Food gone and net empty, the strain is telling on the group as Elder Mary arrives with a gift and teaching that drives home the harsh reality of survival. The group learn how to gut and smoke a fish in the traditional way. They learn the importance of Elder teachings and how vital they are in their journey of reconnection. SENSITIVE - PREVIEWING RECOMMENDED.

Merchants of the Wild is a vivid reconnection to the land as six Indigenous women and men relive what survival was like on a fur trade expedition across the length and breadth of Northern Cree and Ojibway territories. Travelling in birch bark canoes, the brave group are taught by Elders and Knowledge Keepers, learning to make tools and use skills passed on orally through generations. These teachings are essential to their survival, as they take to the land with no modern technology on a 25-day voyage that will leave them forever changed.