Coppermine River Expedition 2012
Educational Curriculum
Grade Levels: Primary/Junior/Intermediate
Bloody Falls on the Coppermine River
Image Credit: Stefan Superina
In the summer of 2012, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society awarded an
expedition grant to a canoe trip party of six members. Departing from Yellowknife, Northwest
Territories, to Kugluktuk, Nunavut, the primary purpose of the expedition was meant to develop
educational materials to bring the journey to Canadian classrooms, contributing in a positive
manner to the understanding and appreciation of Canadian history and geography. The
educational lesson plans on the following pages are meant to expand our appreciation of the
geography and knowledge of this remote region of the Canadian wilderness, encouraging
thoughtful debate and discussion on both environmental and economic themes. Students and
teachers will be able to explore the route and find a range of materials appropriate to their grade
level.
The lesson plans have been created in accordance with the Canadian National
Standards for Geography: A Standards-Based Guide to K-12 Geography (http://
www.ccge.org/programs/geoliteracy/geography_standards.asp). The guide was created by the
Canadian Council for Geographic Education (http://www.ccge.org) and contains a broad set
of learning objectives based upon the six essential elements of geography listed below:
1. The world in spatial terms
2. Places and regions
3. Physical systems
4. Human systems
5. Environment and society
6. Use of geography
The Coppermine River Expedition Team is grateful to all those who so generously gave
their support and words of encouragement in allowing us to embark on such an incredible
journey. We are thankful for the support of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The
Society’s mandate in making Canada better known to Canadians and to the world was an integral
component to our expedition.
Please enjoy and share the curriculum with educators who may be interested in exploring
this project in conjunction with their own stated curriculum objectives. I hope these materials
provide an insight into our travels and an understanding for the diverse history and geography of
Canada’s north.
Best Wishes,
Stefan Superina
Table of Contents
1. Lesson #1: Grades: 1-4
Content Focus:
a) The world in spatial terms.
b) Maps as representations of local and distant places.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 5
2. Lesson #2: Grades 2-5
Content Focus:
a) Physical environmental influences on human activities.
Describe ways in which people/animals depend on the physical
environment.
b) Concept of an ecosystem: illustrate a food chain, or webs of food chains,
by sequentially ordering pictures or samples of a variety of living things.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 11
3. Lesson #3: Grades: 2-5
Content Focus:
a) Map elements (title, symbols, legend, scale, cardinal and intermediate
directions).
b) Draw a map with pencil and paper that uses lines for streets, points for
houses and other buildings, and shows specific area of the local community.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 25
4. Lesson #4: Grades: 4-5
Content Focus:
a) Students Identity and discuss in writing which human activities
have the greatest potential to damage the environment.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 30
5. Lesson #5: Grades 4-5
Content Focus:
a) The importance of places and regions to individual and social identity.
b) Perception of places and regions. Compare ways in which people of
different cultures define, build and move places and regions.
c) Interpret how people express attachment to places and region.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 37
6. Lesson #6: Grades 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Limits and opportunities of the physical environment for human
activities.
b) Collect information on ways in which people adapt to living in different
physical environments.
c) Write vignettes summarizing how the physical environment affects life
in each region, how people in high latitude places deal with the characteristics
of tundra environments.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 45
7. Lesson #7: Grades 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Territorial dispute and conflict.
b) Explain the reasons for conflict over use of land and propose strategies to
shape a cooperative solution.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 49
8. Lesson #8: Grades 6-8
Content Focus:
a) River systems of Canada and the world.
b) Map major river systems of Canada and analyze their watershed drainage
patterns.
c) Identify and explain major ecological communities and the differences
between them, using photographs and other media as illustration.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 52
9. Lesson #9: Grades 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Evaluate the relative merits of maps and other geographic representations,
tools, and technologies in terms of their value in solving geographic
problems.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 57
10. Lesson #10: Grades 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Develop a collage of pictures that depicts how people in the province/territory
adapt to their physical environment at different times of the year.
b) Describe and compare the traditional ways of life of different groups of
First Nations/Inuit who lived in different areas of Canada. Draw conclusions
about how they adapted to natural resources available to them.
Lesson designed by Stefan Superina
Page 70
Lesson #1
Grades: 1-4
Content Focus:
a) The world in spatial terms.
b) Maps as representations of local and distant places.
Lesson Plan:
Students will be able to identify physical and human features on maps (mountains, water bodies,
rivers, towns, etc.). This lesson will assist younger students in thinking about what maps are,
primarily how they differ in spatial terms and scale.
Lesson Instructions:
Have your students look at the map below to begin the lesson.
1. Can they identify the country?
2. Why is the map shaded with different colours? Do they know what the word “boundary”
means?
3. Ask them to find the “Northwest Territories” on the map. What is the capital of the Northwest
Territories? How do they know this town is the capital? (try and have them answer this
through using the map legend).
4. Is the capital of the NWT far from where they live? How far? Ask your students to take an
educated guess. Then, if you think they are ready, introduce them to the concept of scale.
Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Political_map_of_Canada.png
Next, show your students the map below:
1. How is this map different from the one before? What area of Canada does it focus on? Have
them find the boundary shape that is similar in the map above.
2. Does this map provide more detail about the NWT? (more cities, rivers, etc.). This should get
your students thinking about spatial representation/details in maps.
Image Source: http://www.nwtcfa.ca/
Next, show your students the map below:
1. Can they find this body of water on the previous map?
2. Is this map in greater detail of Great Slave Lake than the one on the previous page? How do
they know this? (there are more cities labelled, rivers are labelled, lakes are labelled, etc.)
By this point try and have your students understand that as we zoom in on maps they provide
us with more detail of the area we are focusing on.
Image Source: http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/greatslave.htm
Next, show your students the map below:
1. What part of Great Slave Lake is this? (North, South, West, East?) Have them figure out the
answer to this question by looking at the map on the previous page to find the community of
Lutsel K’e.
2. Can we tell more about the area around Lutsel K’e from this map than the others? Why? What
kinds of different things can we see on this map than the others? There will likely be a variety
of different answers here. Explain to your class that the orange line traces the first leg of our
canoe expedition. You can show them pictures and video of this part of the lake at:
www.coppermine2012.com
For a culminating activity, have your students pick any city in the world. Students can start by
using the world map below to help them with their choice. Ask them to find three more maps that
progressively show their city in more detail through the following:
a) Map of the continent that their city is in.
b) Map of the province/state/region/territory etc., that their city is in.
c) Map of their city in greater detail.
