Staff Profile: Tanner Catholique, Ni Hat'ni Dene Guardian

In 2022, Tanner Catholique was hired on as a summer student in Łutsël K’é’s Thaidene Nëné Department. The highlight of the summer was spending time on the water and visiting different places in the protected area. “We went on a couple of camping trips that I really enjoyed. We went to Reliance and to Wildbread Bay. We also did a lot of fishing. I really like fishing,” says Tanner. As a side note, when asked about the biggest fish he ever caught, Tanner reported that it was a 35-pound trout. Lucky for him, he landed it during a fishing derby. He came first and won $5,000 for his efforts.
 
When Tanner learned that the Thaidene Nëné Department was looking for full-time guardians in June 2023, he applied. “I enjoyed my summer position,” he says, “so I thought I might like being a guardian full-time. Also, I didn’t want to sit behind a desk.”
 
Ni Hat’ni Dene are more likely to be found sitting on skidoos or boats than at desks. Shortly after he started work as a guardian, Tanner was sent out on patrol. “We went to Taltheilei Narrows. We cleaned up an old cabin there.”
 
Other activities in his first six months on the job have included hauling lumber to the new cabin site at Old Snowdrift and working with the lead carpenter on the build. “We’ve also been harvesting animals like moose, muskox, fish, rabbits, grouse, etc, and sharing that with community members and Elders,” Tanner explains.
 
Tanner likes the fact that being a guardian allows him to stay active. He also appreciates the many and varied learning opportunities that come with the position. “I’ve been learning things like basic maintenance of quads and skidoos, how to site a gun, how to skin different animals,” he says. As he works alongside the older guardians, as well as Elders and knowledge keepers, Tanner is also being exposed to and absorbing critical Łutsël K’é Dene knowledge.
 
Tanner says it was his mom, Iris, who showed him how to be on the land. “She brought me out to the Barrenlands when I was young.” Tanner was nine or ten when he harvested his first caribou near Ɂedacho Tué (Artillery Lake). “My papa [Matthew Fatt] had to hold my shoulder because the gun kicked me back.” Tanner is quiet and reserved, but he laughs when he tells this story.
 
When he’s not working with the guardians, Tanner likes riding around on his skidoo or quad. He also enjoys going out on the land with his grandparents. “Granny always asks me to bring her out to Tomato Island for berry picking, making fire, catching fish, cooking the fish,” he says.
 
Tanner identified two places in Thaidene Nëné that are special for him: Desnéthchée and Ts'ąkuı Thedá. Speaking about the spiritual gathering site, Tanner says, “I like how the community gets together there each year.” He also feels fortunate to have had a chance to visit Ts'ąkuı Thedá, the old lady of the falls.
 
Tanner doesn’t see a lot of other young people in the community who are interested in doing the kinds of things he is doing as a guardian, but he hopes that changes because, in his words, “protecting Thaidene Nëné is important.”

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