MetisOnline News Clips

St. Laurent’s Gaudry Boys reflect on their eight years in music

Written by Metisonline Tuesday, 07 September 2010 06:39

There's no greater feeling for a musician than stepping onto a stage and watching how your music moves your audience, however big or small, according to fiddle player Dylan Gaudry of Métis music group The Gaudry Boys.

"There's toe tapping, dancing and people rocking around," said Gaudry. "That's what I like best about being a musician."

The St. Laurent group has certainly seen its share of audiences since brothers Dylan, Zachary and Ryan started performing together in 2002, having opened for artists such as Johnny Reid, Jessie Farrell and Charlie Major, and performed across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, and even the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. when the National Museum of the American Indian opened in 2004.

"It's a bit shocking for us because we never thought we'd end up getting this far," said Dylan Gaudry. "It's been a good experience for us."

The audiences who've come to love the brothers' music, have their instructor, Mark Morisseau, to thank for setting them on their musical journey.

"I started watching him play at hometown events and he inspired me to try violin," said Dylan Gaudry.

Ryan Gaudry, the youngest member, said he started in Morisseau's class before he was technically old enough.

"Dylan started learning fiddle with Mark Morisseau and it was so cool, I wanted to start with it and not stop," said Gaudry. "They put me in his music class, and even though I was too young to be in it, I kept up with the older kids. I've been going since them."

Ryan also plays drums, guitar, base and spoons.

"I learned how to play drums from Paul Fontaine when he played with us," said Gaudry. "He taught me one beat. Then I went out and got a drum kit and learned from there. Dylan taught me guitar chords and Zack, who's a bass player, taught me bass chords."

Zachary also plays the spoons.

"Dylan was teaching Ryan the fiddle, so I picked up the spoons to play along," said Gaudry. "I did it to go along with the beat and tried to make it sound nice."

Dylan said The Gaudry Boys play the music they grew up with.

"I learned how to play and grew up listening to Métis fiddling and country music," said Gaudry. "I like hearing it. It's more traditional than the hip hop, rap or country rock styles you hear on the radio."

Their style has gotten them noticed, as The Gaudry Boys, which added guitar player Brandon Nast to their lineup in December, have played shows ranging from the Asham Stomper Music Festival –the dance group Ryan is part of – to opening for country music stars.

"I enjoy playing for different artists," said Dylan Gaudry. "It's quite a good experience meeting all these people at different events. They give us good pointers; they tell us how they started, where they come from and how they made it in the industry. One of the greatest experiences was opening for Johnny Reid. We loved meeting him. He wasn't too conceited about himself and he was very friendly and outgoing. There was never a dull moment with him."

Dylan says he and his brothers have played more shows than he can remember.

"I can't count that high," Gaudry said, laughing. "I betcha it's more than 50,000. We're playing every weekend and even during the week half the time. The best performances are the ones where the sound's great, we've got great backline (equipment) and everything's there. The worst experiences are where one of us has to go solo for a couple of gigs. It's difficult without the full group."

Dylan says the group's greatest accomplishments were recording their two CDs, Remember the Barn Dance, and The Acadian Jig, which came out last year and is nominated for the Best Fiddle CD category of the Aboriginal People's Choice Music awards in November.

"Recording gets hectic, but it's good," said Gaudry. "It has its ups and downs. You have to balance your tones to get the sound you want. It can be crazy."

Dylan says he felt mixed emotions when Remember the Barn Dance was released.

"At first it was a nervous feeling, then it was also a great feeling of accomplishment in a musical way," said Gaudry. "In the long run, we're happy we pulled through. It's a great feeling, holding and playing an instrument. Some people can't do it."

The Gaudry Boys haven't hesitated to share their talents with those with or without musical abilities, as Zachary and Dylan entertain at hospitals and seniors residences. Dylan, who also teaches fiddling in Oak Point, Riverton, Winnipeg and Stonewall, won the National Métis Youth Role Model Award in 2006 for his volunteerism.

