Treaty 2 Territory – The three term Chief of Skownan First Nation was brought up that way and being outdoors hunting, trapping and fishing is a way of life for him.
His freezer at home is full of wild meat, something he shares with community members, especially those in the cities who don’t have the opportunity to eat it regularly.
“We’ve got buffalo, moose, fish, muskrat and I hand out for people who can’t hunt. My freezer is always open for the people. We’ve been hunting, trapping and fishing our whole lives here,” said Catcheway.
“My late Grandma told me there was no such thing as boredom in our community. Skownan alone, in our traditional territory is rich in resources. We have fish, wildlife, timber. We can live off of the land. We don’t have to go to Safeway or IGA. We have so much, our people can live on it.”
Chief Catcheway holds the Care and Protection of the Natural World portfolio on Treaty 2’s Governing Council, a role he takes very seriously.
“My intentions were to collect from the Province for the extraction of resources from our lands,” he said. The pipeline comes through Treaty 2 and so on. So those are the main items I want to focus on. Any extractions, I believe Canada and Manitoba owe us.”
“I always got the impression that protection was an important part of forming Treaty 2 and Skownan alone has been doing that with our traditional area and so far it’s been going well. No one has been attempting to extract our resources.”
Of that he has made sure, spending a great deal of time working on conservation issues, protecting resources in their traditional territory. There is need as the closest provincial conservation officer is at Gypsumville, over an hour away.
“We’re trying to create our own protection officers to protect our territory,” said Catcheway.
It looks like Treaty 2 Territory has the right person for the job.
Philip Paul-Martin is the Communication Manager for the First Nation of Treaty 2 Territory and the Moccasin Trail News.
Last modified: June 14, 2019
