According to an old adage, there are two kinds of stories: Someone Goes on a Journey and A Stranger Comes to Town. The sly implication, of course, is that there is, ultimately, one story with two points of view, and that story is about an encounter with the unknown.

The saying came to mind a few months back when a friend of my brother’s said he was going on an exchange to the North West Territories in October. There, he would learn to kill and clean a goose. Meanwhile, the kids from NWT were looking forward to a Wal-Mart expedition.

Fort Good Hope, NWT (pop. 600) is a huddle of log buildings on the eastern shore of the MacKenzie River, 20 km south of the Arctic Circle. In summer the town is accessible by air and river; in winter the ice road opens.

The ten Fort Good Hope teens took their nine-day southern soujourn in mid-August. I visited with them and their Vancouver “twins” while they did some gardening at the UBC farm. Other activities included a photo scavenger hunt and journalism workshop (results to appear in Redwire magazine), a football game, numerous trips to the beach and, yes, shopping at Wal-Mart.

Run by the Purple Thistle Centre, an East Van free school, and funded by the YMCA, this is the third such exchange in the last five years.

Consider this ‘A stranger comes to town’.

Mark Douglas (Vancouver Group Leader)

What’s different about this exchange is that our organization only goes to Fort Good Hope. It’s about relationship building with the community. If you go once and never come back, it’s a purely touristic experience. You check it off your list: ‘I’ve visited the north, I’ve visited Quebec and the Maritimes, I’m really a Canadian now.’

The way our societies are structured, it’s not very natural for native kids and white kids to hang out together, and there’s not a lot of real understanding in the south about what it means to be in the north.

We want to get past tolerance, past understanding, to a bit more respectfully ‘I get what the problems are, [I get] how little I understand.’

Colonialism is still an active [force]. They are still living through it, we are still living in it. History hasn’t stopped. Even though white people haven’t been in the North for nearly as long as they were in the East. It’s such a compressed history, that whole contact-to-present-day timeline.

[Frank T’Seleie] told me, ‘the last time I took a dog team on the trap line and hunt was 1975. And then we had electricity by 1980. By 1985 everybody had phones. And then in 1990, we had television, satellite TV, and videos.’ They had an entire century of technological development drop on them in about 15 years.

All of us collectively, in our part of the exchange, probably haven’t had the tragedy and grief visit them that one of [the northern] kids has. We have kids that have witnessed relatives kill each other in front of them.

You never know. That’s the other thing. The first year there wasn’t any Good Hope girls who would go in the ocean and the guys were out there right away. We went ‘okay.’ So this year we’re telling the families, ‘The girls might be more modest and not go out.’ And who’s staying behind this time? It’s all the guys staying behind. So you know, we don’t know what we’re talking about. We try to show them stuff that we think is fun.

Tracie, 15

Denise, 15

[At Metrotown I bought] t-shirts, a skirt, purse, a necklace, shoes, and flip flops. [At Wal-Mart] I only bought one t-shirt and lots of nail polish. [Other people got] a face mask, like for your pimples, and nail polish, jeans, t-shirts, skirts, dresses, and those little pins.

I’d like to stay here some more. I don’t want to live [in Good Hope] when I get older. Probably live somewhere else in the North West Territories.

When we get back I’ll go to the field. [There is] a big dance they have every two years. It’s already started; we’re missing it. A lot of people go there. There’s dancing, they have a cook-up site, and they play hand games, the gambling, and three legged race.

If I could make one wish? To live long. My cousin Yvonne she got sick, and my friend Sarah she got [in a] plane crash. August 16th will be one year.

Kyle, 17

Been around lots of murders, stabbings. Lot of drinking, lot of fights. A couple weeks ago some guy pulled a gun on me, a shotgun, he’s pulled the trigger but then there’s nothing in there. I started laughing at him. My cousin took that gun away, smoked him up like that with the shotgun, back handle like right here, knocked out that guy, put that gun back in its case. Tried to pull the trigger right in my face. I knew there was nothing, cause we checked it before, eh, cause there’s lots of drinking. People go crazy. If you hurt someone, if they’re drunk, they’re just going to want to hurt you, even try to kill you.