This activity will allow students to demonstrate their basic knowledge of:
a) Maps having the ability to show the world in spatial terms, and;
b) Maps being representations of local and distant places.
Image Source: http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/onlinedatum/indexmap.html
Lesson #2
Grades: 2-5
Content Focus:
a) Physical environmental influences on human activities.
b) Describe ways in which people/animals depend on the physical environment.
c) Concept of an ecosystem: illustrate a food chain, or webs of food chains, by sequentially
ordering pictures or samples of a variety of living things.
Lesson Plan
This lesson is meant to have students demonstrate their knowledge regarding the alterations one
must make when placed into a foreign physical environment for a prolonged length of time.
Through watching the Coppermine Expedition 2012 video, and analyzing stills from the
expedition, students will be tasked with describing changes in the physical environment from
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Kugluktuk, Nunavut.
Lesson Instructions:
1. Queue up the expedition video at: www.coppermine2012.com
2. Use the expedition map below to give students an idea of where in Canada the expedition
travelled. Here is a link to the map:
http://canadiangeographic.com/magazine/apr13/map_northwest_passage/
By going to this link, teachers will be able to click on the circular Royal Canadian Geographical
Society icons along the Coppermine Expedition route to read short insights into the journey with
their class.
Image Source: http://canadiangeographic.com/magazine/apr13/map_northwest_passage/
3. Ask your students some general questions concerning how the physical environment here may
be different from the one in which they live. If they have studied eco-zones, they should be
able to give some general physical landscape characteristics of the Canadian Shield lending
way to the Taiga and Tundra as one moves northward. Ask them to describe the general flora
and fauna one might find in this area. Here are some sample questions on this topic:
a) Will there be more coniferous or deciduous trees this far north? What type of trees would they
expect to see?
b) Will the trees grow smaller or larger up here?
c) What will the topsoil be like? Will there be deep layers, or will there be more bedrock with
little topsoil?
d) What do they think the landscape will look like closer to the Arctic Ocean?
e) What is permafrost?
f) What do they think the daylight hours are like in the summer? Long or short days? Why? (Try
and explain the concept of the earth’s location to the sun here, and the extreme contrast of
darkness and lightness as one gets closer to the poles).
g) What kind of wildlife would one see up here? Would it be different from the start of the trip to
the end of the trip? How so?
4. Play the expedition movie in its entirety for the class. It is 57:22 in length.
5. As you watch the movie, ask your students to keep an eye out for the images on the following
pages. Pause the movie when they see each image and answer the questions that accompany
them. They are placed in sequential order, from start to finish. They are meant to challenge the
students to give thought to the learning outcomes of this particular lesson. Some guiding
questions are listed for each, but feel free to come up with your own depending on the grade
level of your class, and your particular desired outcomes. I have structured the questions here
so that they may appeal to younger grades, but they can certainly be changed to challenge
older grade levels.
6. Dependent on grade level, the teacher can help their students record answers in a notebook as
they go along. For younger grades, it may be more beneficial to print the pictures out and give
more individual assistance after the movie is complete. The questions for each photo will
challenge the students to understand how this expedition prepared for the physical
environment they were entering into, and ways in which we were going to need the physical
environment to provide for us along the way in order to successfully finish the journey. This
lesson also provides the teacher an opportunity to introduce learning concepts such as the
animal food web, animal ingenuity for survival in northern climates and earth-sun
relationships. There are many curriculum links dependent on what grade level is being taught.
Image # 1: Food preparation before departure at Fred Henne Territorial Park in
Yellowknife.
a) What kinds of food are being packed in this picture? Will this food last long without
refrigeration?
b) How is the food being packed? Why is it being packed in this manner? What physical
environmental factors could spoil our food if not packed in this manner?
c) Why is it important to measure your food out for a fifty day trip?
d) Do you think your body will need more or less calories compared to what your body usually
intakes? Why or why not?
On the next page is a food outfitting list for the Coppermine 2012 Expedition. If you and your
students are interested, you can go through it to get detailed information on the food and exact
measurements we calculated for our energy needs for a fifty-day expedition. Zoom in on the
page to increase the font size, or export the image to a pdf. document.
Coppermine River Trip - 2012
Food outfitting for a fifty day trip
Meals
Breakfast # 50
Lunch # 50
Dinner # 50
Breakfast
Cream of Wheat
Oatmeal
Red River
Pancakes
(15 meals - 1/2 box per meal = 8 boxes total)
(20 meals - 3 pannicans per meal = 60 pannicans total)
(15 meals - 1/2 box per meal = 8 boxes total)
(5 meals - 3 pannicans of flour/batch = 15 pannicans)
Lunch (rice is to be added to soups)
Soups (30 soup bags - different recipes - 500g/bag)
Rice - 500g per meal = 15000g
Lunch Bannocks and additives
Cornbread (25) - (1/2 pannican of cornmeal, 1/2 pannicans of flour, 1/2 pannican of powdered milks per cornbread) = 13 pannicans cornmeal, 13 pannicans of flour, 13 pannicans of powdered milk
Focaccia (25) - (2 pannicans of flour, 1/2 pannican powdered milk, various spices per focaccia)- 50 pannicans of flour, 25 pannicans powdered milk.
Pepperoni (5) - five big sticks - to be diced into focaccia - 1/3 per
Salami (5) - five big sticks - to be dice into focaccia - 1/3 per
Baking totals = 13 pannicans of cornmeal, 63 pannicans of flour, 38 pannicans of powdered milk, 25 teaspoons of egg substitute, two cans of baking powder)
Mac.
700g/per
Dinner
Spaghetti (6)
Chilli (6)
Spanish Rice (5)
Pot Lag (5)
RCS(rice cheese sausage) - (5)
pesto (2)
mac and cheese (5)
3500g
beef stroganoff (5)
ham fried rice (2)
chicken lomein (2)
tuna pea wiggle (4)
2800g
king rang tuna (4)
51 meals total (1extra)
Total
6300g
Lasagna
700g/per
Rice
700g/per
Pasta
700g/per
4200g
Pepperoni Salami
1/2 per
1/2 per
3 sticks
4200g
3500g
Sausage
1/2 per
Tuna
Ham
Cheese
3 cans/per 1 can per
1002g
835g
835g
835g
1670g (more needed for this meal)
3 sticks
3 sticks
3500g
3 sticks
3500g
3 sticks
1400g
1670g (more needed for this meal)
3500g
1400g
2 cans
1400g
12 cans
12 cans
2800g
3500g
15400g
10500g
6 sticks
3 sticks
6 sticks
24 cans
334g
334g
2 cans
7515g
Baking Goods = 50 bannocks
( 2 pannicans per bannock = 100 pannicans total)
Flour
(1/2 pannican per meal = 25 pannicans of sugar)
Sugar
Powdered Milk
(1/2 pannican per meal = 25 pannicans of sugar)
Baking Powder
(4 cans of baking powder)
Icing Sugar
(1 bag)
Egg substitute
(1/2 teaspoon per bannock = 25 teaspoons)
Crisco
(2 500g tubs)
Odd and ends to add to the bannocks
Extracts - vanilla, maple, mint, pineapple. etc.
