Growing Up in Fort Severn I had the pleasure of working with Rusty during my stay in Fort Severn, during this time I learned a good deal

+ things about him and his life there. The reason that I was working with him in the first place is that he has a summer job working at the Band office. During the school year he does go to school, he is attending Keewaytinook Internet High School, a school that exists over the internet for the Keewaytinook Okimakanak communities in Northwestern Ontario. He finished grade 9 last year and is now going into grade 10. The computer skills that he learned at this school have helped him already, earning him his job at the band office.
Rusty does a lot of hunting and trapping around the community, his grandpa taught him most of what he knows about those activities. Mostly he hunts moose, caribou and geese, although he does hunt other things as well. He traps for the furs, which he sells to make a little extra money. Much of what he traps is mink and fox, he will also occasionally trap wolverines too. He really feels like there is much less trapping and hunting now then there used to be.
Rusty's pride stems from his skill on the land and in the woods. He is a capable hunter and enjoys depending on his own skills and abilities to survive and prosper. He has spent some time living out in the bush with his grandfather.
Fort Severn is a good place to grow up because of the abundant hunting grounds, "there's a lot out there, and it's all got great scenery!" he says. The quiet on the hunting grounds is also deeply meditative and lends itself to thought and emotional development.
Maybe in the future, he would like to go to college and learn to become a heavy machine operator, then he could do things like work on the winter road. He may also get involved with computers, he's not quite sure yet.