A few years ago while supervising an education student completing a practicum at a high school north of Winnipeg, Frank Deer found himself standing in the middle of a frozen lake.
The University of Manitoba undergraduate whom Deer was supervising was teaching in his home community of Fisher River Cree Nation and had decided to take the class out ice fishing on Lake Winnipeg—working with Elders and Knowledge Keepers as a team to set nets into the water.