Raisins, chocolate chips, etc.
Meal
Dehydrated Items from Bauly Enterprises #
Cooked diced chicken
Mini-meatballs
Corn kennels
Green beans
Green peas
Mushrooms
Carrots
Onion slices
Tomato powder
Kidney Beans (not from Bauly)
spaghetti chilli
6
6
spanish rice
5
Pot Lag
5
75g = 450
75g = 450 75g = 450 75g = 375
75g = 450 75g = 450 75g = 375
75g = 375
75g = 375
75g = 375
50g = 300
75g = 450
50g = 300
75g = 450
50g = 250
75g = 375
50g = 250
75g = 375
50g = 300 50g = 250
75g = 450 75g = 375
50g = 300 50g = 250
75g = 450 75g = 375
100g = 600
Note = all these calculations for dehydrated food are done in wet weight/g
Spices, flavour packets and other miscellaneous items
Pesto mix
Beef stroganoff mix
Gravy mix
salt/pepper
Cayenne
Chilli Powder
Cinnamon
Franks Red Hot
Chilli flakes
Basil
Oregano
Soy Sauce
Ketchup
Mustard
Syrup
Spagh mix
Chilli Mix
Stir fry mix
Crisco (lard)
Juice crystals
Peanut Butter
Jam
Beef Stro. Chick Lo
5
2
100g =200
75g = 375
75g = 375 75g = 150
75g = 375
50g = 250 75g = 150
50g = 250 50g = 100
75g = 375 75g = 150
50g = 250 50g = 100
KRT
TPW
4
Total
4
75g = 300 75g = 400
75g = 300
50g = 200
75g = 300
50g = 200
75g = 300
75g = 400
50g = 200
75g = 400
50g = 200
200g
1200g
2875g
2025g
1100g
1852g
2875g
1850g
1950g
600g
Image # 2 and #3: Overlooking campsite on July 5th, 2012, on Great Slave Lake
1. Ask your students to think about some of the answers they gave concerning their theories on
the physical features of the landscape when first introducing the topic. In the images below of
Great Slave Lake, are their theories characterized correctly? Ask the students to record their
thoughts about vegetation, topsoil, bedrock etc., in this picture. Why is there such little
topsoil? Does this lack of topsoil prevent trees from growing large? Are there other mitigating
factors?
2. How do they think we were able to pitch our tents without soft ground to stake into? How did
we adapt to this environment?
3. Is there a lot of dry firewood around? What may we have used to make our fires to cook on?
4. What do they think the water temperature of Great Slave Lake is? (hint- “Great Slave Lake is
usually free of ice between the middle and end of June. Water temperatures are very cold
because the ice breaks up too late to allow the sun to warm most lakes and rivers”)
Images #4, #5, #6, #7 and #8 depict the landscape travelling east out of Great Slave Lake
into Artillery Lake.
1. Ask your students to record their thoughts on the changes in the physical landscape as the
expedition party leaves the Canadian Shield, travels through the transitional Taiga Zone, and
enters the Barren Lands. Why might they be called the Barren Lands? (European explorers
gave them this name) Are they really barren of life, or just a different environment where
species have learned to adapt?
2. Where do all the large rocks come from? (sometimes called glacial erratics, these rocks were
picked up, transported, and then finally deposited by melting glaciers from the last ice age)
3. Why is it so difficult for any trees to grow in the Barren Lands? (talk about short summers,
long winters, little daylight, harsh winds, etc.) Explain earth-sun relationships at this point.
4. In what ways did the expedition party depend on the environment here? (large rocks gave
shade and protection from wind, small dwarf shrubs provided for fire wood, etc.)
Images #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16 and #17 depict wildlife that the expedition party
was fortunate enough to have encountered in the Barren Lands of northern Canada.
1. All these species have learned to adapt and thrive in a physical environment that many
consider to be one of the harshest in the world. There are many options that the teacher can
consider for learning here:
a) Ask the students to draw a food-web depicting the dependency of animals on each other for
survival in the pictures below. They can include other flora and fauna found in this region as
well.
b) Ask the students to pick one of the animals below, or if they wish, another species that lives in
the Barren Lands, and write a story about how this species has physically evolved in order to
be able to live in the Barren Lands of Canada. For example, the Muskox has an outer coat of
“guard hair” that reaches almost to the ground and protects them from snow, wind, and cold.
Images #18 and #19 depict the Coppermine River at Escape Rapids and the Inuit hamlet of
Kugluktuk on Coronation Gulf in the Arctic Ocean.
1. This is a good opportunity to ask your students to think about how humans fit into the food
chain. How do the people of Kugluktuk depend on their physical environment to provide
sustenance? (traditionally, many animals were harvested not only for their food, but all parts of
the animal were used to make clothing, tools to hunt with, hides treated to make shelter with,
etc.) Animals are still used today for some of these purposes, but not to the same extent.
2. Do human beings adapt to the physical environment they are placed in? Ask your students to
write about the adaptations they make in their own lives to adapt to the environment they live
in.
Lesson #3
Grades: 2-5
Content Focus:
a) Map elements (title, symbols, legend, scale, cardinal and intermediate directions).
b) Draw a map with pencil and paper that uses lines for streets, points for houses and other
buildings, and shows specific area of the local community.
Lesson Plan:
This lesson is meant to teach students rudimentary mapping skills. The culminating activity will
be for students to draw their own community map, demonstrating their understanding of the
stated lesson objectives.
Lesson Instructions:
1. Start the lesson by showing your students the map of the Northwest Territories on the
following page.
2. Explain to your students that the smaller inset graphic on the map highlights the area in red
that is shown in more detail on the larger map.