"I like seeing older folks react to my volunteering and playing in seniors homes and lodges," said Dylan Gaudry. "What's most rewarding is knowing they appreciate what I'm doing. It just brightens their day. They're really happy I donated my time to help them."

Now, Dylan says the Gaudry Boys are working on writing and sharing their music with a larger audience.

"I'd like to hear our stuff on the radio and get further up there nationally, like on CMT," said Gaudry. "I'd like to accomplish more."

To vote for Acadian Jig for the Aboriginal People Choice Music awards, visit aboriginalpeopleschoice.com, login and vote. The winners will be announced at the MTS Centre and broadcast on APTN November 5.

Visit www.gaudryboys.com for more about the group.

Interlake Spectator

Writer's first book earns US and Europe release

Written by Metisonline Tuesday, 07 September 2010 06:38

Josie Penny, a soft-spoken Labrador Metis woman with sparkling blue eyes, tips her head slightly to the side as she considers what she’d most like to see come from the upcoming release of her new book, So Few on Earth.

“If people can relate to the story, if they can find solace in it, or be encouraged to write their own story, then I’ve done my job,” she says, giving a tiny nod and leaning back in her chair.

“For me, writing this book was a therapeutic experience. I really was a lost soul before I wrote it.”

Ms Penny was travelling around the Northern Peninsula and Southern Labrador with her husband last week promoting the book, set to be released in October, and stopped in at the Pen for a chat.

So Few on Earth tells the story of Ms Penney’s experiences growing up along the Labrador coast in the 1940s and 1950s. Born at her family’s winter home outside Cartwright in 1943, Ms Penny was sent to a hospital at age four then to boarding school three years later where she suffered horrific punishments, teasing, and two rapes.

Then, at age 11, she was sent to work.

“That was my first job,” she says.

“I worked for the Hudson’s Bay manager’s wife. School wasn’t a big priority — I had to leave to work.

“I was a cook at age 15 at the same mission I was at as a child. It was a hard time. Very emotional.”

After a brutal childhood, Ms Penny married and had children.

In 1977, she and her husband moved from Goose Bay to Ontario with their three teenagers.

It was there she realized that her kids knew virtually nothing about her past.

“They didn’t know anything about growing up in the cold isolation of the coast, how their parents and grandparents survived,” she explains.

The importance of getting her children to understand their roots was what led to Ms Penny writing about her childhood but, with only seven years of formal schooling under her belt, she says she felt enormous unease when she signed up for academic classes to help with her writing.

“When I started off I had no clue what I was doing, so I took a course at McMaster University in Hamilton,” she says.

“I said to the instructor that I didn’t belong there because I only had a grade seven education, but he said it didn’t matter and told me two very important things: one, to write what you know, and two, to let the chips fall where they may. That’s what kept me going all those years. Those two bits of advice.”

It took Ms Penny 10 years and plenty of heartache to complete the biography of her early years, but she says it was well worth it.

“I know now that I can do anything if I set my mind to it and if I want it in my heart and soul,” she says.

“To me accolades are irrelevant. This helped me and I’ll always be grateful that I wrote it.”

Ms Penny acknowledges that books written from a childhood perspective can sometimes shine events in a different light to adulthood, but she says she was careful to be open about the fact the tale is her experiences as drawn from her memories.

“In terms of all the factual references I did my research, but this book is my personal perspective on everything that happened,” she says.

“If that means I have to develop thicker skin then that’s what I’ll do, I think people will realize these are my memories, my story.”

So how does Ms Penny feel about the fact the book is set to be released in Europe and US?

“It boggles the mind and to be truthful is a little scary,” she says.

“But the thing is to remember where I’m from, to remain as me, to stay real — to remember all the things my mother taught me.

“This is going to give me experiences to take me outside of my boundaries but that’s ok — I’m open to new experiences.

