Reel to Real

I took the train to The Pas on June 17th, 2025, remaining there until the 23rd. In The Pas, one of my biggest challenges was the interviewing of my cousin. He’s always been very talkative, telling countless stories and being knowledgeable on fishing, hunting, and the raising of his birds. He has a lifetime of experience to share, but once I turned on the microphone, he felt as though what he wanted to share wouldn’t want to be heard. Luckily, he was still willing to discuss and record his fish filleting process and questions relating to it that became part of this soundscape. My uncle, who is very soft spoken, was the one to provide me with the most family history. People are unpredictable, and, ironically enough, not in the way I thought they would be. I expected to have stories leading off topic, stumbling over words, or incorrect dates but was instead faced with less material to work with than I expected. 

The photos reproduced here are some of the highlights of my journey, the experiences I was able to have in-between my recording. I took my first train ride, fished for our supper with my cousin, learned how to make deer jerky, and was lucky enough to watch the chicks go from one incubator to another with higher humidity, and then watched many of them hatch.

That neon orange shape is me recording environmental sounds. The weather seemed, at first, unfortunate. There were heavier winds and it rained periodically. What I didn’t expect was for the wind to create a beautiful audio of the waves crashing onto the shore. If you listen to this soundscape with headphones on, the wave moves from one ear to the other, perfectly capturing how it hit the shore while we were fishing.  

I recorded the filleting of the pickerel, allowing me to get clear audio of each cut. After this, my cousin opted to use the filleted carcass to aid him in describing how he filleted the fish. I am horrible when it comes to blood, and especially the dissection of any animal: I decided to take this on regardless. There is no better way or reason to conquer something that causes anxiety, at least within myself, than family. I knew if I wanted to not only capture my family’s stories and knowledge but to participate in and learn from them, I would have to face my fear. And I did. 

This soundscape is Métis food history research conducted by me, a Métis woman. Importantly, and unexpectedly to me, was the connection I witnessed between family members. I knew I would learn about my family in a way that I could revisit for the rest of my life, both because I have the recordings and because of the publication of this soundscape here. What I didn’t expect was to hear stories and histories from my uncle that had not yet been heard by his son. I had interviewed my uncle alone; my cousin expressed that he was looking forward to listening to it and learning about things he hadn’t thought to ask his father. This was my favourite moment of the summer. It made me realize how much I value family stories and histories, but also how little I ask or remember because of the abundance of stories I’m lucky enough to have been told. I hope to preserve more family memories, both from my own family and from our Métis communities, from the present and from our pasts.

Voices

Jérémié Grégoire
Jo-Lyn Gregoire

Sounds

Field recordings by Jo-Lyn Grégoire

Additional Sounds

Leoni@FS - Grass Walking.wav

Omiranda14 - FieldRecording_CatchedFishSimulated_1

PixelProphecy - Heavy modern door (open & close)

rsths13 - FishingReel.WAV

Sacha.Julien - Blackbird Song

SpliceSound - 01-21 Footsteps, sneakers on gravel and leaves.wav

Photos

Photos by Jo-Lyn Gregoire and Jérémié Grégoire