Volunteers restore remote burial grounds

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Volunteers were in good spirits when they arrived in traditional Muskegowuk territory to take part in the restoration of the ancestral burial grounds at Moose River Crossing. From May 21 to 24, 75 eager participants from Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec gathered at the former village and railway settlement for the annual event, which pays homage to the people who once inhabited this area.

"This is the best way of remembering our ancestors...going directly to the grave where they're buried. It's an awesome feeling...it's a feeling you get inside of you I can't explain that makes me go back every year," said William Iserhoff, one of the organizers of the event.

"We get bad weather sometimes-like one time we went up and it snowed all that weekend and we didn't seem to mind it. People were talking already about next year, what they were going to bring when it was snowing and cold that weekend. That shows the importance of it, like they didn't care if it rained or snow or sleet, they still came...I'm very proud of (them)."

Volunteers arrived on Friday afternoon for four days of cleaning, camping, hunting, fishing and canoeing. Clean-up duties included raking leaves, brush-trimming and cutting trees.

"We don't really work them that hard...once they get there, they go on their own to the burial ground just to get a feel of it, see what their job is. Most of them, we don't have to tell them, once upon seeing it, they know what to do," said Iserhoff.

Iserhoff and his friends, most of whom are former residents of Moose River, began this project eight years ago. The neglect of the area after the last residents moved away prompted Iserhoff to call friends and relatives to help with the clean up. So far, the work that has been done has made a tremendous difference in the appearance of the burial grounds.

"It's all clear now. When we first started, it was just all grown in, you couldn't see it. There was dead trees falling all over the place and from the wind and stuff too...there was so many trees laying all over the place, so we had to remove all of that debris," said Iserhoff.

Although most of the volunteers have participated in previous years, newcomers are invited to cut one tree from the burial site as a ritual to mark their contribution to the project.

It is hoped that the clean-up will be complete by 2005 to celebrate the signing of the James Bay Treaty. Iserhoff said this is significant because some of the ancestors buried at Moose River were involved in that historic event.

"We're planning on having it done next year, the whole clean-up, and then after that, we're hoping that people will come back just to maintain the burial ground, just to go back and to visit the graves of our ancestors," said Iserhoff.

Not only does the project allow volunteers to visit the grounds, Iserhoff said, it is also a time to revel in the company of old friends.

"Some of us, we haven't seen each other for probably 20-30 years until we got together talking about this...it goes to show how, after a long absence like this, we're still friends and we can still do things together. It's really a great feeling to have," said Iserhoff.