3. Help your students to identify and explain the following features on this map:
a) The directional arrow pointing north. Help them to fill out “E” “S” and “W” on the map.
b) A title for the map - “Northwest Territories.” Ask them why the map needs a title. What
information does it tell the individual looking at a map?
c) Ask your students to find the “legend” and “scale” on the map. Try to help them comprehend
why these are important on maps and what they tell the reader. Using the legend, find the
territorial capital of the Northwest Territories. Try with your class to estimate the distance
from Yellowknife to Inuvik using the scale.
Image Source: http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/provincesterritories/northwest_territories
4. Ask your students to find the Chipewyan Dene community of Lutsel K’e on the eastern arm of
Great Slave Lake. Below is a different map more closely defining this area of the lake where
the community is located. Note some of the differences on this map with more detail (river
names, lakes names, longitude and latitude lines, esker lines, etc.).
5. Show your students this community map of Lutsel K’e. The image source link below will
allow you to explore this map in much more detail. You will be able to zoom in and discover
all the different meanings of the map. It’s a wonderful production! Explain to your students
that this is a community map and has a different meaning to people than a topographical map.
Try and have them understand that there are different types of maps (political, cultural,
language, etc.). They all depict different themes. The Lutsel K’e Community map is handdrawn and tells intimate stories of the community that attach significance and meaning to the
place.
Image Source: http://www.denesolinecorporation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/community-map.pdf
6. The culminating task for your students will be to work individually, or in pairs, to create their
own community map of where they live. It can be of the school community, their family, their
neighbourhood, etc. Have them draw it on a piece of poster board and tell their stories to their
classmates. Make sure they add map components to demonstrate their understanding of
legends, cardinal directions, map titles, themes, etc. Help encourage them to be creative!
Lesson #4
Grades: 4-5
Content Focus:
a) Students identify and discuss in writing which human activities have the greatest potential to
damage the environment.
Lesson Plan:
Through this lesson, students will gain the ability to differentiate between renewable and unrenewable resources and the effects of human induced activities on the environment. This lesson
is structured as a writing activity whereby students will be required to complete three journal
entries.
Lesson Instructions:
1. Start the lesson by showing your students the image below. This is a picture of the Ekati
Diamond Mine on Lac De Gras in the Northwest Territories. For a reference point, please
follow to the next page to see where the expedition route passed relative to the mine’s location
in the Northwest Territories.
Ekati Diamond Mine
Image Source: http://norj.ca/2013/04/dominion-seals-deal-on-ekati-diamond-mine/
Image Source: http://stuffpoint.com/diamonds/image/77772/diamonds-4-picture/
Location of Ekati Diamond Mine
(expedition route on orange line)
Refer back to the picture on the previous page and ask your students the following questions:
2. Initially, have them look at the picture of the mine and make general observations about it.
They will most likely have lots to say about the big holes in the ground, the roads seemingly
leading to nowhere, etc.
3. Ask them if they know what a mine is? What activity does it perform? Tell them that this
particular mine takes a resource out of the land called “kimberlite” used to make diamonds.
4. Inform your students this type of mine is called an open-pit mine. It’s exactly what it sounds
like. Big open-pits are progressively dug into the ground to exhaust a resource base. Ask your
students if they think this is good for the environment? What animals could it potentially harm
that live in the NWT? How so? Is open-pit mining good for the surrounding water-sources?
Here is a video on the diamond making process:
The Diamond process from the Mine to the Market
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyPR-CiabFM
5. Next, ask your students if they understand the difference between a renewable and nonrenewable resource? To help direct them, definitions of each are below.
- “A renewable resource is a natural resource which can replenish with the passage of
time, either through biological reproduction or other naturally recurring processes.”
- “A non-renewable resource (also known as a finite resource) is a resource that does
not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful
human timeframes.”
6. Ask them what they think a diamond is? Is it a renewable or un-renewable resource? Can they
name any other un-renewable resources on our planet according to the definition above?
7. Who do they think works at the diamond mine on Lac De Gras? What kind of jobs do they
think people have there? What do they think their lifestyle is like? Do they remain there all
year without leaving? Are their families there with them? Would you want to work there? Why
is it important for people to have these jobs in the Northwest Territories? These are just a
sample of many questions you can ask to get your students thinking about this subject matter.
8. Below is a map of mining activity in the NWT, past and present. This will give your students
perspective on how important the mining economy is to the NWT.
Image Source: http://www.miningnorth.com/?page_id=377
Giant Gold Mine, Yellowknife, NWT (out of operation)
Image Source: http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/supreme-court-rejects-damage-award-for-giant-mine-widows/
article1472644/?service=mobile
Oil Refinery in Norman Wells, NWT
Image Source: http://www.pwnhc.ca/research/photogallery/Galleries/Communities/Norman%20Wells%20Gallery/norman
%20wells.html
Lesson Activity:
Have your students write three journal entries on the following questions:
1. In their own words, define the difference between a renewable and un-renewable resource.
List three renewable and un-renewable resources in the Northwest Territories. Explain why
each one is such.
2. Describe a typical day in the life of a mine worker. Include what their job may be, and how
long they may stay at the mine for before going home to see their family. For help, they can
use the following link:
“Living and working at the Diavik Diamond Mine”
http://www.diavik.ca/ENG/careers/ 745_living_and_working_at_the_diavik_diamond_mine.asp
Here is a video about a mine worker at the Diavik Diamond Mine in the NWT:
Richard LeBreton - Geotechnical Engineer, Northwest Territories
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gd0-DYA3qQ
3. For their final journal entry, ask your students to write down their thoughts on why it is
important not to exploit the natural-resource base we have in Canada. Can they find examples
in Canada of where we might be taking too much from the land while harming the
environment around us? This is an open-ended question to get your students thinking about the
main theme of the lesson. Allow them to do some investigative research on this topic.
Lesson #5
Grades: 4-5
Content Focus:
a) The importance of places and regions to individual and social identity.
b) Perception of places and regions. Compare ways in which people of different cultures define,
build and move places and regions.
c) Interpret how people express attachment to places and regions.
Lesson Plan:
Through this activity, students will gain an appreciation for the cultural history of Aboriginal
people that have lived on the land for generations that the Coppermine Expedition travelled
through.
Lesson Instructions:
1. To start this activity, cue up the documentary film of the expedition and fast forward to the
following time: 5:50. The film can be found at the website: www.coppermine2012.com Here
students will be given a brief history of the Dene, a First Nations people who have lived in and
around the Great Slave Lake region for thousands of years. This segment of the film should
last until the 7:23 mark. If you would like, keep on watching to learn about the arrival of
explorers to the region and learn about the first leg of the expedition across Great Slave Lake.
