On the recommendations of an Ottawa friend and elder, we went up to Atikamekw Territory north of Shawinigan and La Chute, Quebec.  We spent hours driving on gravel roads, avoiding log truck after log truck, a relentless barrage of them, barreling down and whipping gravel dust into large and dense plumes behind them.  Industrial might, bent on sucking wood pulp out of the landscape – through a dusty gravel straw.

At long last we landed in Wemotaci, where we received a warm welcome.  As we pitched our camp for the weekend of the event, we met and made new friends – everyone worked to help everyone else set up, and thus gathered, the Pow Wow could start.

This collection captures a weekend filled with dancing, regalia, music, feats endurance and good cheer.  Seeing the youth was especially exciting, to witness the bright future of the great nations that assembled, and the tradition to guide it, here at the end of the Pow Wow trail.