Above & Beyond | Canada's Arctic Journal 2016 | 06

2016 | 06 • $5.95

Arctic vs Antarctica Fort Ross Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon

First Air’s 70th Anniversary Edition

Nowhere Left to Roam

Preserving the Reindeer Herd PM40050872

o www.arcticjournal.ca

Jobie Tukkiapik / JW bexW4

Brock Friesen / XÇ4 K‰n8

Dear Guest, As we approach the end of 2016, it is with a sense of satisfaction that we can look back on a year that has been challenging, but positive. Despite the industry having had a number of difficult years, with hard work we have been able to implement many improvements and achievements. We introduced six ATR42-500s and an additional Boeing 737-400 aircraft into our fleet, improving operating efficiencies and customer comfort on board our flights.

At First Air we recognize the important role we have as one of the largest private sector employers in the North and as such we will continue to take part in the growth of the Northern economy and youth education.

In line with supporting the growth of the Northern economy, we attended this year’s Nunavut Trade Show and Conference in Iqaluit from September 19 to the 21 as an exhibitor. This tradeshow and conference is one of the biggest events in Nunavut and brings businesses, governments, suppliers, investors and entrepreneurs together to strengthen partnerships and identify economic opportunities.

Additionally, we are proud to have partnered with Qikiqtaaluk Corporation by helping to empower and educate our Northern youth. Together with our partner we sponsored a youth from one of our Inuit Communities to represent Canada’s North at the One Young World that took place in Ottawa from September 28 to October 1, 2016.

As we look forward to a stable and productive 2017, we continue to stay focused on our commitment to customers and the communities we proudly serve. Our sincere gratitude goes to all our loyal Customers, who have helped in making us The Airline of the North as we celebrate 70 years of service.

On behalf of the entire First Air family, may you and your families have a joyous and festive season and a prosperous new year.

Welcome aboard First Air, The Airline of the North.

Brock Friesen First Air President & CEO

ᑐᕌᖅᑐᑦ ᐃᑭᒪᔪᓄᑦ,

ᐅᑭᐅᖓ 2016 ᐃᓱᓕᑲᐅᑎᒋᓂᐊᓕᕐᒥᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᓈᒻᒪᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᒥᒃ ᐃᖏᕐᕋᑎᑦᑎᓯᒪᓂᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᕆᓚᐅᖅᑕᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ ᐃᓱᒪᒋᔪᓐᓇᕋᑦᑎᒍᑦ ᑕᐃᒪᓐᓇ ᐱᔭᕆᑐᔪᓂᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᓚᐅᕋᓗᐊᖅᑐᑕ, ᐃᖏᕐᕋᑦᑎᐊᖅᑎᑦᑐᓐᓇᓚᐅᕋᑦᑎᒍ. ᐃᓛᓗ ᓴᓇᕝᕕᔭᕐᕕᒃᐳᑦ ᐊᒥᓱᕐᓚᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᓄᑦ ᐊᒃᓱᕈᕐᓇᖅᑐᒃᑰᕐᓯᒪᒐᓗᐊᖅᑐᑕ, ᐊᒃᓱᕈᕈᑎᒋᓪᓗᒍ ᐊᑐᓕᖅᑎᑦᑎᔪᓐᓇᓚᐅᕋᑦᑎᒍ ᐊᒥᓱᑦ ᐱᐅᓯᒋᐊᕈᑎᒃᓴᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᕌᓂᒍᑎᒋᓯᒪᔭᕗᑦ. ᓴᖅᑮᓯᒪᓕᓚᐅᕋᑦᑕ ᐊᕐᕕᓂᓕᓐᓂᒃ (6) ᖃᖓᑕᓲᑦ ATR42-500-ᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓚᔭᐅᒋᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᓱᐴᔫᖑᓪᓗᓂ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒥᒃ 737-400-ᒥᒃ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖁᑎᒋᔭᕗᑦ, ᐱᐅᓯᒋᐊᕈᑎᐅᒻᒪᕆᒃᑐᓂ ᐊᐅᒪᑦᓯᓂᖃᕐᕕᒋᕙᒃᑕᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᖃᖓᑕᕙᒃᑐᑦ ᐃᖢᕐᕆᑦᑎᐊᕐᓗᑎᒃ ᐃᑭᒪᔪᓐᓇᖅᓯᑎᑕᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖁᑎᒋᔭᑦᑎᓐᓂ.

ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓂ ᐃᓕᑕᕆᓯᒪᒐᑦᑎᒍ ᐱᒻᒪᕆᐅᔪᑎᒍᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᒃᓴᖃᖅᑎᑕᐅᓯᒪᒐᑦᑕ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᓂᑦᑎᓐᓂ ᐊᖏᓂᖅᐸᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐃᓛᒃᑰᖓᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᕝᕕᖃᖅᑐᓂ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᖃᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᐃᒪᓐᓇᐃᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᑲᔪᓯᑎᑦᑎᓂᐊᕋᑦᑕ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᓂᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐱᕈᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᑎᑦᑎᓂᕐᒥ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᑦ ᑮᓇᐅᔭᓕᐅᕈᑎᒋᕙᒃᑕᖏᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᒪᒃᑯᒃᑐᐃᑦ ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᖅᑎᑕᐅᕙᓐᓂᖏᓄᑦ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᖃᖅᑐᓄᑦ.

ᐃᓚᒋᖃᑕᐅᓪᓗᒍ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑐᐃᓂᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐱᕈᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᑎᑕᐅᓂᖓᑕ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑐᖅᑐᒥ ᑮᓇᐅᔭᓕᐅᕐᓂᐅᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ, ᐅᐸᒍᑎᖃᑕᐅᓚᐅᖅᐳᒍᑦ ᑕᕝᕙᓂ ᐅᑭᐅᑦᑎᓐᓂ ᓄᓇᕗᑦ ᑕᑯᔭᒃᓴᖃᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᖃᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑲᑎᒪᕕᒡᔪᐊᕐᓂᖃᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᐃᖃᓗᓐᓂ ᓯᑦᑎᐱᕆ 19-ᒥᑦ 21-ᒧᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᕝᕕᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᔭᖅᑐᕐᑎᑦᑎᓪᓗᑕ. ᑖᓐᓇ ᑕᑯᔭᒃᓴᖃᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᓚᐅᕐᑐᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑲᑎᒪᕕᒡᔪᐊᕐᓂᐅᓚᐅᕐᑐᖅ ᐊᖏᓂᖅᐸᐅᖃᑕᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᕐᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᕙᒻᒪᑕ ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒥ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕᕆᕝᕕᖃᖅᑐᑦ, ᒐᕙᒪᐅᔪᑦ, ᐱᑕᖃᖅᑎᑦᑎᔨᒋᔭᐅᕙᒃᑐᑦ, ᑮᓇᐅᔭᓂᒃ ᕿᑐᕐᖏᐅᖅᑎᑦᑎᔩᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕᕆᕝᕕᔩᑦ ᑲᑎᖃᑎᒌᒃᑎᑕᐅᕙᒻᒪᑕ ᓴᖖᒋᑎᑦᑎᒋᐊᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᖃᑎᒌᓐᓂᕐᒥᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓇᓗᓇᐃᔭᐃᒋᐊᖅᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᑮᓇᐅᔭᓕᐅᕐᕕᐅᓕᕈᓐᓇᖅᑐᓂᒃ. ᐊᒻᒪᓗᒃᑲᓐᓂᖅ, ᖁᕕᐊᓱᓪᓚᕆᒃᐳᒍᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᖃᑎᒋᓕᕋᑦᑎᒍ ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ᑯᐊᐳᕇᓴᒃᑯᑦ ᐃᑲᔪᕐᓂᑦᑎᒍᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᕈᓐᓇᓕᖅᑎᑦᑎᒋᐊᒧᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᖅᑎᑕᐅᓯᒪᓕᖁᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᑦ ᒪᒃᑯᒃᑐᖏᑦ. ᑲᑐᔾᔨᖃᑎᒋᓪᓗᑎᒍ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᖃᑎᒋᔭᕗᑦ ᑮᓇᐅᔭᑎᒍᑦ ᐃᑲᔪᕈᑎᖃᖅᑎᑦᑎᓚᐅᕋᑦᑕ ᒪᒃᑯᒃᑐᒥᒃ ᐃᓚᖏᓐᓂᑦ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᓕᖏᓐᓂᑦ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᖃᖅᑎᐅᔭᖅᑐᕈᑎᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᑲᓇᑕᐅᑉ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᖓᓂᕐᒥᐅᓄᑦ ᐊᑕᐅᓯᖅ ᒪᒃᑯᒃᑐᑦ ᓯᓚᕐᔪᐊᖓᑦ ᑲᑎᒪᕕᒡᔪᐊᕐᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᐋᑐᕙᒥ ᓯᑦᑎᐱᕆ 28-ᒥᑦ ᐅᒃᑐᐱᕆ 1-ᒧᑦ, 2016.

ᓯᕗᓂᕆᔭᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ ᐃᓱᒪᒋᔭᖃᓕᖅᑎᓪᓗᑕ ᐊᑕᕝᕕᖃᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᕙᓪᓕᐊᓂᖃᕈᓐᓇᖅᑐᓂᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᔪᓐᓇᕈᒪᕗᒍᑦ 2017 ᐅᑭᐅᖓᓂ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑲᔪᓯᑎᑦᑎᓯᒪᓪᓗᑕ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᒃᓴᕆᔭᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ ᐃᑭᒪᕙᒃᑐᖁᑎᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓄᓇᓕᒋᔭᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᐱᔨᑦᑎᕋᕐᕕᒋᔭᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ. ᓱᓕᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᒥᒃ ᖁᔭᓕᓂᖃᖅᐳᒍᑦ ᑕᒪᐃᓐᓄᑦ ᐃᑭᒪᕙᒃᑐᖁᑎᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ, ᐃᑲᔪᖅᓯᒪᒻᒪᑎᒍᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖁᑎᒋᔭᐅᓂᑦᑎᓐᓂ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᒍᑎᖃᖅᑎᓪᓗᑕ ᓇᓪᓕᐅᓂᓯᕐᓂᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ 70-ᓂᒃ ᐅᑭᐅᓄᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖅᑎᐅᓕᖅᑎᓪᓗᑕ.

ᐱᔾᔪᑎᒋᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒍ ᑕᒪᕐᒥᓕᒫᖅ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓂ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᒋᔭᐅᔪᑦ, ᐃᓕᑦᓯ ᓇᖕᒥᓂᖅ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᓯᓗ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᓐᓇᐅᓂᖓᓂ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᑦᑎᐊᖁᔨᕗᒍᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓄᑖᖑᓂᐊᖅᑐᒥ ᐅᑭᐅᕆᓂᐊᖅᑕᑦᑎᓐᓂ ᓈᒻᒪᑦᑎᐊᖅᑑᔪᓐᓇᖁᓪᓗᓯ.

ᑐᖖᒐᓱᒋᑦᑎ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᑦᑎᓐᓂ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓂ, ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖁᑎᖓᓂ.

ᐸᕌᒃ ᕗᕇᓴᓐ ᕘᔅᑎᐊᒃᑯᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᖓᔪᖅᑳᖅ & ᐊᐅᓚᑦᑎᔨᒻᒪᕆᒃ

President, Makivik Corporation & Chairman, First Air xzJ6√6, mr=F4 fxS‰nzk5 x7m w4y?sb6, {5 wsf8k5 Président, Société Makivik et président du conseil, First Air

Chers invités, À l’approche de la fin de 2016, nous constatons avec satisfaction que l’année écoulée s’est révélée pleine de défis, mais positive. Bien que l’industrie ait connu plusieurs années difficiles, nous avons réussi par nos efforts à favoriser de nombreuses améliorations et réalisations.

Nous avons ajouté six ATR 42-500 ainsi qu’un autre Boeing 737-400 à notre flotte, ce qui nous a permis d’améliorer l’efficacité opérationnelle et le confort de nos passagers.

Chez First Air, nous reconnaissons le rôle important que nous jouons à titre d’une des plus grandes entreprises du secteur privé dans le Nord et nous continuerons donc à participer à la croissance économique de cette région et à l’éducation des jeunes.

En vue de soutenir cette croissance économique, nous avons participé comme exposant au salon professionnelconférence du Nunavut à Iqaluit du 19 au 21 septembre.

Le salon-conférence est l’un des événements commerciaux les plus importants au Nunavut qui a réuni des entreprises, des gouvernements, des fournisseurs, des investisseurs et des entrepreneurs en vue de renforcer les partenariats et de déterminer des possibilités économiques.

De plus, nous sommes fiers d’avoir travaillé en partenariat avec la société Qikiqtaaluk pour habiliter et éduquer nos jeunes du Nord. Ensemble, nous avons commandité un jeune d’une de nos collectivités inuites pour représenter le Nord du Canada lors du One Young World (« Un monde jeune ») qui s’est déroulé à Ottawa du 28 septembre au 1er octobre 2016.