2. At the 12:00 minute mark of the film, the expedition party has arrived at the eastern end of
Great Slave Lake. Here they tour the site of Reliance, the old settlement for the people of the
Chipewyan Dene community of Lutsel K’e, who now reside on the south-eastern shore of the
lake in the community of Lutsel K’e. Watch until the 12:42 mark. This will give students an
understanding of ways in which the people of Lutsel K’e use the land for hunting and fishing.
3. Ask your students for their general observations of the landscape here. How is the terrain
different from the area that they currently live in? Ask them about the historical pictures they
saw in the movie depicting ways in which the Dene people travelled and lived off the land.
What did they travel in? What were their canoes made out of? What was used in the
wintertime for transport before the onset of the snowmobile? What was worn for clothing?
What kind of structures were used to provide shelter?
4. Place the following definition of an Aboriginal Cultural Landscape at the front of the class.
Read it with your students.
Aboriginal Cultural Landscape
“Any geographic area that has been changed, influenced, or given special meaning by people, or
a geographic area that shows characteristics or values of a society as a result of people living
with the land.”
Ask your students what they interpret this definition to mean to them.
5. Explain that cultural landscapes are about how people live with the land. They show how
people have lived with and interacted with the land for survival. When we trace these cultural
landscapes, we can see how we affect the landscape in which we live. These places have both
cultural and spiritual meaning to people.
6. Now ask your students if they can think of any important cultural landscapes in the area they
live. This may be a historic building, a river or lake, or an oral tradition that has been passed
down from generation to generation in their own family.
7. Read the Dene Creation stories to your students on the following pages to help them
understand the importance of animals in being a part of their cultural landscape. Then discuss
their meaning.
Where Our World Came From
Story told by Sarah Peters
“A long time ago, when animals could speak like we do, the earth was all covered with
water. There were no hills, no riverbanks, no forests, no fields, only water and sky. All the
animals lived on a large raft, including Raven.
It wasn’t long before Raven was feeling a little crowded on the raft. He longed to stretch
out his legs on dry ground. Now Raven liked to be comfortable and well fed at all times. Raven,
you know, was a very wise bird and if he didn’t like something he would think of a way to make
things better for himself. “If I had any earth, even a little bit, I would make it grow large enough
for all the animals to live on,” Raven told everyone.
Of course, all the animals were excited because they missed their old homes in the woods,
in holes, or river banks or in trees. They missed running and playing and stretching their limbs.
But who would be brave enough to find some earth for Raven? They all know that deep in the
water they could find it far beneath their safe raft.
Some animals peered over the edge of the raft but no earth could be seen. Finally
Muskrat volunteered to search for a piece of earth. Muskrat remembered his cozy home in the
river and thought to himself, “It is true that this is not a river and that I have never seen so much
water before but it is water all the same.”
Down he dove, and the water closed over him. After a very long time, Muskrat’s good
friend Otter said, “I think something’s happened. I can dive very well. Let me try.” And down he
dove into the dark water. But like muskrat, Otter never returned.
“Let me try,” offered Loon. “I can stay under water a very long time and travel quickly
over a long distance under water. I should be able to find some earth.” But like Muskrat and
Otter, Loon never returned either.
You would think that the other animals would be afraid to follow Muskrat, Otter and
Loon, but they were concerned about what had happened to their friends. And so all the good
divers and swimmers - the Loon, the Oldsquaw Duck, the Harlequin Duck, the White Wing
Scoter, the Goldeye Duck, the Grebe and the Mink went down under and tried to bring back some
earth but none of them returned. The other friends feared their brave friends had drowned.
“It’s no use,” they all agreed, hanging their heads.
But Beaver made the last try. Beaver not only was a good swimmer, but he was a hard
worker and a clever builder. Now he made sure that he tied a line around his body first so that he
could be pulled up out of the water.
He dove so deep into the water, he almost drowned when he reached the bottom. As he
struggled in the water, he clutched some mud in his paws. Beaver knew that when his friends
pulled him up, they would find the mud. Sure enough, the mud was still on his paws when his
friends pulled poor Beaver out of the water. He had used his last strength to reach the bottom
and get the earth and the water had been too much for him. Beaver had given his life to help the
other animals. All of them were sad but thankful when they laid eyes on their good friend.
Now Raven started to work. Carefully, he gathered the mud from Beaver’s paws and
formed it into a ball. Then he took his walking stick and ran it through the bit or earth. He
planted the stick on the surface of the water. No sooner did the earth touch the water than
it began to grow, just as the Raven said it would. They laughed and sang with happiness.
And they never forgot their friends the Otter, Muskrat, Beaver and the others who had
been so brave for their sakes. They had offered their great skills in swimming to find a home for
everyone else.
The small clump of earth that Beaver found soon grew into our beautiful land with its
hills and forest and lakes. And even today, Raven’s walking stick still holds up the land.
Somewhere, where the Old Crow and the Porcupine Rivers meet, you can see it. And if you do,
remember this story of how Raven made the earth. And when you play on the land in the summer,
remember Beaver and his friends who were so brave and kind.”
Story of Yamozha
Story told by the Weledeh Yellowknives Dene Elders
“The banks of the Weledeh (Yellowknife River) from the mouth to the rapids had always
been preferred sites for fish camp settlements. For generations, the people have told their youth
a story about the Weledeh.
This story occurred in the time of Yamozha, the very powerful medicine man of the Dene.
Yamozha was pursuing a giant beaver that lived at the mouth of the Weledeh, in order to help the
people for two reasons. The giant animal dragged people underwater when they were canoeing
and the beaver also blocked off the flow of the Weledeh into Tinde’e (Great Slave Lake) by
building a huge dam across the mouth.
Yamozha had a giant snow shovel, much like the smaller ones used by Weledeh
Yellowknives Dene for ice fishing. Yamozha struck his huge snow shovel into the giant beaver’s
lodge. The giant beaver pushed the huge lodge to one side of the Weledeh, swimming into
Tinde’e to escape from Yamozha. The river flowed freely as it does today.
The giant beaver’s dam became stone and to this day it exists on the point of land at the
mouth of the Weledeh. This place is known by Weledeh Yellowknives as “Kweh kah tswa”.
