Les Primitifs take ‘survival of the fittest’ back to nature

This article first appeared in the March 2016 issue of Life in Québec Magazine.

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Les Primitifs take ‘survival of the fittest’ back to nature

By Michael Bourguignon

Hey, kids! Put down your cell phones and pay attention. You just might learn something that could save your lives.

“Kids today are so disconnected from nature,” says Philippe Laberge.

Laberge, an experienced outdoor educator, would know.

“I remember being outdoors once with a group of kids and one of the boys asked, ‘What’s that sound?’ It was the sound of a river flowing. He had no idea what it was,” says Laberge, a 35-year-old Québec City resident and one of about 20 participants in the latest survival course offered by Les Primitifs, a group of outdoor enthusiasts who teach others how to survive in nature with less than the bare essentials.

This course is taking place at Québec City’s Base de plein air de Ste-Foy, it will last 24 hours, and it’s all about camouflage. Laberge is here because he has already taken the basic course and is ready to take his survival skills to the next level.

These are skills he wishes everyone would learn, including children. Today, the only children in the group are those of Les Primitifs co-founder Mathieu Hébert, and they won’t be sticking around much past their dad’s introductory remarks to the group. This particular course might be too intense for them, suggests Hébert, whose opening words are as much a warning as a welcome:

“From 1 to 4 p.m., we will prepare with exercises,” he intones, sounding as serious as a drill sergeant but projecting a warmth that suggests his main concern is the well-being of everyone around him. “You will take part in two missions. We will break for supper. We will then meet at another rendez-vous point and continue these exercises until 9 p.m. Then we will go into a hostile zone where there will be illicit activities. Tonight we could travel 10 kilometres, or we could travel three.”

When it comes time for questions, few hands go up. The (mostly male) group has been down this path before, more than once. In fact, most have done the summer camo course – and obviously survived it – and several are training to become course leaders.

Hébert himself started learning the ways of the woods at a young age through wilderness camping. He eventually decided to transfer his skills to others, after 27 weeks of training at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School in New Jersey, a facility revered by survivalists, if not well known by those outside the survivalist universe.

“The key is not to look like what you are,” Les Primitifs co-founder Simon Denis says of the camo course. Indeed, many of the participants look as if they’ve just walked off the set of a Rambo revival movie; but if they learn their lessons well, they’ll soon all appear to be merely part of the scenery – if they can be seen at all.

Civilization is just a short drive away. So what’s the point? It depends on the participant.

“I live in the woods,” explains Laberge. “So if anything ever happens, I want to know how to be resourceful and take care of myself. I don’t want to be stuck.”

Dom Paradis, 36, starts talking about the weather forecast – essential conversation under the circumstances, since the group will be spending the night outdoors, mostly sleeping in makeshift shelters they will build themselves.
Paradis is hoping for colder conditions tonight.

“When it’s minus-10, it’s more comfortable than when it’s zero degrees, because it’s when the temperature goes up to zero that you get the humidity, which makes you lose your heat faster.”

Paradis has made the 2 1/2-hour trip from Montréal to attend the course, motivated by a passion for travelling light in nature. “For many years, I’ve enjoyed camping with the least amount of equipment possible,” he says. “I just really love it.”

Whatever the attraction, Hébert likens what he’s doing to building a bridge back to a time when the first humans learned and practised survival skills out of necessity. The proof that those skills have been effective? We’re here.

“Our ancestors, going all the way back to prehistory, had do deal with danger and find ways to survive every day, and I think it’s important that we transmit this knowledge to our kids,” he says.

To Hébert, that knowledge is “almost sacred,” constituting what he calls active meditation and a reconnection with nature. It’s also practical, in that it teaches participants not only about themselves, as co-founder Denis points out, but about caring for others.

“If someone gets hurt or gets into trouble, we stop and help,” he says. “This isn’t paintball, where someone gets hit and they’re out of the game.”

Those who share the desire to reconnect with nature, at least in the way Les Primitifs approach it, come from all walks of life, according to Denis.

“We have doctors who take courses with us because they want their kids to discover nature. We have a couple of architects here today, and I’m a civil servant,” he says. “That’s proof right there that we really do attract all kinds.”

To learn more or to get in touch with Les Primitifs, your best bet is to track them down on Facebook. You’re unlikely to find them if they’re in the woods.

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