Dans l’attente d’une année 2017 stable et productive, nous nous concentrons sans cesse sur notre engagement envers nos clients et les communautés que nous desservons avec fierté. Nous sommes très reconnaissants envers nos fidèles clients qui font en sorte que nous soyons la Ligne aérienne du Nord, alors que nous célébrons nos 70 ans de service.

Au nom de toute la famille de First Air, nous vous souhaitons, à vous et à votre famille, une joyeuse et festive saison et une nouvelle année prospère.

Bienvenue à bord de First Air, la Ligne aérienne du Nord.

Brock Friesen Président-directeur général de First Air

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We value your support and thank you for making First Air The Airline of the North.

Nous apprécions votre soutien et vous remercions de votre appui à First Air la ligne aérienne du Nord.

Like us!

/firstair

Book online at firstair.ca or call 1 800 267 1247

© RON LOWRY

© MATHEW ROYLE

In the News

Supporting our Northern economy

First Air employees joined Team Morgan in the Ottawa Fire Services Relay Run to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) on September 25. Team Morgan has been fundraising for children’s cancer research at CHEO for the past five years. This year, runners covered 50 kilometres, from fire station to fire station, using City of Ottawa sidewalks and pathways. @CHEOhospital

In supporting the growth of the Northern economy, First Air attended this year’s Nunavut Trade Show and Conference in Iqaluit, Nunavut, from September 19 to 21 as an exhibitor. This tradeshow and conference is one of the most recognized events in Nunavut and brings businesses, governments, suppliers, investors and entrepreneurs together to strengthen partnerships and develop economic opportunities.

© ONE YOUNG WORLD

Together we can make a difference

Helping to find solutions for the future First Air and Qikiqtaaluk Corporation partnered to sponsor Robert Adam Akpik from Iqaluit, Nunavut, to represent Canada’s North at One Young World, which took place in Ottawa from September 28 to October 1, 2016.

At the Summit, delegates debate, formulate and share innovative solutions for the pressing issues the world faces. This year, some of the counselors joining the delegates included: Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General; Sir Bob Geldof, Activist; and Mary Robinson, UN Special Envoy for Climate.

From the Flight Deck Why does food taste different on board an aircraft?

The average human has 10,000 taste buds.

While these taste buds all work fairly well on the ground, there are several factors at play in an aircraft that ultimately reduce their performance. As an aircraft climbs, the cabin pressure drops (this is what causes our ears to pop). When exposed to the reduced air pressure, the taste buds simply aren’t as good as they are at sea level.

Many of you have also noticed that the air in an airplane feels fairly dry. The air in an aircraft cabin is actually very dry — less than 20 per cent humidity. (The humidity in the Sahara Desert is 25 per cent.) This ends up actually being a bit of a double whammy — our taste buds don’t work as well in the drier environment but neither do our noses. The drier air leaves our noses drier which also reduces our sense of smell. A great deal of our sense of taste is actually tied to how food smells. (Some studies say as much as 80 per cent is tied to smell). When our ability to smell is reduced, so too is our ability to taste.

When all of these issues are combined, studies have shown that our sense of taste can be reduced by as much as 30 per cent.

This ends up being very similar to eating while suffering from a significant cold.

An interesting point, however, is that not all taste buds are impacted in the same way. In general, the salty and sweet receptors are dulled but our ability to taste savoury flavours remains quite good. In an effort to address these physiological changes, when preparing food for use on an airplane, the chefs generally try to focus on flavours that lean towards umami (from the Japanese word for pleasant savoury taste) and tend to season the dishes quite heavily. It’s also why drinks like tomato juice can be quite popular on board since the flavours play well to the taste buds that remain very effective in flight.

Interestingly, noise also plays a role in our sense of taste. It has been shown that food is less appetizing in noisy environments.

Our recent fleet upgrades to quieter aircraft will also make the in-flight meals taste better!

Captain Aaron Speer Vice President, Flight Operations First Air If you are curious about a specific topic regarding flying and aircraft operations, let us know what you’d like to learn about and we’ll try to include it in a future column. Email editor@arcticjournal.ca.

Michel Goguen from Fisheries and Oceans Canada enjoys a meal aboard a First Air flight. © Elena Ramirez

Dedicated to being first in service — and our commitment to the communities and people we serve!

ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᐅᔾᔨᕆᔭᐅᑎᑕᐅᓂᖓ

Employee Spotlight | Iqqanaijaqtiup Ujjirijautitauninga ᔨᐊᕝ ᒪᒃᑑᑯᓪ | Jeff McDougall ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᕗᖅ ᐊᑯᓂᐅᓂᖅᐹᒥᒃ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓄᑦ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᓯᒪᓕᖅᑐᓂ, ᔨᐊᕝ ᒪᒃᑑᑯᓪ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖏᑕ ᐋᖅᑭᐅᒪᑎᑕᐅᓂᖏᓄᑦ ᐃᓱᒪᑕᕆᔭᐅᕗᖅ ᐋᑐᕙ, ᐋᓐᓂᐊᕆᐅᒥ. ᔫᓂ 1978-ᖑᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᓕᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕗᖅ ᐳᕌᑦᓕ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓄᑦ ᑳᑉ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᕝᕕᖓᓂ. ᓯᕗᓪᓕᖅᐹᒥ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᓕᐊᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕗᑦ ᑎᓯᐱᕆᐅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᑖᓐᓇ ᓱᓕ ᐅᑭᐅᖅ ᐊᑐᖅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᑎᐅᓕᕋᒥ. ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᖅᓯᓐᓈᑦ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᖖᒍᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕗᖅ, ᓯᑕᒪᓕᒡᔪᐊᓂᒃ (DC3) ᐋᖅᑭᒃᓱᐃᔨᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂ, ᒪᕐᕈᓕᐊᓛᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐲᕗᕐᓂᒃ. ᑕᐃᔅᓱᒪᓂᐅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᐱᓕᕆᔭᕆᐊᖃᖃᑦᑕᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕗᑦ 6-ᓂᒃ ᐱᓇᓱᐊᕈᓯᕐᓂᒃ ᓄᖅᑲᖓᓚᐅᐱᓪᓚᓐᓂᐊᕆᓪᓗᑎᒃ. ᖃᖓᑕᓲᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᕙᓐᓂᖏᑦ ᐊᓯᔾᔨᕋᓱᒃᑎᒋᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᓯᓚᐅᑉ ᐊᓯᔾᔨᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᖓᑎᑐᑦ.

ᔨᐊᕝ ᐅᑭᐅᑦ ᐊᑐᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᓯᒪᓂᖏᓐᓂᑦ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᖖᒋᐅᖅᑐᓂ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᕝᕕᓐᓂᑦ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᖃᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᕗᖅ, ᐃᓚᖃᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᖃᐅᓱᐃᑦᑐᒥ, ᐃᖃᓗᓐᓂ, ᓴᓂᕋᔭᖕᒥ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑳᕐᑉᒥ. ᓴᓇᕐᕈᑎᓕᕆᓂᕐᒥ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔨᒋᔭᐅᓚᖅᓯᒪᒋᕗᖅ ᑖᒃᑯᓄᖓ ᑲᒻᐸᓂᒃᑯᓐᓄᑦ ᑯᐃᐸᖕᒥ, ᐊᐃᑕᕼᐆᒥ, ᕗᓗᐊᕆᑕᒥ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᑕᓕᒥ. ᔨᐊᕝ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᕆᔭᒥᓂᒃ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᔭᖃᓪᓚᕆᒍᑎᖃᕐᐳᖅ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᒋᓪᓗᒍ ᐊᑐᓂ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᕆᕙᒃᑕᖏᑦ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᒃᐸᖖᒋᓐᓂᖏᑕ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᖖᒋᐅᖅᑐᓄᑦ ᓄᓇᓕᖕᓄᐊᖃᑦᑕᕆᐊᒥᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓄᓇᕐᔪᐊᕆᔭᐅᔪᓄᑦ.

ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖁᑎᐅᔪᑦᑕᐅᖅ ᐅᑭᐅᑦ ᐊᑐᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᓂᖏᓐᓂ ᐊᓯᔾᔨᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᒋᕗᑦ 748-ᖑᕙᓚᐅᖅᑐᓂᑦ, 727-ᓂᑦ ATR42-ᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ATR72-ᓂᒃ, 737ᓂᑦ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ 767-ᓄᑦ, ᑕᒪᕐᒥᒃ ᓇᖕᒥᓂᕆᔭᐅᔫᕙᒃᑐᑎᒃ ᑲᒻᐸᓂᒃᑯᓐᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᕇᓐᓇᖅᓯᒪᓪᓗᒍ ᓚᐃᓴᖃᖅᑑᓪᓗᓂ ᐃᑯᒪᓕᕆᔨᒋᔭᐅᓪᓗᓂ. ᑭᓯᐊᓂᓗ, ᔨᐊᕝ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᑦ ᐱᐅᒋᓛᕆᓯᒪᕙᖏᑦ ᑕᐃᒃᑯᐊ ᓯᑕᒪᓕᒡᔪᐊᑦ (DC3). "ᖁᕕᐊᓇᓪᓚᕆᒃᐸᓚᐅᖅᑐᖅ ᖃᖓᑕᖃᑦᑕᕆᐊᒥᒃ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ ᑕᐃᔅᓱᒪᓂᐅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᒥ ᖃᒧᑎᖃᖔᖅᐸᒃᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᐅᖓᓯᒃᑐᒥᐅᓄᐊᕌᖓᑦᑕ, ᓯᑯᒧᑦ ᒥᑉᐸᒃᑐᑕ ᓱᓇᑕᖃᓗᐊᖖᒋᑦᑐᓂ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᐃᓛᓐᓂ ᓱᓇᑕᖃᖖᒋᒻᒪᕆᖅᑰᔨᔪᓂ," ᐅᖃᖅᑐᓂ.

ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᓕᐊᖅᐸᓐᓂᕐᒥᓂ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᓛᕆᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕙᖓ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒧᑦ ᓵᑐᒃᑰᕐᒪᑕ ᑭᒡᒐᖅᑐᖅᑎᒋᔭᐅᔪᑦ ᓯᓚᕐᔪᐊᓕᒫᒥᖖᒑᖅᑐᑦ. ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓄᑦ ᑕᑯᔭᖅᑐᐃᑎᑕᐅᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᒻᒪᑕ ᐊᒥᓱᓄᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᕝᕕᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᐅᓪᓚᕆᒃᑐᓂᒃ ᓄᓇᓂᒃ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᓕᒫᒥ ᑕᑯᖃᑦᑕᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᑲᖏᐊᓂᑦ ᐅᐊᖕᓇᒧᑦ. ᓇᖕᒥᓂᕐᓗ ᓄᖅᑲᖓᑲᓚᐅᕐᕕᒋᕙᒃᑕᒥᓐᓂ ᐱᐅᒋᓂᖅᐹᕆᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂᐅᒃ ᑖᓴᓐ ᓯᑎ; ᑕᐅᕙᓂ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖑᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑐᖖᒐᓇᕐᓂᖏᑦ ᐱᐅᓪᓚᕆᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᒻᒪᑕ.

ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓕᕆᔨᒃᑯᓐᓂ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᖃᕆᐊᖅ ᐊᓯᖏᓂᒃᑕᐅᖅ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᕐᓂᖃᕐᒥᔪᖅ. ᐊᑕᐅᓯᐊᖅᑐᓂ ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ, ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒦᑦᑐᓂ, ᐅᓐᓄᒃᓯᐅᑎᐅᓪᓗᓂ, ᔨᐊᕝ ᑲᑎᖃᑎᖃᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕗᖅ ᐊᖑᑎᒥᒃ ᒥᑦᑕᕐᕕᐅᑉ ᖄᖓᓂᒃ ᐱᓱᒃᑐᒥᒃ ᓇᖕᒥᓂᖅ ᓱᐴᔫᖁᑎᒋᔭᐅᔪᒥᑦ ᐅᖅᓴᐃᔭᖅᑐᕐᑐᑎᒃ ᑎᑭᑦᑐᒥᑦ. ᓯᒡᒐᓕᐊᖅᑐᕐᕈᓐᓇᕐᕕᒃᓴᒥᓂᒃ ᕿᓂᖅᑐᓂ. ᔨᐊᕝ ᐃᑭᒪᑎᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕙᖓ ᐊᑦᑕᓇᖖᒋᓐᓂᕐᒧᑦ. ᐊᑯᓂᐅᖖᒋᑦᑐᒥᓗ, ᔨᐊᕝ ᑐᓴᖅᑎᑕᐅᓕᓚᐅᕐᐳᖅ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖃᑎᒥᓂᑦ ᑖᓐᓇ ᐃᑭᒪᑎᓵᖅᑕᖓ "ᐳᕌᑦ ᐱᑦ"-ᖑᓂᖓᑕ. ᑲᑎᖖᒐᓪᓗᒍ ᐊᔾᔨᓕᐅᖅᑕᐅᖃᑎᒋᓕᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᔭᖓᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒥᓄᑦ ᐅᑎᕐᓂᐊᓵᕐᓂᖓᓂ! ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖁᑎᖏᓂᒃ ᐋᖅᑭᐅᒪᓕᕆᐊᖅᑎᑦᑎᖖᒋᓕᕌᖓᒥ, ᔨᐊᕝ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᔭᖃᖅᐸᒻᒥᔪᑦ ᓇᒧᑐᐃᓐᓇᖅ ᐅᐊᔭᖃᑦᑕᕆᐊᒥᒃ, ᓄᓇᐅᑉ ᖄᖓᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᔭᖅᑐᐃᕙᒋᐊᒥᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓄᓇᒥ ᑐᐱᖅᓯᒪᔭᖅᑐᕆᐊᒥᒃ. ᔨᐊᕝ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᕗᖅ ᐊᑯᓂᐅᓂᖅᐹᒥᒃ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓂ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᒋᔭᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᑕᑯᔅᓴᐅᑎᔭᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᒍᑎᖃᖅᑎᓪᓗᑕ 70-ᓄᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᓄᑦ ᓇᓪᓕᐅᓂᓯᕐᕕᑦᑎᓐᓂ.

