Esther Wolki

F our years ago in 2017, I went out with Parks Canada as a participant of the Youth Culture Camp to see what kind of things they do in the park, like the ground surveying, looking at the bones, and just setting up the camp. uu

With the Elders that were up there, like Ruben Green, they were just showing us how to filet fish and tell stories, so I was able to learn a bit out there.

The Park is so far out of town, only the hunters go that far for caribou. And a lot of the kids, women, and Elders now, haven’t seen the actual area of the park, so none of them know that there’s these huge 13feet rocks that are just sticking up out of the ground! They see the canyons… When I went, I didn’t know that we had that kind of land up there, with huge rocks, and big canyons. I think that’s what most people don’t know and don’t get to see.

Favourite Location In Park

I guess it would be travelling the Hornaday River, slowly going down with canoes, we seen every part of it, just a small fraction of it, but it got us to see every…hill and canyon, bigger lakes.

There was one area (ELM Hill) that we went hiking, and it was a really, really high point. And once we got up there, we could see everywhere, like three kilometres, good detail. We seen the river, our camp, the other camp, and we could see caribou walking along the river. I guess that would be the best view to describe to everybody.

We’re so secluded up here in NWT. A lot of the area in the NWT and Nunavut is untouched. So, it’s preserved a lot. The caribou, the land where the caribou are, it’s preserved. It’s just beautiful up there and it’s way, way up North. You get all weather. In summer and springtime, it’s so beautiful and warm.

Fondest Memory

Hiking—as soon as I got off the plane, the water that we landed on was so clear. It was blowing, and the sun was shining. I was like, “Can I go and try the water?” And they said, “Yeah, go ahead!” I went off the plane and tried the water, it was so fresh and nice and cool, and it looked so clear! That was like—yep, I’m way, way, way, out of town!

I know a lot of people have tried to go hiking there, but it’s only less than a handful that comes there. I would like to see more of our people get a chance to go up there. Every year—even a week at a time and have multiple age groups going out as well.

The Park to me is a safe place for our culture, our animals. It’s protected. For the Elders, it’s something to show where they lived, where they grew up. It’s like a “photograph memory” for all the kids to explore and just see what they’re talking about. It is a deep connection to where we live, how we live, and what we should thrive and live for in the future.