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Ross River Dena Council
Dennis Shorty
Ross River is the kind of place most people visit to get away from it all. Dennis Shorty, who grew up in the community, has to go a bit further afield for the same sort of escape.
Partly, that’s because Ross is where his work is—all of it. Shorty, a musician and multi-talented visual artist, maintains a studio and gallery in town, where he promotes Kaska culture. He also operates Raven Nest Lodge with his partner, Jenny Frohling. Guests at the lodge are often treated to impromptu concerts by Dena Zagi (the couple’s band) in exchange for their participation in making the music.
When Shorty needs a break, he visits the family cabin where he grew up. From its big picture window, he can see the mountains around Ross River and the land his family was always out on. It’s one of his favourite places. It’s where he married Frohling; where they first started playing music and recently recorded their second album together; where he goes to pick cranberries, strawberries and sage; and where he fishes for grayling.
When he’s not there, he keeps busy teaching drum-making classes in nearby Faro, and leading workshops in one of his many other mediums, including painting, antler-carving, copper work and storytelling. There are plenty of arts and cultural opportunities in the area, Shorty says, almost as many as there are outdoor opportunities. Some of his favourites include driving the gorgeous North Canol Highway, visiting Lapie Canyon in August to watch the salmon run, walking the suspension bridge and hiking the Dena Cho trail.
It's a sanctuary, he says of the area. It has been for generations already and will be for generations to come.
Derrick Redies
When Derrick Redies’ daughter was a baby, he packed her on his back for sheep hunts.
“We used to be a nomadic tribe,” says Redies, who lives in Ross River and works as an environmental consultant. “Most of our treasured places are out there on the land.”
It’s always been important to him that his three kids learn the same lesson he learned from his Great Grandfather, Arthur John—that tradition can go hand-in-hand with attending school and getting a good education. Both worlds are important to acknowledge and respect.
Redies was born in nearby Faro and raised in Ross River, where his constant contact with Elders and knowledge-keepers kept him closely connected to his culture. In fact, he spent so much time with other families as well as his own, he feels like he was taught by the whole community. Ross is a welcoming place, which is one of the things he loves best about it. It’s also one of the things that makes it a great place to visit.
As a guest, you don’t need to be shy about asking questions—whether you’re trying to figure out how to play handgames; find the trail head for the 50-kilometre Dena Cho hiking trail between Faro and Ross River; or wondering about Kaska culture, including Old Ross River—the site from which citizens were relocated by the government without warning in the 1960s.
Just come into the community with curiosity and respect, says Redies, and keep your mind open to hearing and learning about a new culture. There’s so much in Ross River and its people that is beautiful.
Roberta Dick
Visiting Old Ross River is like a spiritual awakening for Roberta Dick.
“My grandparents used to live there and it’s a special place for some of our people because at one time there was an old settlement there,” she says.
She knows citizens who still remember coming home from a trapping season one spring in the 1960s to find that government officials had, without notice, picked up their homes and moved them to the current townsite. Those people had to follow the skid marks where their cabins were dragged away, over the frozen river, and find their new homes.
Today, visiting the other side of the river makes Dick feel good. As a kid, she attended cultural exchanges at the site, where Kaska people danced and drummed. It’s something she still does now, volunteering to organize drumming groups so youth remember the cultural practice.
Dick is also involved in community events, including the handgames that take place in Ross River during the summer and winter (the Roddy Ladue Memorial Handgames are a huge event when they happen); and workshops, like when local artist Vashti Etzel taught participants how to make shawls at Yukon University’s Ross River campus.
That strong sense of culture is one of the things that keeps Dick in the community. The other is the people. She likes taking kids out to Jackfish Lake, a warm body of emerald water, where they can swim, and stopping by the gas station to chat with Elders. It’s a close-knit community, she says. Whether there’s a wedding, a funeral, a new birth or someone in need, “we come together,” she says. “To help each other out.”
