Angus Beaulieu, a renowned Métis fiddler and master storyteller, passed away peacefully among family in his Fort Resolution home on February 10.
The 89-year-old “just loved to see people happy,” said Tony Buggins, a longtime friend. “It was amazing to watch people around him. He was a very kind man, very warm, very easy to be near.”
“His knowledge of Fort Resolution was very vast, deep, and long,” said Angus’s nephew, Tom Beaulieu.
“He had carried a lot of his oral history from his grandfather. He imparted all kinds of stories to Angus.”
Angus and his wife, Dorothy, are well-known for their work supporting youth in Fort Resolution, promoting their culture, and giving back to their community.
Born on August 9, 1934 near Fort Resolution, Angus spent his life on the land and in connection with his Métis roots. You could find him out on the trapline by dog team, harvesting meat and fish, or chopping wood to dry fish.
He was an expert fiddler and founding member of The Native Cousins, a travelling band formed in the 1970s known for music you could dance to.
“The boys that were in the band, we all went to different residential schools,” said Buggins, another founding member.
“We all came back to Fort Resolution, that’s when we finished school.
“From there, everything fell together. It’s just for the love of music, that’s how Native Cousins was created.”
Love of music
“I’ll tell you one thing about Angus’s power of playing the fiddle,” said Buggins. “You could see him work the audience, and all I’d see is a dance floor full of people, heads bouncing, smiling. Over and over and over. He’d give people permission to be happy for two or three hours. That was his magic.”
The Native Cousins were staples at winter carnivals across the territories, according to Linda Duford of the Kole Crook Fiddle Association.
Duford first heard the crooked fiddle style, the “Métis style of adding a few extra bars onto a tune,” when she heard Angus play. She says that started her love affair with music, one which has lasted for more than 45 years.
“What Mick Jagger is to the rock n’ roll world, that’s what Angus would be to the Métis fiddle world up here. He’s considered a legend, a celebrity, everybody knows of him for many reasons,” said Duford.
“He’s been playing the fiddle and travelling around doing music for 70 years. It’s so many generations that heard him play.”
“What a privilege and really just an honour, just to be able to sit in the same room with Angus and to hear him talk,” said Wesley Hardisty, a fiddle instructor and one of the territory’s best-known fiddle players in his own right.
“We lost a beautiful human being, a legend, and a friend to many throughout the North.”
In the last months of his life, Angus was still sharing his knowledge with younger generations.
Hardisty and Duford recall visiting him last summer, where he shared fiddling techniques and the group played together.
“Because of the many strokes that he had, he was always adjusting and having to relearn but was always determined to pick up his instrument,” said Hardisty. “He would tape a piece of velcro to his clothing and to his instrument, for it to stick close to his chest. I thought it was very cool, determined.”
‘Some people are born with it’
Friends of Angus recall his incredible memory for the history of Fort Resolution — of the times before paved roads, the Métis culture, family trees in the community, even the patterns of the Slave River.
“It was a learning experience. You’d get the music and you’d also get a little bit of history, and that’s what he loved to do,” said Buggins. “I’ve seen that happen so many times in different communities with many, many different people. All that is going to be quiet now.”
“He’s also a living history of the North,” said Duford. “He really loved to tell his stories and he always had time to share with you, and they were always interesting.”
“Angus, I’d get a lot of my information from him, any time [there was] something I needed to know,” said Arthur Beck, president of the Fort Resolution Métis Government. “He used to travel to meetings with us. There was a lot of knowledge that we used him for.”
The Beaulieu household helped to raise children in the community, according to Beck, who grew up in their home while his father spent winters on the trapline.
“I had some good guidance from Dorothy and Angus,” he said. “I guess that helped me be who I am I guess as a leader in the community.”
Beck recalls speaking Chipewyan in the Beaulieu home while he was growing up. Buggins would also speak Chipewyan with Angus throughout their friendship. This experience was indescribable for Buggins.
“A lot of people my age, we went to residential school,” he said. “When we’d return home, we lost the language.”
While Angus attended residential school near Fort Resolution, according to Buggins, he kept his fluency speaking Chipewyan.
“It’s a language that doesn’t exist today amongst our people,” said Buggins.
“The level of the language used by people today doesn’t match what it was when Angus was young.
“When I say Angus is a master, he is a master of his area, his time.”
“The whole community is pretty sad,” said Beck. “We’re going to really miss him.”
People who wish to pay their respects are invited to the Fort Resolution community hall on Thursday, February 15. A funeral will take place on Friday, February 16, where Angus will be laid to rest at the local cemetery.