But mostly people are gonna settle down since last year. Last year there was too much gambling, drinking. Like eight people died in one month. My grannie told all the people in Fort Good Hope: Stop drinking, stop gambling. Slow down it down. You’re just bringing yourself down.

No place like Good Hope. I’m gonna stay there for the rest of my life. Represent Fort Good Hope. Can go everywhere, man, visit everyone, talk to everyone, see how they’re doing. See if they’re doing bad, and if I have some grass, give it to them and make them happy. Take their mind off of something. And prayers, eh? If something’s real bad with your friend, like really bad, can’t do nothing? Always pray for him every night. Tell God to help ‘em out.

Sam, 17

Kyle was talking about how when he went out and shot moose they would cut it up and skin it and gut it right there, like right in the middle of the woods they cut off it’s head and then chop off all its limbs. They take out all it’s innards and put them out in the woods where there’s lots of animals. I can’t imagine shooting something and butchering it right there. It would still be warm.

Sam & Lucy, 17

Lucy: Suzette [Amaya] came in to give a workshop and she asked everyone if we knew when [National] Aboriginal Day was, and nobody knew. It was kind of embarrassing. It’s not like it’s something new, we just never included ourselves in it.

By studying other cultures you really learn about your own. Like how much we blab. We talk so much.

Sam: The stuff we’ve been doing is pretty cool, but I’m most excited about just being a part of the exchange. Hanging out with these guys.

Ian (FGH Youth Leader)

What do I love about the north? Everything. Mostly just the winters. That’s when the winter road opens up so we get to travel back and forth through towns, and there’s no bugs. Going hunting too, that’s fun in the winter.

We get paid once we cash in our furs, so we’re not broke all the time; martin, bear, muskrat, wolverine, lynx, all those type of furs. Maybe thirty percent of the time in the winter is hunting. We play hockey, and go up to the gym to play other sports like soccer, floor hockey, basketball, volleyball.

In the north you’re free most of the time. You get to do whatever you want. Once you come down to the city it’s full of laws, paperwork and stuff like that. We’re not used to living on concrete ground. We get lots of fresh air back at home.

I’m planning to come back down here for school, to Capilano [College]. Try to become an environmentalist and once I’m done that go for a trade, try to build up my skill level, and then start a small business. Probably help kids in school, see what they’re comfortable in. Some kids are used to staying in town, working on skidoos and stuff. Mechanics and carpentry. Other kids are used to going out on the land most of the time. Environmental work would be good for them cause they know the land, the landscape, know how to read maps. What needs to be protected? Everything. The world is a small world and nobody takes the time to travel to different areas. We only have so much resources here.

I would like to see more cities, like Miami. I want to check out the beach, and all the different types of trees, and other cultural backgrounds.

Cara, 15

I’m moving to Fort Smith. I got accepted into a leadership program for the whole school year. I go back to Good Hope for Christmas break and spring break.

I will come back [to Vancouver] when I’m older, for university. I want to become a cook, or a carpenter. But I’ll move back to the north. What do I love about the north? The food, the natural food. Sometimes people go out hunting for the community. They bring caribou, fish. And dry goose, but you can’t eat too much because it’s really rich. There’s also blueberries, raspberries, knuckle berries.

I want to move back to Good Hope and start up a business. A cafe or something, because there’s no cafe or anything like that. And probably start a family.

Clara Kelly (FGH Youth Worker)

In a city, you have to race against time. Everything’s so spread out. You race from one store to another and try to be home by a certain time. At home its different. In the summer you have 24-hour daylight. Half the time the kids are up till three, four o’clock in the morning. But I don’t think most of them are gonna want to leave yet.