I’VE HOPPED ON AND OFF over 50 airplanes in the past two years. Northern travel always leads to adventures — and, often,misadventures. Last year, for example, I flew to Hopedale, Nunatsiavut, where I was swallowed whole by snow.
JEANNIE ARREAK-KULLUALIK knows the pain of not knowing. Her grandmother and grandfather boarded the C.D. Howe medical ship in 1950s in Pond Inlet, and travelled south for tuber culosis treatment. They never came back.
I LOVE SEAL MEAT when it’s still warm. Red so deep, my eyes feel it. Delicious. Last fall, I shot a seal near Arctic Bay, Nunavut, and my first reaction was “wow! — I got it.” My second thought was the seal’s liver, and how it makes my mouth water. And then a little disappointment comes over me when I realize that I shot the seal through one of its eyes. I wanted to eat it.
INUIT RCMP SPECIAL CONSTABLES are unsung heroes, but let us acknowledge the partners of these special constables who helped support their husbands’ work, which has largely gone unrecognized. Prior to 1983, when Mary Hunt became the first Inuk woman officially hired as a special constable in what is now Nunavut, Inuit women, and sometimes even children, assisted with various duties, but were never designated as special constables. Here are a few examples of how the families of special constables assisted the RCMP in Inuit Nunangat in earlier years.
It was told to me thusly: A powerful angakok wanted the beauty of the northern lights all to himself, so he stole them from the sky and trapped them within the rocks at his home along the coast of Northern Labrador. A group of people living nearby suffered in despair during the sudden darkness.
The Ahiarmiut were relocated over and over again. In 1949 the Government of Canada bulldozed their camp at Ennadai Lake, southwest Nunavut, and began a devastating decade-long relocation process. David Serkoak lived through the relocations as a child. The retired teacher and principal in Nunavut now lives in Ottawa. Last January, in Arviat, the 21 remaining Ahiarmiut relocation survivors finally heard the Canadian government apologize.
THE ATLANTIC OCEAN BORDERS the Labrador coastline from the northern end of the Big Land, where it meets Davis Strait to the southern end, which runs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Storms have shaped the landscape as well as the People living on the coast. Conditions all along the coastline are harsh, but the northern climes are the hardest areas for people to adapt to.
ITK considers rejecting role on reconciliation oversight body
“It’s an old way of colonial interactions between the nation-state and Indigenous Peoples, and it’s unfortunate what we were powerless to stop it.” — ITK President Natan Obed
Inuit leaders disappointed with budget’s lack of money for tuberculosis elimination
Liberals pledge $9B in new money for Indigenous communities in 2024 budget
“ITK works with the federal government through the Inuit Crown Partnership Committee to advance Inuit priorities. We are encouraged to see some of our joint efforts reflected in Budget 2024,” said ITK President Natan Obed. “But, our shared commitment toward TB elimination cannot be achieved without significant resources.”
