a documentary series that honours the last generation of traditional native elders. 

Enter the harsh and beautiful world of the Quebec north, a vast wilderness inhabited by hunters and shamans, and haunted by cannibals and spirit girls.

Let the elders be your guide to this place and its history. Let them keep you warm. Let them initiate you to their culture and their universe.

Dab Iyiyuu is the Cree term for "Real Ones" and refers to the last generation of Cree who were raised in the wilderness. Unmarred by residential schools, untouched by town life or junk food, they are the keepers of the flame, providing a living link to a disappearing world of traditional Cree culture.

They are earthy and pragmatic survivors, salty old dogs and spinners of yarns. They are strong of body and spirit. They are the "Real Ones."

Rezolution Pictures, winner of the APTN/Telefilm Canada 2001 Best Aboriginal Documentary Award, presents a timeless documentary series profiling the skills and wisdom of this last generation.

In 6 24-minute programs, we honour the men and women who were born and raised on the land, who survived and thrived there. We present a culture which developed over centuries, a mythology inherited from countless generations.

Accompany Sam and Margaret Bearskin on their winter hunt. Listen as Charlie Etapp evokes a time of spirits and shamans. Let Elijah Cox demonstrate the art of making snowshoes.

The living repositories of a distinct hunter-gatherer culture, the Dab Iyiyuu instruct us in such traditional arts as making a bow-and-arrow, building a traditional drum, tailoring a pair of caribou hide mittens. They show us how to tan a moose hide, how to set a net under the ice, and how to harvest herbal medicine from the land. They initiate us into such fascinating ceremonies as a child’s Walking Out and the Shaking Tent.

Each episode honours a couple of elders. Open and gregarious, they possess a remarkable charisma and passion for life. They like to perform — songs and stories which speak of survival and starvation, of magical beasts and fearsome cannibals, of love and death and regeneration.

In collaboration with our sister company Beesum Communications, Rezolution Pictures has been collecting Cree legends, and re-enacted accounts of selected legends will be featured in Dab Iyiyuu, forming a vital strand throughout the entire series.

The Dab Iyiyuu are William and Sophia Kawapit; Samuel and Margaret Bearskin; Andrew and Maggie Natacheguan; Elijah and Marion Cox; Job and Mary Kawapit; and Charlie and Louisa Etapp.

Let us introduce you to the Dab Iyiyuu.