What happened to miig before he joined the group

In the early days, when the Recruiters were just beginning to hunt Indigenous people, Miig and his husband, Isaac, went to live in their semi-remote, off the grid cottage. Isaac was half-Cree and a respected poet. One night, they heard noise in the bush and found three apparently Native people there: a man, a woman and another younger woman. The man says he’s sprained his ankle and the woman says she is pregnant. Miig is suspicious, but Isaac invites them in.

One night, the younger woman sneaks out of her room to show Miig her blinking ankle monitor. She tells them they must run. But it is too late: government vans have already pulled up outside and men are knocking at the door. Miig tries to convince Isaac to escape through the yard. But Isaac refuses to believe the rumors and has faith that he will be able to reason with the agents. The guards kick the front door open.

Miig finishes his story there and tells French the moral: that sometimes one must trust that people are making decisions for the good of the community based on things they know but that you don’t know. He tells French that what he saw up in the trees was a new school the Recruiters are building nearby. However, it isn’t necessary for the whole group to know that now. As a steady snow falls, Miig directs the group eastward to avoid the new school.