The Thompson fur tables provide trappers with cash that they often spend on Christmas presents in Thompson stores, but many at this year’s event Dec. 20-21 at St. Joseph’s Hall said it’s more about tradition than money.
Wayne Lavallee of Easterville, who belatedly received the 2018 Oswald Hudson Award as the top trapper at least year's fur tables, an honour he has now received seven times, said he hadn’t done as much trapping as he would have liked so far this year, having only checked his traps six times. But he says his 11-year-old son, who was attending his third fur tables, and his grandson enjoy having Lavallee’s knowledge passed down to them.
“They can’t wait for Saturday and Sunday” when he takes them out into the bush to impart some of the wisdom he has acquired over 45 years of trapping.
Lavallee was surprised to win the award from last year but said he doesn’t have a secret.
“The best I can I clean the fur,” he said. “I want them to pay me top price. Sometimes it’s low and sometimes it’s good.”
Jason White of the North West Company, one of three buyers at this year’s event, along with GFW Canada and Fur Harvesters Auction, said the world market for fur is still in a down cycle but that he is hopeful that it will go up again. No matter the market conditions, trappers will continue to trap, he said, pointing out that the hall was full around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning.
Ron D. Spence of the Manitoba Trappers Association, which organizes the fur tables, said attending the event is like going to a family reunion.
“It’s like coming home to a family and meeting friends and sharing stories so that’s one big thing that we look forward to every year,” he said. “It’s not really the dollar of the product but it’s even the product and the stories that come with it.”
The love of trapping was also mentioned by Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook.
“Nowadays just with your costs it’s got to be a love,” she said. “It’s in your blood, it’s in the system because definitely you aren’t just doing it for the dollars anymore. It’s a tradition, it’s a way of life.”
“You prove the extent to which people in our north are truly committed to trapping as a way of life, to hunting and also to making sure that our northern way of life and our northern economy is as vibrant as possible,” said Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton.
Lavallee, who was designated as a master trapper after winning the Oswald Hudson Award for the sixth time prior to last year, agreed.
“That’s my life is trapping.”