Yamozha’s huge snow shovel grows to this day as a large spruce tree. This tree is known
as “Tsi-wah cho”. The tree and the land around it is a very sacred site to Weledeh Yellowknives
Dene. Many of the peoples, past and present, have paid their respects at the site of Kweh kah
tswa and Tsi-wah cho. The tree site and the hill to the north of it were strategic lookout
points for Akaitcho; he would stand next to the tree or on top of the hill watching the bay for
tribal enemies or strangers.”
Lesson Plan Option 1:
Ask your students to write their own creation stories using animals as central figures. Ask them
to consider the following questions when they write their story:
1. What is a physical place?
2. What does it mean to have a special cultural meaning?
This would be a great activity for the teacher to take their students into an outdoor environment
whereby they can identify elements in nature to encourage their imagination and creativity.
Lesson Plan Option 2:
Below is an official languages map of the Northwest Territories. At the 6:54 mark of the
expedition movie, there is a brief explanation of this map. Please show it to your students to help
them gain an understanding of its components. Now ask them to pick one of the regions on the
map and do a short presentation on the following:
1. The importance of this place and region to the individuals that live there.
2. Compare ways in which people of this region are defined.
3. How have these cultures changed over time? What are some of the forces which have changed
them?
4. What challenges do they face being in such a remote area?
5. Can you find any creation stories from their culture? If so, what aspects of the land do they
represent?
Image Source: http://www.pwnhc.ca/exhibits/aboriginal_languages.asp
Lesson #6
Grades: 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Limits and opportunities of the physical environment for human activities.
b) Collect information on ways in which people adapt to living in different physical
environments. Write vignettes summarizing how the physical environment affects life in each
region: how people in high-latitude places deal with the characteristics of tundra
environments.
Lesson Plan:
This lesson will allow students to conduct research into the physical environment of the Arctic
Tundra, investigating the ways in which the Inuit of the Arctic adapted to this landscape.
Through this assignment, students will gain insights into traditional techniques used by the Inuit
to construct shelters, hunt and gather food, make clothing, understand traditional Inuit games,
transportation and customs, and education. Students will then contrast these traditional customs
to modern changes that have taken place in the Arctic today to have an affect on these traditional
Inuit customs.
Lesson Instructions:
1. Show your students the map on the following page and ask them the series of leading
questions:
a) Do they know what the word “Inuit” means? (people)
b) Do they know who the descendants of the Inuit people are? (Thule)
c) What language do the majority of Inuit speak? (Inuktitut)
d) Do they know the three Canadian territories where Inuit people live? (Yukon, Nunavut, NWT)
e) Can they find the Inuit hamlet of Kugluktuk on the map? (this is where the expedition party
finished their trip)
f) What is the most northern Inuit community on this map? (Grise Fiord)
g) Most Inuit communities are located in one territory. Can they name it? (Nunavut) When was
this territory created? (1999) What is the capital of Nunavut? (Iqaliut)
h) Ask your students to describe what the physical environment may be like in the shaded
(brightly coloured) areas on the map.
i) Ask them to hypothesize why all of the Inuit communities are located next to a body of water.
Can they think of any historical reasons for this pattern?
j) Direct your class to observe the immense size of the region they are looking at in comparison
to the rest of Canada. Proportionately, this forms a large percentage of the Canadian
landscape.
Image Source: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100014250/1100100014254
Map of Inuit Nunangat
“This map of Inuit Nunangat includes the four Inuit regions in Canada. From west to east they
are Inuvialuit - orange, Nunavut - light green, Nunavik - dark green, Nunatsiavut - purple. All 53
Inuit communities across Canada are identified by a red dot. Key bodies of water and provincial
boundaries and names are also represented.”
2. The questions above should get your students thinking about the Inuit landscape and culture.
Show your students images of the physical landscape of the Arctic region to allow them to
form mental images of the differences in topography from where they currently live.
3. The following website will be a starting point for your students to start a project comparing
modern/present day and traditional/past ways of life and culture of the Inuit people.
http://icor.ottawainuitchildrens.com/node/48
4. Additionally, direct your students to find the following pdf file on the internet entitled:
“The Inuit Way: A Guide to Inuit Culture”
Produced by the Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada
Both of these are good resources for the following task.
5. Divide your class up into six groups based on the following categories listed below to conduct
research:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Shelter
Hunting and food
Clothing
Sports
Transportation
Education
6. Each group will be responsible for a presentation and write up on the topic they are assigned.
The group can be creative in their presentations. For example, if they are assigned sports, they
can devise a series of games for the class based on Inuit traditional games. They can explain
the purpose of these games to the Inuit way of life. The class can join in and participate in
trying out these games with each other. If a group is doing clothing, perhaps they can locate
some traditional Inuit clothing to bring in for the presentation and explain its purpose. There
are many ideas that can lead groups to be creative in their presentation.
7. The main goal of the assignment is for each group to research traditional Inuit ways of life
based on their respective topic, and contrast this to the extent in which this traditional way of
life is being carried on throughout Inuit culture today, and how it has been affected by modern
day living with the influence of other forms of technology.
Lesson #7
Grades: 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Territorial dispute and conflict.
b) Explain the reasons for conflict over the use of land and propose strategies to shape a
cooperative solution.
Lesson Plan:
This lesson plan is meant to engage students in a writing exercise in support of an agreement
between the Chipewyan Dene people of Lutsel K’e and Parks Canada that will protect an area of
approximately 33,500 km2 around and beyond the shores of the East Arm of Great Slave Lake .
Students will have the opportunity to write a letter to Canada’s Minister of Environment (Leona
Aglukkaq) expressing their support for the proposed creation of Thaidene Nene (Land of the
Ancestors) National Park Preserve.
Lesson Background:
The expedition party had the privilege to travel through much of Thaidene Nene (see image
below), having the opportunity to meet with, and learn from, a group of Chipewyan Dene people
from the community of Lutsel K’e on the south-east arm of Great Slave Lake.
The Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation are in the final stages of negotiating an agreement with Parks
Canada to protect Thaidene Nene and offer employment opportunities in the tourism industry for
many of the people who live there.
Image Source: http://cpaws.org/uploads/ThaideneNene_10may12.jpg
Ten years ago, the area of proposed land to be protected experienced one of the largest mineral
staking rushes in the history of North America. Large diamond conglomerates staked
approximately 70 millions acres of claims in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in 2004. At
present, there are several large diamond companies operating on the periphery of the proposed
Thaidene Nene protected area, including one of largest in the world, on Lac De Gras, where the
Ekati Diamond Mine is in operation.
