This is an archived event from Culture Days 2025.
Images
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![Gabriel smiling]()
Show previous slide Point photographer M. Gryde, May, 2025 Photo of Gabriel smilingExploring Indigenous Tool Making; Old Tools; Fresh Perspectives/Climax Hub/Gabriel Essaunce Lamarche/ Museum Association of Saskatchewan/ Photographer: Gabriel Essaunce LaMarche, South Saskatchewan River ( N end of Saskatoon) 2024 -
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Point photographer M. Gryde, May, 2025
Exploring Indigenous tool making; old tools, fresh perspectives
In-person
History & heritage Indigenous Museum Truth and ReconciliationDate and time
Location
Valley View Bible Camp in Frenchman River Valley - Take HWY 37 (Highway 37, 15 minutes North of Climax)
Valley View Camp, near Climax, SK in the Frenchman River Valley (Frenchman River Valley)
Climax, SK
Directions: Take Hwy 37 *(36 kms) South of Shaunavon OR (15 minutes North of Climax) WATCH for VALLEY VIEW CAMP SIGN & Saskatchewan Flag at Hwy 37. *DRIVEWAY ENTRANCE to Camp is on a HILL, on SW side of Hwy 37 near Valley View Bible Camp SIGN! (not far from the bridge). Watch for FLAG! Note: Events will be held inside & outside. *Please dress for the weather. *There is NO CELL PHONE SERVICE in this valley, but cell service is available above the valley.
Access
Free, and accepts optional pay-what-you-may donations for admission.
Offered in English.
Wheelchair accessible.
About
Led by Ojibway Archaeologist and Museum of Saskatchewan’s Repatriation Liaison, Gabrielle Essaunce LaMarche, participants will explore the history of Indigenous artefacts from 3,000 to 5,000 years old.
Discover a new understanding of how Indigenous peoples lived, hunted and gathered on this land for centuries in this hands-on workshop about pre-contact Indigenous tool manufacturing techniques.
Grouped in a circle participants will pass around artifacts to examine and discuss their traditional use and to learn how ancient stone tools were made were constructed and tempered for maximum effect.
Participants will become aware of the sophistication and skill needed to shape and utilize stone tools. Not only does it require a deep understanding of stone material properties, but also knowledge of the animals being hunted; their physiology, ethology and bio-geography.
Gabriel will share knowledge of ancestral tools, based on the scientific study of archaeological sites and artifacts found in Saskatchewan and elsewhere in Canada.
He will invite collaborative input from other Indigenous Knowledge-Keepers, to flesh out a respectful detailed picture of ancestral crafting and tool use, including traditional harvesting activities and the knowledge system connecting the artifacts to the people and to the land will also be explored.
Each individual will be taught the basic fracturing techniques of flint-knapping, to make a point or knife for themselves and will come away with a new appreciation of the skill demonstrated by Indigenous tool makers.
• Enquiries or to register [email protected] or please call 1- 306-330-8520
• 1st come 1st serve. All materials are supplied free, but donations to museum welcome. Ages 14-adult
• Available for sale: the award-winning book Point of View; A Guide on Saskatchewan Projectile Points with Indigenous Perspectives. Faith Boser, Editor. Published by Saskatchewan Archaeological Society. Gabriel was a consultant on this book and it teaches how to identify projectile points by name, age range, geographical range.
Organizer
Climax Community Museum
Climax Community Museum offers unique displays, immersive events and interactive experiences to explore, inform, and broaden the public’s understanding of history from multiple culturally- informed perspectives in today’s changing milieu as we move towards more inclusive and egalitarian practice.
This event is part of a hub:
Truth and Reconciliation, the Frenchman Valley/Climax Hub
Climax Community Museum Lone Tree, SKThis celebratory and inclusive, Indigenous-co-created event will authentically educate non-Indigenous and Indigenous participants in face-to-face creative encounters, in sharing of intangible cultural heritage, traditional practices and aut...