One of First Air’s long serving employees, Jeff McDougall is First Air’s Aircraft Maintenance Supervisor based in Ottawa, Ontario.

He began with Bradley Air Services in June 1978 at the Carp hangar.

His first trip to the Arctic was in December that same year. He began as an apprentice, working on the DC3s, the Twin Otters and Beavers. Rotations in those early days were six weeks in. Schedules changed as much as the weather.

Jeff has worked at various bases in the Arctic over the years, including © Mark Taylor Resolute Bay, Frobisher Bay, Hall Beach and Carp. He also worked as a Tech Rep for the company in Quebec, Idaho, Florida and Italy. Jeff really enjoys this part of his job because each project provides a challenge and he loves the variety of each place and country.

Aircraft changed over the years from 748s, 727s ATR42s and ATR72s, 737s, and 767s, all owned by the company and which he worked on as a licensed engineer. However, Jeff’s favourite aircraft is the DC3.

“It was always an adventure flying around the North in the early days on skis and going to remote locations, out on the ice where we had limited or no resources,” he says.

His favourite Arctic trip was a Northern Charter with Ambassadors from around the world. First Air escorted them to many outposts and spectacular scenic areas across the Arctic from east to west.

His personal favourite stopover was Dawson City; the history and hospitality was incredible.

Working in aviation has other highlights as well. Once in Iqaluit, Nunavut, while working the night shift, Jeff came across a guy walking on the tarmac who had just stepped out of a private jet that had stopped for fuel. He was looking for a place to have a cigarette. Jeff offered him a ride and dropped him off across the ramp in a safe place. A few minutes later, Jeff’s coworkers informed him that it was “Brad Pitt.” They grabbed a couple of photos with him before his jet left!

When not ensuring the safety of First Air aircraft, Jeff also enjoys travelling, geocaching and camping.

Jeff is just one of the long serving First Air employees we are featuring in celebration of our 70th anniversary this year.

Dedicated to being first in service — and our commitment to the communities and people we serve!

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Arc c vs Antarc ca Fort Ross Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arc c Icon

Nowhere Left to Roam

Preserving the Reindeer Herd PM40050872

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HERdER TalliEs up THE HERd bEfoRE THEy sET ouT upon THEiR MigRaTion fRoM THE coasT. © JonaTHan fRænkEl-EidsE

Contents 9 35

November | December 2016 Volume 28, No. 6

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Publisher: above&beyond ltd.

Managing Editor: doris ohlmann doris@arcticjournal.ca Advertising: 613-257-4999 Toll free: 1-877-2aRcTic 1 877 227 2842 advertising@arcticjournal.ca Design: Robert Hoselton, beat studios

Features

above&beyond ltd. does not assume any responsibility for any errors and/or omissions of any content in the publication. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.

i’m a polar painter, so i travel to the arctic or antarctica once a year. both have five months of darkness, five months of lightness with a twilight season on either end, obviously at opposite times of the year. — Dr. Diane Howard Langlois

above&beyond ltd.,(aka above&beyond, Canada's Arctic Journal) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Air, and a media instrument intended solely to entertain and provide general information about the North.

