Edward Blondin | |
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Born | |
Occupation(s) | shaman, hunter, surveyor, lumberjack |
Spouse | Eliza Blondin [2] |
Edward Blondin was a member of the Sahtu Dene First Nation, who played a prominent role in the industrial development of Canada's north. [3] [4] [5] [6] CBC News quotes one of his descendants describing how it was Blondin who first drew the attention of developers to the oil reserves at Tulita, on the Mackenzie River. [7] This deposit was to play an important role in the building of the Alaska Highway. Blondin was one of the guides who found a route for the Canol pipeline that supplied the teams constructing the Alaska Highway with gas from Tulita. [8] [9]
Blondin also played a role in the development of the Eldorado Mine, at Port Radium. [10]
In his 2006 book Trail of the Spirit: The Mysteries of Medicine Power Revealed, George Blondin, one of his descendants, wrote that Blondin acquired shaman skills from his own father. [11]
In her 1996 book The Cultural Politics of Fur Julia Emberley quotes Blondin's son George's description of how his father found laws restricting trapping, passed in 1930s, affected the Dene following their traditional lifestyle. [12]
Oral history in book form, covering five generations of the Blondin family of Fort Franklin.
The late Eliza Blondin was from Délı̨ne (for a time known as 'Fort Franklin'). She was 88 years old when she passed on in 1993. She was married to the late Edward Blondin.
For 215 winter days the dogs are fed twice as much per day as in the summer, so that approximately 900,000 pounds are needed. In addition there is a quantity used for human food which we are able to estimate from figures given us by Edward Blondin.
Edward Blondin told us that one year he caught in this manner and dried 150 bales of "bluefish" (grayling): one bale contains from 100 to 150 fish.
His grandfather, Edward Blondin, knew oil was valuable and took a pail of it to Bishop Gabriel Breynat at Tulita, then known as Fort Norman. "That was presented to Bishop Gabriel Breynat, on the assumption that anything ever happens concerning the oil, he will be well looked after," Joe Blondin said.
The Sahtu discussed previous experiences with building pipelines in their settlement area – the CANOL in the 1940s and the Enbridge pipeline in the mid 1980s... Fred Andrew, an experienced Dene hunter, and Edward Blondin and his son George, both Sahtu, were hired to guide the surveyors and work crews.
Media related to
Edward Blondin at Wikimedia Commons