Grease Trails | Why are these trail networks significant for the Cheslatta Carrier First Nation?
Did you know there are hundreds of trail networks in Canada that are at least ten thousand years old?
In this program, we will be exploring the trail systems of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation, how they became known as Grease trails and how their nation has identified with trails as part of their culture.
Watch a Fish Transform from an animal to a candle (2:00)
The last great eulachon fishery on Earth is found in British Columbia near the mouth of the Nass River, where the fish return to spawn each year. Eulachon are a species of smelt, known to the indigenous Nisga'a people of the Nass as halimotkw, which translates to ""salvation fish."" Both a foodstuff and a delicacy for the Nisga'a, eulachon today are showing signs of making a comeback after their runs began to collapse in the 1990s. In this video, we get a look at Nisga'a processing the eulachon inside the ""stink box,"" where the fish ferment in vats, and grease from its fatty skin is created. The eulachon’s buttery flesh is so rich in oil that a dried fish will actually light and burn like a candle.
Making Grease (4:09)
A series of still images made into a movie. Taken by Rupert Wilson April 2009 documenting the harvest of a type of smelt, an oily fish and processing into oil, a native culture medicine and gourmet food.
This is witness to a tradition that has been conducted by these people for many thousands of years.
