Tulita elder Gabe Horassi remembered as man with deep connection to the land

Saying goodbye to a loved one is always difficult — but now, in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's especially hard, as people respect physical distancing while also paying respects to those they've lost.

That's what the community of Tulita, N.W.T., is grappling with, as they say goodbye to a beloved and respected Mountain Dene elder.

Gabe Horassi passed away on March 28, and is being remembered as a man with a deep connection with the land, said Paul Andrew, a member of his family.

"He knew all of the traditional laws, traditional protocol," said Andrew. "That's the thing that I remember the most about him."

"One of the things that some people always talk about is if you have a good relationship with mother nature, with the animals, with the plants and trees ... consequently, that relationship goes on to other people. Because of that respect he developed with the land and the animals, he automatically respected people."

Andrew said that Horassi was soft-spoken and would give his opinion, but never made demands of others. On a personal level, he was instrumental in Andrew regaining his traditional language after returning from residential school.

"You've heard the term that our Dene elders have PhDs, and you can never find that out if you don't know the language," he said. 

"He always talked to me in the language. He may have known some English, but he never used the language of English with me. It was always Slavey."

Horassi, a skilled hunter and trapper, led the community on mooseskin boat trips down the Mackenzie River in the 1960s, said Andrew — a position that required a deep knowledge of the land. He spent time on the land up until the last years of his life, he said.

"Always walking around with his cane, always giving advice on what to do, how to mend the skins," remembered Andrew.

"He's one of those people who really took care of himself. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. And that's how he lived this long."

Records say that Horassi was born in 1930, but Andrew said that for people born out on the land, the date of birth was often recorded when a child came into a community for the first time. His actual birth year depends on who you ask, he said, but it was sometime in the mid-1920s.

"I'd go visit him [in his last days], and he was still sharp mentally. He was slowing down obviously, but he was still walking around. And I remember thinking: 'here's a guy who took care of himself.'"

'A very difficult time'

In the wake of Horassi's death, the community has worked to find a way to honour his memory. Holding a traditional funeral is out of the question, because of restrictions placed on public gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is a very difficult time," he said. "Traditionally, the people in a place like Tulita, by blood and marriage, the whole community is related, everybody is related to each other. So when something happens ... everybody feels it."

Andrew said that instead of holding a funeral gathering, a nun in the community planned to give funeral mass over the community radio Tuesday afternoon. Then, instead of a traditional procession and burial, residents were able to visit Horassi's body one by one, while everyone else stays in their vehicles.

Andrew said that he's talked to Horassi's brothers and immediate family, who support the altered plan.

"It's difficult at the best of times, but particularly now, it's not easy," he said. "But like the virus we're going through, we'll get over this. We'll get through this."