Jeff Humm - Redwater, Alberta

Métis Knowledge Keeper • Hunter • Master Carpenter • Residential School Survivor

Jeffery is a Knowledge Keeper, hunter, and master carpenter from Alberta. As a child, he and his sister, Jacqueline, were taken from their family and placed in a residence in the Northwest Territories. Life on the boys’ side was harsh, and older boys often targeted the younger ones. Even then, Jeffery looked for his sister in the yard, holding on to the hope that they might leave together.

Jacqueline tried. Once, she hid him in the back seat of a car when the gate was open; another time, under her bed in the girls’ house. Both attempts were discovered, and Jeffery was returned to the boys’ side, experiences that left deep marks, shaping his resilience and anger through his school years. He also spent two years at St. John’s Boys’ School, a horrible and abusive institution.

Back in Alberta, he struggled to adjust and was expelled from county schools. A Scared Straight program became a turning point. Through hard work and perseverance, Jeffery found his path in the trades, becoming a skilled carpenter known for concrete and decorative concrete stamping, craftsmanship that reflects both strength and beauty.

Jeffery’s life is rooted in land and family. He grew up working the trapline with his father and grandfather, learning stewardship, survival, and the responsibility to provide. As a Knowledge Keeper and hunter, he provides for his community: each year he and his brothers organize a family hunt, set up camp, guide the expedition, and share the harvest so every household has meat for the freezer.

Today, Jeffery, his wife, and their two adult children carry these traditions forward, honouring the land, culture, and family ties that sustained him. His story is one of survival and service: a Knowledge Keeper who turns hardship into guidance, and a hunter whose hands still provide.