Martina Amos knows the Gwich'in creation story well.
"There is a legend that says we were made from one heart, the first caribou and the first Gwich'in," she said. "We are forever entwined. If there are no caribou, there are no more Gwich'in, for we are the caribou people.
"Not many young people know our old ways and legends, but there are also many youth that also practice the culture and I am so proud of them."
While not a hunter, Amos said she has given the practice a shot once or twice.
Throughout her life, she said she would work with meat brought to her by other Gwich'in hunters. Sharing the bounty of a caribou harvest is also a fundamental part of Gwich'in culture.
Her account is a vivid detail of how intertwined her culture and the 'vadzaih' (caribou in Gwich'in) are. From tent canvas to soap and nutrition to keeping warm, the Gwich'in have integrated the caribou into almost every aspect of their culture. Caribou appear in Gwich'in stories, artwork and even on the official flag of the Gwich'in Tribal Council.
"Every part has a use," said Amos. "I know that there are bones made into tools used from the caribou to scrape the hides. The hides are used from clothing to bedding. Caribou head soup is a delicious meal, and a very special one."
All in all, the Gwich'in language has over 150 different words to describe the parts of the caribou and every part has a use. Even today, caribou meat is served at weddings, graduations and important celebrations and ceremonies. Caribou hide is an important part in graduation shawls and ceremonial vests.
A March 2019 report on GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n Knowledge of Porcupine Caribou estimates that in the 1990s, the average Gwich'in household in Fort McPherson or Aklavik needed around nine caribou annually to meet their nutritional needs. According to the report, caribou account for half the meat consumption for families in these areas.
The importance of caribou became unmistakably clear during the Covid-19 pandemic, when supply lines largely evaporated leaving many Northerners to fend for themselves. With a strong hunting culture firmly in place, many Gwich'in were able to keep their families and the community at large fed while the world sorted itself out.
With so much of the Gwich'in identity and livelihood built on the shoulders of the caribou, the are highly protective of their sibling. Upon learning it was a longstanding goal of the Republican Party to expand drilling in environmentally protected areas of Alaska, former U.S. president Donald Trump attempted to open a sacred caribou breeding ground to oil and gas development.
He was met with lawsuits from Gwich'in on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, as well as widespread lobbying of both U.S. and Canadian banks to boycott any development attempts. In the end, the Alaskan government had to spend $20 million through own state-owned development corporation to make made the majority of the bids for the land. Those bids went up in smoke after outgoing U.S. president Joe Biden froze all lease sales within days of taking office.
Today, caribou in Iizhik GwatsSA国际影视传媒檃n Gwandaii Goodlit SA国际影视传媒� or the Sacred Place Where Life Begins SA国际影视传媒� eat, breed and carry on as they have forever.
