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Okimah

Okimah
Since time immemorial, the goose hunt has been of central importance to the Cree people of the James Bay coastal areas. The hunt is not only a source of food for the people, but it also plays an increasingly important role in the transmission of Cree culture, skills and ethics. Filmmaker Paul M. Rickard takes us along with his family on a fall goose hunt in the surrounding areas of Moose River in northern Ontario. The Okimah are the hunting leaders whose life experiences and observations as hunters enable them to teach customary rules for exploiting the resource base. We see how these hunting excursions are not only about harvesting but about the need to respect the land and the animals, and the transmission of the Okimah's knowledge from one generation to the next.