Students Complete Annual Moose Camp at Alaqsite’w Gitpu School

Alaqsite’w Gitpu School (AGS) offers a variety of cultural and traditional courses, and one of these programs is a land-based course called, Outdoor Education. Outdoor Education is for students grades 5-8, where they explore Mi’gma’gi territory, and develop relationships with the land. They take part in hands-on learning such as hunting, fishing, snowshoeing, maple tapping, fire making, food sovereignty, and more. The community of Listuguj often associate Outdoor Education with the late Jonathan “Spanky” Barnaby, but since his passing, Outdoor Education Assistant, Travis Barnaby is carrying on his legacy by leading the program and sharing teachings with the students.

For the past five years, randomly selected students from grade 6 to grade 8 take part in a “Moose Camp”.  This year’s camp was held from Oct 27-29 at a chalet in Kedgwick, NB. The students, teachers and chaperones would hunt and scout the land for moose in the mornings and in the early evenings. This year the group saw a total of 42 moose, and 3 deer, and successfully brought one moose back to the community.

The moose is brought back to the Outdoor Education workshop at AGS, where it is stored in the cold room and skinned. After it is skinned, it is butchered by the students and cooked.  Hamburgers, steaks, and sausages are made with the moose. Once the process is done, the bones of the moose are then brought to the woods for other animals to feed. Since one moose can feed many people, over the past years, Outdoor Education have donated moose meat to those in need in the community, and even to an organization in Montreal.  The students take pride in contributing their moose and supporting their community.

The Moose Camp offers valuable knowledge and experience for youth in Listuguj. The students recognize the hard work that goes into hunting and providing food for the community.  They are involved in the process from the start to finish and get to witness the importance of tradition firsthand.  Regarding the Moose Camp and land-based learning, Travis Barnaby said, “I want to keep it as traditional as possible. There is a lot of stuff that has been passed down to me by my family.”

Moose Camp 2025 attendees:

Teachers/Chaperones:
Travis Barnaby
Erwin Molley
Davery Mitchell
Jennifer Morrison
Crystal Moffat

Students:
Tessa Barnaby
Kiana Anderson-Isaac
Tucker Barnaby
Knoxx Vicaire
Mckenna Metallic
Donna Isaac Brisk
Buzz Doucette
Elijah Isaac

By Ann Marie Jacques