A steam ship carrying flu almost a century ago was NWTSA国际影视传媒檚 first brush with pandemic, according to Dene filmmaker Raymond Yakelaya.

Last Thursday, he listened to the radio as he prepared for the April 21 release of his new book We Remember the Coming of the Whiteman, an adaptation of the film he first released more than 40 years ago in 1976. He heard stories of cancelled sports seasons, hurried political statements and the worried spread of COVID-19.

It had historical echoes. Decades ago, Yakelaya spoke to an elder about the N.W.T.SA国际影视传媒檚 first flu outbreak. He was conducting interviews for his first film, We Remember, that would inspire the new book.

Yakelaya was in his early 20s when he heard an elder, his uncle Johnny Lennie, share the history. Lennie was about 13 at the time of outbreak, said Yakelaya.

, a HudsonSA国际影视传媒檚 Bay paddle steamer called the SS Distributor, sailed its annual supply route down the Mackenzie River, according to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.

As the ship made its deliveries along the river, someone on board carried a virus. Yakelaya believed it was Spanish Flu, an epidemic that infected millions following the first world war a decade earlier.

For the Dene and Inuvialuit along the waterway who hadnSA国际影视传媒檛 built up an immunity, the illness was new. With the spread of flu, SA国际影视传媒渢he white man introduced them to a new way to die,SA国际影视传媒� Yakelaya recalled the elder telling him.

Before the outbreak, there were deaths by old age, accidents, and violence but never the flu, said Yakelaya.

When the illness arrived in YakelayaSA国际影视传媒檚 home community of Tulita, 50 elders died in seven days, he said. Yakelaya heard stories of how illness hit the community, slowly, then all at once as the illness multiplied.

That summer, community members found the victims overcome by the  heat floating in the Mackenzie River, or fallen where they stood in the grass, he said.

SA国际影视传媒淭hat what (my) Uncle Johnny said. For that whole week as a young man, all he did was dig graves and all the young boys and men would do that as they were bringing more bodies to the graveyard,SA国际影视传媒� said Yakelaya.

The toll was devastating. As communities lost elders, they also lost the stories and traditions they held.

SA国际影视传媒淲e lost a lot of good history books there,SA国际影视传媒� said Yakelaya.

It came by surprise. Unlike the outbreak of COVID-19,there was no mass social media when the SS Distributor pulled ashore on the banks of the Mackenzie River, said Yakelaya.

SA国际影视传媒淭hose days, they didnSA国际影视传媒檛 (know). They had no idea. What the hell this was, how theySA国际影视传媒檙e going to deal with it, how to treat it,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淚t really did alter the Dene, in many ways, the sicknesses that came.SA国际影视传媒�

The impact was equally far-ranging. An estimated 10 to 15 per cent of the Indigenous population in territory died in the outbreak, according to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.

While it eventually subsided, Yakelaya said another respiratory illness, tuberculosis, has never been fully eradicated in the North.

Yakelaya never recorded that elderSA国际影视传媒檚 story, but it formed the basis of his first film at 24. After the documentary wrapped, Sarah Stewart, the bookSA国际影视传媒檚 editor, compiled all the material.

Yakelaya forgot about the interviews  for the film he collected until about six months ago. Stewart approached him and suggested publishing the book. The bookSA国际影视传媒檚 April release coincides with a remastered version of YakelayaSA国际影视传媒檚 film.

Yakelaya said he believed the piece was relevant, with many of his interviews paralleling todaySA国际影视传媒檚 pandemic. The records show their perspective on life changing before their eyes, he said, and the stories, like those of the flu outbreak, from eyewitnesses SA国际影视传媒� the first time it ever happened.

SA国际影视传媒淚t was really the first time native Northerners, elders were talking to media, especially television media,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淚t breaks a lot of ground.SA国际影视传媒