The smell of a feast greeted everyone who arrived for the ceremonial meal that marks the culmination of the Mooz Akinonmaaget Maa Aki (Moose Who Teaches Land Survival) program, now in its second year.
The program was launched officially in 2021, and this year, the program was open to boys, girls and two-spirit individuals. The program centres on a moose hunt, and all the traditional learnings to go along with it, as well as the meal served on Sept. 16, including a moose stir fry, sweet and sour moose meatballs and wild rice casserole.
Greater Sudbury Police and Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre partnered for the program with local Indigenous agencies that help youth in care and in transition such as Kina Gbezhgomi Child & Family Services, Nogdawindamin Family & Community Services and Niijaansinaanik Child and Family Services.
GSPS Det.-Const. Darrell Rivers worked to create the pilot program, which ran in June of 2021 and finished with a great feast in November that year.
The youth participants are given the opportunity to go out on the land with hunting mentors and members of the GSPS to learn about traditional hunting techniques, as well as the seven grandfather teachings (Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility & Wisdom). The mentors would demonstrate tracking and a moose call, and how to take the animal, as well as give thanks for its life.
In addition to the teachings and chance to get out on the land, the participants will also be able to take home some of the harvest, with the rest, at least half, going to the Shkagamik-Kwe Wild Game Indigenous Food Bank.
Ava Ann Robotham, 15, took part in the program this year and told Sudbury.com she had been in the bush before, but never hunting, and she loved the experience and would recommend it to others. Her foster mother, Ingrid Bowry, who Robotham has lived with since the age of 4, told Sudbury.com that she loved hearing the excitement in her foster daughter’s voice when she emerged after the trip. “She yelled, ‘We got a moose! We got a moose!’” Bowry said with a laugh.
Each participant and mentor was given a gift as well as a certificate, and it was clear that friendships were made, and strengthened.
And the relationship-forming is only one great aspect of the program, Greater Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pedersen told Sudbury.com.
“It really is about learning in a different way, different teachings, connecting with the land connecting with the seven grandfather teachings and it is also completely about building bonds, building strength, building public trust and confidence,” he said. “I know our officers are learning as much from the youth, as the youth learn from the officers.”
Pederson said these relationships and learning opportunities are central to the police approach to engaging with young people.
“We always want the first engagement with police to be a positive engagement, to the extent that's possible,” Pederson said. “Oftentimes we're not portrayed as the good guys, whether that's in the big screen, movies or a variety of different reasons, but we are still people.”
He said the program is a chance for youth to meet officers as “people” first. “Our officers are out there on the land, they're not in uniform and they are just people out there helping and learning together,” Pederson said. “That means a lot, because first impressions are hard to undo, and if this is the first impression, that's gonna last.”