Thaidene Nene is currently protected by an “interim land withdrawal” that is set to expire in
March of 2014. If protection for this area of land is not in place by Parks Canada at this point in
time, it may be open to further exploration and development, placing at risk the abundant flora
and fauna that thrive in this area of the sub-arctic.
Lesson Instructions:
1. Direct your students to the following website, or pull it up on a whiteboard at the front of your
class:
http://cpawsnwt.org/campaigns/thaidene-nene
2. Together with your class, read the large print below the title, “Thaidene Nene” to help them
gain an understanding for the area of land they are about to familiarize themselves with.
3. Below this, there are two movies, “Clara Hughes Visits Thaidene Nene,” and “Thaidene Nene:
Land of the Ancestors.” Please watch them both. They are short in duration and will further
familiarize your class with the purpose of protecting the lands of Thaidene Nene.
4. Queue the Coppermine River Expedition movie on the website (www.coppermine2012.com)
to minute mark 8:42. Leave it running until the 20:50 minute mark. Explain to the class that
you will be watching a portion of the expedition movie that shows the team travelling through
this area and meeting community members from Lutsel K’e to visit the former community of
Reliance.
5. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Northwest Territories Chapter, has
created an initiative to encourage support from the public for establishing the permanent
protection of Thaidene Nene. CPAWS has created a place on their website to both sign a
petition and write a letter to the Minister of the Environment to tell them that you would like
to see Thaidene Nene established. Direct your students to the following website (http://
cpawsnwt.org/campaigns/thaidene-nene). Scroll toward the bottom where you will find the
links for both initiatives.
6. Have your students complete this assignment by writing a letter expressing their support for
the creation of Thaidene Nene.
7. More information about Thaidene Nene (Land of the Ancestors) can be found at the following
site:
http://landoftheancestors.ca/
Lesson #8
Grades: 6-8
Content Focus:
a) River Systems of Canada and the world.
b) Map major river systems of Canada and analyze their watershed drainage patterns.
c) Identify and explain major ecological communities and the differences between them, using
photographs and other media as illustration.
Lesson Plan:
The Coppermine River is one of several beautiful rivers in Canada’s north with a rich history and
diverse geographical features. The Coppermine River Expedition party had the privilege to travel
downstream for almost the entire length of the Coppermine River. On our way to reaching the
Coppermine, we also travelled upstream on the Lockhart River and Snake River, both uniques
rivers in their own right.
This lesson will allow students an opportunity to explore a northern Canadian river of their own
choosing, understanding watersheds, ecological diversity and the importance of these rivers to
Canadian history.
Lesson Instructions:
1. Queue up the Coppermine River Expedition video to the 31:02 minute mark. This section of
the documentary, until the film’s conclusion, details the expedition party’s travels down the
Coppermine River until arriving at the Inuit hamlet of Kugluktuk. This portion of the film is
approximately twenty minutes in length and will give students an insight into the geography
and flora and fauna of the Coppermine River water basin.
2. Before you start the movie, leave the film on pause at the 31:02 minute mark. The Coppermine
River is circled in red with an arrow. Ask your students if they recognize any of the other
rivers on this map that flow into the Arctic Ocean. If you’re doing a unit on the fur trade, ask
your students why many of the Hudson Bay Company posts were located at the mouths of
these rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean. Finally, ask your students what a watershed is.
Have them make educated guesses based upon what they see on the map.
3. Next, show your students the image on the following page. This will allow them to understand
the concept of a watershed. Help them understand that the Coppermine River is a watershed
basin for all the tributaries that flow into it, draining into Coronation Gulf on the Arctic Ocean.
Have them understand that every river they see on this map acts as a watershed. Do they know
any of the watersheds in their own area? A great idea for this activity to extend it into the
outdoors would be to walk a local stream with your class in your neighbourhood. Perhaps it is
a tributary to a larger body of water that drains all the water from your neighourhood. This
will help your students understand why watershed protection is important not only for their
own community, but for many others as well.
What is a watershed?
“A watershed is a basin-like landform defined by high-points and ridge-lines that descend into
lower elevations and stream valleys. A watershed carries water "shed" from the land after rain
falls and snow melts. Drop by drop, water is channeled into soils, groundwaters, creeks, and
streams, making its way to larger rivers and eventually the sea. Water is a universal solvent,
affected by all that it comes in contact with: the land it traverses, and the soils through which it
travels. The important thing about watersheds is: what we do on the land affects water quality
for all communities living downstream.”
Image Source: http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/soilwater/soilmgmt/fsm01s10.html
4. Now play the movie from the 31:02 minute mark. This portion of the film gives a history of
the Coppermine River and our travels downstream on it from Desteffany Lake.
Map of major Canadian Rivers
Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_rivers_of_Canada
Lesson Project:
(Note: The teacher will have to acquire a large poster map of Canada to complete this project with their class).
1. Have your students each select a river in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut or the Yukon. It is
up to the teacher as to whether or not students can work in partners or not. Try and ensure that
each student/group has a different river. Since the Coppermine River has been explored in
detail in the film, encourage students to pick another river. There are many!
2. Once students have selected a river, they will be asked to conduct investigative research to
find out more about this river. Have them find the following:
a) The river’s source (start)
b) The river’s mouth (end)
c) Total length of the river
d) The area that the river drains
e) Are there any communities dependent on the river?
f) Three interesting historical facts about the river (for example - How did it acquire its name?
Does it go by any other traditional name? Have any famous explorers travelled on your river?)
There are many facts - encourage your students to dig deep to find interesting tidbits!
g) What eco-zone is your river in?
h) Identify a few of the flora and fauna in your river’s region.
The teacher may want to change these directives. There are many, so be creative in what you
ask your students to conduct research on.
3. When your students are done their research, they will construct a booklet/guide to their
northern river, with a title page and table of contents.
4. On your Canada poster map, place your river guides around the exterior of the map. Place
pieces of string from each respective guide to its river. This will be a nice display for students
to read each others guides.
5. Finally, have students present their guide to the class in a short, five-minute presentation that
covers the points outlined in step #2 of this project.
Lesson #9
Grades: 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Evaluate the relative merits of maps and other geographic representations, tools and
technologies in terms of their value in solving geographic problems.
Lesson Plan:
This will be an introductory lesson for students to learn about our trip based upon studying maps
of the route, gaining an understanding and appreciation for the importance of maps to our trip
and our ability to select a route while comprehending the geographic representations on a given
map. By the end of this lesson, students will have a better understanding of mapping techniques
and strategies through a study into our expedition. They will be able to mark major landforms
and climate regions on a map.
