The remote reserve of the Poplar River nation occupies a tiny cranny of the vast boreal forest that circles the Northern hemisphere like a verdant tonsure, stretching across Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia’s upper reaches. During summer, people and supplies access this small eastern Manitoba community by air or river barge. In winter, a temporary road carved from snow and ice leads to Poplar River. The Ojibwe who call this home have hunted and fished here for thousands of years.