YELLOWKNIFE – Inmates at Yellowknife Prison concentrate as they skin multiple squirrels, deftly maneuvering their knives to remove the small critters’ soft fur and then scraping off the remaining meat and fat.
Surrounded by murals of eagles and wolves, the more experienced men share tips with their peers.
Roy Inuktalik, an Inuvialuit and from Ulukhaktok, said he has hunted and set traps since he was five years old, but this is the first time he has skinned a squirrel.
“It was a good experience,” said the 32-year-old.
“I’m always willing to learn something new. We learn new things every day.”
Skills like hunting, trapping and preparing animal skins are traditionally passed down from generation to generation, Inuktalik said, and he plans to continue doing so.
“The skills I learned today will be ingrained in my memory.”
Every two weeks, experienced trappers lead classes at the North Slave Correctional Complex, teaching inmates outdoor skills, from trap setting to snow machine repair and survival skills.
The program, which began as a pilot last year, is offered through a partnership with the territory’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“This program is really great. It has helped rejuvenate my soul and keep me beautiful, calm and happy,” Inuktalik said. “I enjoy learning about different traditions and helping to keep them going.”
Vincent Casey, the department’s education coordinator, said the program empowers inmates and helps many of them reconnect with their culture.
“Many of the people who participate in the program have done so in the past,” he said. “It makes that connection, teaches those skills, and refreshes those skills… It’s empowering because they have that knowledge and they just need it to get back to the top.”
Casey said when the program began about five people attended, but now up to 20 inmates can come to classes.
The Territorial Prison is the largest correctional facility in the NWT with a capacity for up to 148 adults and 25 juveniles. However, the number of people behind bars has been historically low in recent years, in part due to efforts to reduce COVID-19 risks.
Inmates can have minimum to maximum security ratings and serve sentences of less than two years or await trial.
Longtime trapper Carl Williams demonstrated how to prepare a fox pelt for sale by gently manipulating its wrinkled, gauzy skin, brushing its fur and pinning its ears. He says the fresh fur is an “urban fox” caught in Yellowknife, meaning it has more fat than animals that live in the bush.
“They had a good life,” he said.
Inmates finish the lesson by roasting Bannock on a stick over a roaring fire outside, a popular northern al fresco snack, and enjoying the flame-baked bread with butter and jam.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 20, 2023.
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This story was produced with financial support from Meta and the Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Emily Blake, The Canadian Press
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