Coppermine Expedition 2012 Route Map
(Designed by Seth Wotten)
Lesson Instructions:
1. If the teacher so desires, they may show the expedition movie to the class at:
www.coppermine2012.com
2. After you are done showing the movie, project the map on the previous page onto a
whiteboard. This is an expedition map showing our fifty-day route from Yellowknife to
Kugluktuk on the orange line.
3. Ask your students for their general observations of the map. Do they think this is the only map
we took on trip with us? Why or why not? (answer is no - we had many more maps with more
detail and smaller scale) Do your students think that this map shows every single detail of the
land? What could it be possibly missing? What are the black lines going across and up and
down the map? (longitude and latitude) Is this map missing anything? (compass, scale, title,
legend, etc.) These are questions that will get your students thinking more about maps.
4. On the following pages are nine individual route maps of our expedition. For the purpose of
this lesson, it is best that the teacher print out each route map and laminate them individually.
For best results, blow each map up until it fits a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. The
lamination will allow for the preservation of the maps for future lesson plans and for the
students to correct their work as they go along.
5. Divide the class into nine groups and hand out one of the nine different route maps to each
group.
6. Instruct them to do the following:
a) Place the cardinal directional arrows in the top right corner of their map.
b) Ask them to plot the longitude and latitude of three landmarks on their maps. This can be a
city, lake, river, mine, etc. Please direct them to the following site to conduct this research:
http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/latitude_and_longitude_finder.htm
For example, if I were to find “Reliance” on Route Map #2, I’d plug it into the Latitude
and Longitude finder and come up with coordinates: 62° 42' N / 109° 7' W.
c) When your students have completed task b), have them write down three significant points on
each landmark they have chosen to find. For example, if a group were to select Lac De Gras,
they could write that: 1) The Ekati Diamond Mine is located there, 2) It is the primary lake
that feeds the Coppermine River at its source, and 3) It is an important point for the migration
of the Bathurst Caribou herd from their winter calving grounds.
d) Have each group create a legend for their map based upon what they see. For example, what
do they think the black dotted line is running up from the bottom of Route Map #3? Each
group will likely create very different legends for their own maps, which will make for an
interesting culminating task.
e) Have each group find three pictures of the terrain characterized by the type of climate region
the expedition travelled through. Follow this link for assistance with this task: http://
www.canadiangeographic.ca/atlas/intro.aspx?lang=en#. Students may also use pictures from
the expedition website: www.coppermine2012.com. Have them write down descriptions of
the terrain with each accompanying picture.
7. Once all of these tasks are done, have the groups present their map to the class, in sequence
from Route Map 1 through Route Map 9. Construct the route map at the front of the class
piece by piece. This should give the class a better insight into the varied terrain the expedition
travelled through en route to Kugluktuk, Nunavut.
Route Map 1
Route Map 2
Route Map 3
Route Map 4
Route Map 5
Route Map 6
Route Map 7
Route Map 8
Route Map 9
Lesson #10
Grades: 6-8
Content Focus:
a) Develop a collage of pictures that depicts how people in a province/territory adapt to their
physical environment at different times of the year.
b) Describe and compare the traditional ways of life of different groups of First Nations/Inuit
people who live in different areas of Canada. Draw conclusions about how they adapt to
natural resources available.
Lesson Plan:
This is an opportunity for students to gain an appreciation for northern First Nations and Inuit
culture and lifestyle, past and present. The Coppermine Expedition had the opportunity to travel
through territory with a rich and storied past. Through our journey, we were able to meet with,
and learn from, people who were willing to share insight about their own culture and traditional
practices. Many changes have taken place in Canada’s north that have altered the way in which
First Nations and Inuit are able to practice their culture and speak their native tongue. The
reasons for these are varied and complex, and this lesson is not meant to comprehend fully the
political, economic, and social components for these changes, but for students to gain an
appreciation for the way in which northern cultures have adapted to their physical environment
with a high degree of ingenuity.
Lesson Instructions:
1. Teachers can begin this lesson by showing three brief clips from the Coppermine River
Expedition 2012 movie at:
www.coppermine2012.com
a) 5:39-7:22
b) 11:03-12:30
c) 5:10-36:09
These individual clips will give students an introduction to a few of the many cultural
landscapes we travelled through in the course of our expedition. Alternatively, if the teacher
feels the clips are too segmented, it may be better to view the movie in its entirety from start to
finish, as the clips do fit better within the context of the complete film.
2. Our journey from Yellowknife to Kugluktuk took us through the traditional lands of the
Copper Inuit, Chipewyan Dene, and Yellowknife Dene. It was our intent to spend more time in
these communities, but due to travel demands, we were unable to meet these expectations.
However, our time spent in Kugluktuk and in the old Chipewyan Dene community of Reliance
was both rewarding and intellectually stimulating. There was much to learn about the
traditional lifestyles of these communities and the challenges they face at present being
located in such remote areas of the country.
3. Divide your class up into three groups. Assign to each group one of the three First Nations/
Inuit cultures on the following page. There are research links provided under each heading for
the group to conduct research. As per the lesson plan above, each group will be responsible
for:
a) Developing a collage of pictures that depicts how their assigned First Nations/Inuit culture has
adapted to their physical environment, both past and present. Include: clothing, shelter, food,
etc.
b) Describe and compare the traditional ways of life of different groups of First Nations/Inuit
people who live in different areas of Canada. Draw conclusions about how they have adapted
to natural resources available to them. (example - Haida/Plains Cree/Copper Inuit)
Encourage your students to be creative with this assignment. Have them collect or
make artifacts that may accurately portray their assigned group, provide in class
demonstrations on hunting or fishing techniques, craft-workshops, bannock
making in the school-cafeteria, etc. There are many ideas.
a) The Copper Inuit and Kugluktuk
http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_inuit1.html
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/eppp-archive/100/205/301/ic/cdc/business/lect3.html
http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/ethnoatlas/hmar/cult_dir/culture.7838
http://kitikmeot.edu.nu.ca/pdf/kugluktuk.pdf
b) The Chipewyan Dene and Lutsel K’e
http://landoftheancestors.ca/
http://www.denesolinecorporation.com/our-community/
http://www.practicenorth.ca/index.php?page=aboriginal-culture-en
http://cpaws.org/blog/thaidene-nene-whats-in-a-name
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/chipewyan
c)The Yellowknife Dene
http://www.ykdene.com/index.html
http://dettahandndilo.lgant.ca/
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/yellowknife-band