The Reindeer Herders of the Mackenzie Delta

Peter Harmathy teaches fine arts in Victoria.

Gerald T. Conaty is senior curator of ethnology at the Glenbow Museum
and the author of more than 30 articles and books. Lloyd Binder is the
son of Otto Binder, who married into the Pulk family of Scandinavian
reindeer herders brought to Canada in 1929.

A third-generation herder and co-owner of a reindeer operation in the
Northwest Territories, Lloyd Binder is a product of the Canadian
government’s attempts to impose southern views on the Native way of
life. Among other things, this book is an account of the unfortunate
legacy of the colonial burden on Native cultures (residential schools,
forced settlements, southern policing, game wardens, etc.). Added to
this was a government plan, hatched in 1929, to transform the Inuit
hunting and trapping culture into one of reindeer herding. Otto Binder
became involved in the program, but soon left out of frustration. Some
50 years later, he returned to assist his son, who bought the herd in
1996.

The Reindeer Herders of the Mackenzie Delta is a story than spans two
continents and many cultures (German, Inuit, Canadian, Scandinavian) as
it follows the reindeer herding operation, which went full circle from
the Pulk-Binder family, to private Inuit control, to co-ownership with
the Binder family. The final irony is that today the reindeer are
primarily harvested for their antler velvet (for Asiatic markets) rather
than for the original goal of serving the Inuit.

This slim volume is packed with numerous black-and-white and colour
photographs (both vintage and contemporary) that provide a visual anchor
to this complex and fascinating history. Ultimately, the family history
of the Binders is a celebration of the northern spirit and its ability
to endure and adapt despite past and continuing incursions of
southerners.