I was an apprentice deckhand on the Radium Gilbert there is more to the story.
ACTION PLAN
TO ADDRESS CONCERNS RAISED BY THE COMMUNITY OF
DÉLINE ABOUT RISKS TO HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH FROM EXPOSURE TO RADIATION AND HEAVY
METALS FROM THE FORMER PORT RADIUM MINE,
GREAT BEAR LAKE (NWT)
PREPARED BY
THE CANADA-DÉLINE URANIUM TABLE
FOR
THE DÉLINE BAND CHIEF AND COUNCIL
AND
THE MINISTER OF DIAND
2nd Edition, December 2002
George Blondin (1990) recorded an ancient story prophesying the grim legacy
of Somba K'e:
"In the old days, the Sahtu Dene used to travel across the lake towards the Barrenlands every
summer, to hunt caribou. Some of these Dene hunters were paddling near the shore on the east
side of Sahtu (where Port Radium is today) and they came to a place where rocky cliffs rise high
over the water. Like all Dene, they believed it was bad medicine to pass in front of this rock: it
was said that loud noises came from within it. These particular hunters pulled their canoes out
of the water, but decided not to portage.... instead they camped near the cliff. During the night
everybody was awakened by the singing of the medicine man... In the morning, when the
medicine man stopped singing the people at last spoke to him..."Why did you sing all night...?".
"I foresaw many things and I was disturbed," replied the medicine man... The medicine man
told them of his strange vision. "I saw people going into a big hole in the ground -strange
people, not Dene. Their skin was white... [and] they were going into a hole with all kinds of ...
tools and machines... On the surface where they lived, there were strange houses with smoke
coming out of them... I saw ... big boats with smoke coming out of them, going back and forth on
the river. And I saw a flying bird -a big one. They were loading it with things...".
"I watched them and finally saw what they were making with whatever they were digging out
of the hole -it was something long, like a stick. I wanted to know what it was for -I saw what
harm it would do when the big bird dropped this thing on people -they all died form this long
stick, which burned everyone... But it isn't for now; it's a long time in the future. It will come
after we are all dead".
“VILLAGE OF WIDOWS” recounts the tragedy of the Sahtu Dene people, who were employed by the Canadian Government in transporting uranium during World War II and for many years after. http://lindumfilms.com/villageofwidows
I was an apprentice deckhand on the Radium Gilbert there is more to the story.