“I just want to bring Labrador into focus. I just want to tell my story.”

Northern Pen

Fort Providence still focused on bridge

Written by Metisonline Tuesday, 07 September 2010 06:35

A new agreement will help ensure Fort Providence benefits from the Deh Cho Bridge project despite the dissolution of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation.

A barge anchors beside the work bridge and one of the Deh Cho Bridge's piers in late July. The two work bridges will be removed for the final time by mid-April 2011 as work on the bridge progresses. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The corporation was responsible for the bridge prior to the territorial government assuming responsibility and management for the project, and is in the process of closing.

The Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation and the Fort Providence Metis Council are creating a new organization to look after the community's involvement in the project, said Chief Joachim Bonnetrouge.

"We are regrouping and doing our best to keep involved and make sure the bridge is built," he said.

Bonnetrouge expects the group will monitor the project and meet monthly to address any community concerns including effects on the environment, water quality and the local fishery.

The community is receiving financial help from the territorial government to remain a part of the project. In April, the first nation, the Metis council and the territorial government signed the Community Opportunities and Involvement Agreement.

Under the agreement, from July 2010 to March 2012, the community is receiving an $8,000 monthly grant for the purpose of promoting community involvement in the project during construction. Beginning in April 2012 the government will make an annual grant of $200,000 to create community benefits and economic opportunities related to the bridge.

The grant will continue for a 35-year period for a total of $7 million. The plan is to use some of the money to address the general effects of the bridge on the community, including increased traffic and the social impact of having the community open to constant access, Bonnetrouge said.

"That should help lots," he said.

The new agreement, however, doesn't provide as many benefits as the concession agreement did, said Bonnetrouge. The concession agreement, which has been terminated, set out the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation's responsibilities to design, build, operate and maintain the bridge as well as the benefits the community would receive.

The benefits included being the owners of the bridge and receiving a 4.5 per cent return yearly on the equity the corporation had invested in the bridge. Before the agreement ended the equity had reached $1.4 million, which would have resulted in approximately $63,000 a year, said Earl Blacklock, the manager of public affairs and communications with the Department of Transportation.

If bridge revenues were higher than what was needed to meet the responsibilities in the agreement there was also a possibility for enhanced returns, he said.

The community will also miss out on possible additional revenues from the bridge, including using the structure to run power or communication lines across the river, said Bonnetrouge.

Although the new agreement is welcomed, Bonnetrouge said the community leadership and the management of the bridge corporation are disappointed the government had to assume responsibility for the project.

The Deh Cho Bridge is on schedule to open to traffic in November 2011, according to the Department of Transportation.

The work that's being conducted this year and into the next is on schedule, said Earl Blacklock, the manager of public affairs and communications with the department.

Until mid-November bearings are being installed on the piers. Beginning this month steel for the bridge's superstructure will start to arrive.

Once the steel is ready truss members for the north superstructure will be erected and the deck plating will be installed. An A pylon that will hold some of the bridge's cables will also be put into place.

"It will start looking like a bridge on the north side by the end of February," Blacklock said.

The same work will then be done on the south side of the bridge with completion of that stage expected by approximately the end of March 2011, he said.

During this phase of construction more Northern companies and residents are being employed on the project than in the past. Blacklock was unable to say how much of an increase there has been but attributed it to the work that is currently underway.

The work includes plumbing and electrical work by contractors from Hay River.

"There's an expectation whenever possible that local sources will be used for these specialist skills," he said.

Four Northern companies are currently involved in various aspects of the work, including Digga Enterprises Ltd. of Fort Providence which is supplying local workers and equipment.

Chief Joachim Bonnetrouge of Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation said he's pleased about the local business and employment opportunities stemming from the bridge. The opportunities are being maximized, he said.

Northern News Service

Water worries haunt northern Alberta residents

Written by Metisonline Monday, 06 September 2010 06:43

Raymond Ladouceur unties his boat from the sandy shore of Lake Athabasca and pushes off into Fishermen's Channel.

