene Nëné in Dene Yatı. Arthur is one of three NWT Métis Nation (NWTMN) members appointed to the board, as per their Impact Benefit Agreement.
In meetings, Arthur moves fluidly between Dene Yatı and English (he also has a working knowledge of Dene Zhatıé and Tłı̨chǫ). Arthur learned the language from his mother, Doris Smith, who was also from Rocher River, though she has relatives in Łutsël K’é. Arthur grew up hearing stories from his mother about trips to the tundra. “As a young girl, my mother would go to Artillery Lake every summer. They would harvest caribou, fix hides, and pack it all out. That’s what really made me want to go to the barrenlands.”
Arthur knows Thaidene Nëné well, having travelled and harvested in the area in both summer and winter since he was a boy. One of his more memorable trips through what is now the protected area was in 1992, when he and Justin Giroux guided two Japanese tourists by boat from Fort Smith to Aylmer Lake, following the route described by Ernest Thompson Seton in The Arctic Prairies (1911).
Arthur, like many who grew up south of the big lake, has long been wary of parks and protected areas because historically they have infringed on Indigenous peoples’ ways of life. (Following the creation of Wood Buffalo National Park in 1922, Métis families were forcibly removed from the park and were prevented from practicing their way of life within its boundaries.) Arthur agreed to the appointment to Thaidene Nëné Xá Dá Yáłtı because Thaidene Nëné promises to be different. “We’re not going to lose any rights here,” he asserts.
Looking to the future, Arthur wants to see more attention paid to the stories of the Indigenous peoples who have called this place home since time immemorial, rather than the exploits of Euro-Canadians like Seton. He also hopes that one day all of the roles in the protected area, including in the national park reserve, will be staffed by northern Indigenous peoples, “from the superintendent down.”