Imagine a float plane dropping you off 250 kilometres in the middle of nowhere. A storm rolls in, leaving you jam-packed in a tent with a few others. All you can do is wait it out.
“You make that part of the story,” said Todd Forsbloom, Métis director, producer, and music composer of the TV documentary Yukon Harvest, or Dän K’eht’e in Northern Tutchone, a language spoken in parts of the Yukon.
The show follows different Indigenous hunters — including one from Kamloops — across Canada’s outdoors as they embark on cultural and spiritual journeys. Though much of the show is filmed in the Yukon, filming also occurred in Kamloops and Fort St. John, B.C.
Season one of the documentary was nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards in 2022: Best Factual Program or Series, Best Editing in a Documentary Program or Series, and Best Writing in a Factual Program or Series.
The second season premiered in both languages in early June 2023 on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).
The setting of the documentary “brought out a lot of communication … That’s the power of the land and the water,” said Ed Jensen, knowledge keeper, artist, teacher, and one of the hunters featured on the show.
Born in poverty in 1967, Jensen was raised in Tk’emlúps (Kamloops) by his mother, a residential school survivor, who encouraged Jensen to head to the mountains with his uncles, where they’d hunt and provide for the family.
While Jensen watched his friends “drifting away from the mountains” and losing touch with their culture, Jensen was submerged in it. “I spent years trucking along, following my uncles through the forest in their footsteps and being told to be quiet, pay attention and being shown what these tracks are and where they’re doing,” Jensen explained.
“All of these things to me are now second nature.”
Yukon Harvest is about more than hunting.
“Hunting is a ceremony. It’s something that we hold in high regard and with the highest respect and honour,” said Jensen, who explained that they cleanse themselves through a sweat lodge at the beginning and end of each hunting season.
While hunting as a ceremony may seem like a new concept for some, for Indigenous people it’s a concept that dates back thousands of generations.
“We have a story that was shared with me when I was a kid, and it’s a part of our creation story,” said Jensen.
“At the beginning of time, when humans first came to earth, the animals were already here and they were established. The animals could survive. Humans showed up naked and afraid and rather pitiful. We couldn’t do the things the animals could do.”
The animals held a lodge and decided to give something up of themselves so that humans could survive: their flesh for food, hides for clothing, and bones for tools. In return, humans were asked to learn about the animals, develop their skills, and be respectful, honouring them and the land.
In the show, Jensen can be seen rubbing tobacco on a deer, which symbolizes him giving back to the animal that sacrificed its life.
Jensen is a mentor to many, both on and off the show. When asked what the young hunters in his life mean to him, he said they mean everything. “They’re me 40 years ago. They’re the future. They’re the ones who are going to pick everything up and carry it for the next generation.”
As for the future, Jensen was excited to share news about an initiative that started several years ago. It includes the 17 bands in the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc area, and will serve as a hunting and fishing declaration.
“Hunting to the Secwépemc people is a foundational right, and for me to be a part of that is history in the making. It’s something that I know my grandchildren and their grandchildren will be affected by. That’s nation-building. That’s law-making. That’s traditional revival and culture revival. That’s spirituality and living and breathing and survival. It’s everything. It’s absolutely everything.
“I couldn’t be more satisfied with the direction my life has gone. I owe it all to the mountains. I owe it all to my uncles and my ancestors, and now it’s my responsibility to make sure that it’s recognized and it’s protected and it’s honoured in the right way.”
Just as the declaration will pave the way for hunters, the documentary hopes to shed light on Indigenous hunting and how connection can be found.
Learn more about the show at aptntv.ca/yukonharvest, and about Jensen and his artwork at tkemlupstraditions.ca.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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