As he leaves the mouth of the channel, Ladouceur, 68, points out a nearby dock in the other half of the W-shaped bay. "That dock over there used to be under water in the summer," he says. It now looms almost two metres above the water level.

Locals like Ladouceur noticed the lake level drop after a dam was built on the Peace River in the late 1960s in British Columbia. They've been sensitive ever since about anything that might further lower the water level.

Now another B.C. dam is being considered, and residents in this northern Alberta town are wary of the effect it may have on their water levels. Mentioning the proposed Site C dam on the Peace River in British Columbia prompts frustrated head shakes from residents.

"I really reject it because the water is so low already," Ladouceur says.

The commercial fisherman for 53 years — who has come to know the lake and its incoming rivers intimately — says he fears the water will eventually be too low to travel.

The Site C dam is supposed to generate 900 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 410,000 homes. The two existing generating stations already on the river produce about one-third of the province's power.

The project is going through a multi-stage review process. Preliminary findings from BC Hydro's stage 2 studies suggest that, based on the current project design, there would be few notable downstream changes during normal operations, beyond those within the immediate project area, says Dave Conway, a B.C. Hydro community relations manager, in an email.

"Far downstream at the Peace-Athabasca Delta, approximately 1,100 kilometres away, no notable changes are expected," he says.

Conway says BC Hydro anticipates entering the environmental assessment process in early 2011 with the filing of a project description.

The Bennett Dam was the first project that came along to hurt their way of life, Ladouceur says. The dam, completed in 1967, holds back over 74 trillion litres of the Peace River in B.C.

"It's like blocking off a vein on the human body and that body doesn't function right," says Ladouceur. "It's the same thing they're doing with the rivers, they're blocking off all the rivers. And some parts are not getting the water."

The ring of outer marshes and small lakes that depended on flooding for water are now low or dry. Ladouceur says this wiped out most of the muskrat.

As the water on the land disappeared or grew increasingly shallow, muskrats, unable to survive the winter, became scarce. They were once the cornerstone of a lucrative fur-trade in the area and a prime reason for the establishment of Fort Chipewyan, the oldest community in Alberta.

"Water from B.C. is very important to us because it fills our Lake Athabasca," he says.

An Alberta Environment report shows the Bennett Dam in B.C. radically changed the normal flow levels of the Peace River. At the town of Peace River, the net result is that summer flow rates and volumes are half what they were before the dam began operations. Similarly, the winter flows can be up to three times higher than before the dam began operations, the report said.

Some say Alberta's oilsands development is also taking a toll on the province's waterways.

Summer flows in the Athabasca River at Fort McMurray declined 29 per cent between 1970 and 2005, according to a report by David Schindler, Bill Donahue and John Thompson. They add that run-off has decreased by 50 per cent in the 94 per cent of the Athabasca basin that is downstream of the Rocky Mountains. Flows have also declined in the Peace and Slave Rivers. They predicted that oilsands development could use 20 to 21 per cent of the lowest winter flows recorded to date.

"Projected bitumen extraction in the oilsands will require too much water to sustain the river and Athabasca Delta, especially with the effects of predicted climate warming," they concluded.

Industry says it currently uses less than one per cent of the Athabasca's annual flow.

But Schindler, a distinguished aquatics ecologist from the University of Alberta, says the impact of water use is most critical during low flow periods in the winter when the river is covered in ice.

Travis Davies, a spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says they recognize there is significant seasonality variability in the river flows and therefore a particular need to manage withdrawals during the low flow winter season.

"For this reason, Alberta Environment and Fisheries and Oceans Canada have implemented regulations which restrict the amount of water that can be withdrawn during low flow periods," he says in an email. "Additionally, industry is increasingly storing water in large ponds during high flow periods to be used if river withdrawals are restricted during low flow periods."

Edmonton Journal