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arctic vs antarctica

nowhere left to Roam

Reindeer husbandry has endured through shifting climates and numerous hostile regimes — a testament to both the adaptability of the saami and the tenacity of their cultural identity. yet despite this impressive history, some struggle with the double-threat of rapid human development and climate change. — Jonathan Frænkel-Eidse

35

fort Ross

located on the southeast corner of somerset island, fort Ross has become a main attraction for passengers aboard ships cruising the northwest passage via bellot strait. What draws people to its rocky shore isn’t just the abandoned clapboard buildings, but its connection to the search for sir John franklin’s northwest passage expedition. — Season Osborne

38

ice bear: The cultural History of an arctic icon

from our births onward, the culture that surrounds us shapes our food preferences and what we consider “normal” or acceptable. — Michael Engelhard

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12 Living Above&Beyond 19 Resources

26 Celebrating First Air’s 70th 44 Science

yellowknife lakes and

fish biology

— paul Vecsei

46 Science

arviat’s flora

— paul c. sokoloff

50 Education

an arctic Residence concept

— bill lishman

52 Bookshelf

53 Guest Editorial

— okalik Eegeesiak, Eva aariak and kuupik kleist

The pikialasorsuaq

commission

54 Inuit Forum

— natan obed,

president, iTk

7

ICU, Svalbard, 36 x 36 Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

Arctic vs Antarctica Text and artwork by dr. diane Howard langlois

i’m a polar painter, so i travel to the arctic or antarctica once a year. both have five months of darkness, five months of lightness with a twilight season on either end, obviously at opposite times of the year. i suppose that is the most reasonable place to start in describing the differences between the north and south polar Regions. They are similar in that they are cold frozen deserts. However, both are more dissimilar than similar, mainly because of their geographical differences.

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a b oV E & b E yo n d — c a n a da’ s a Rc T i c J o u R n a l

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e Arctic is a vast body of water surrounded by continents whereas Antarctica is a continent surrounded by a large body of water. e Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world’s five major oceans and, ironically, is about the same size as Antarctica. e Antarctic Ocean is usually called the Southern Ocean. It acts like a huge conveyor belt cleansing the Earth’s oceans as water flows around the continent pushed by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

Countless ships have been lost in the Arctic but not as many in the Antarctic. In modern times, two ships have sunk by hitting an iceberg: the well known Titanic tragedy with 1,500 souls lost and the lesser known MS Explorer in the Southern Ocean with all souls aboard saved.

Both can reach freezing temperatures. However, the northern Polar Regions are Arktos, Northern Lights, 18 x 24 Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

warmer due to higher temperatures of the surrounding seas while the Southern Polar Regions are noticeably colder due to the large continental ice mass. Katabatic winds blow over the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica and the ice melts and builds in

Iceberg Tunnel, Weddell Sea, 36 x 48 Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

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both regions. Climate change has caused the northern polar ice cap to melt at a far greater rate than the southern ice cap. Why? Well the North Pole is just about two

a b oV E & b E yo n d — c a n a da’ s a Rc T i c J o u R n a l

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Polar Bear Searching for a Rainbow, Churchill, 16 x 20 Oil on Canvas

True Love Petermann Island, Antarctica, 36 x 36 Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

metres above sea level while the South Pole is almost 3,000 metres above sea level, and

No one set foot on Antarctica until 1820 and to this day

less ice means more absorption of solar heat and therefore more ice melt. eoretically

no one owns it. e Arctic is surrounded by seven countries

you can have altitude sickness at the South Pole and I know from experience you can

all vying for the mineral and oil deposits stretching out from

have sea sickness in both Polar Regions.

coastlines onto continental shelves. In the years to come

A very big difference of course is the history of the people of each region. e Arctic

tension is bound to increase between Russia, the United

regions have been inhabited by human beings for about four thousand years: e ule,

States, Canada, Norway (Svalbard), Denmark (Greenland),

Norse, Inuit, Sami, Chukchi and many other indigenous people. However, people

and Finland.

who live in the circumpolar regions have close similarities. All northern indigenous people

Plant life is also more plentiful in the North and less so

are undergoing substantial changes due to modernization, westernization and global-

in the South. A trip to the Dry Valleys can explain part of that

ization. Meanwhile, Antarctica has never had a permanent population. About four

but mainly plants are sparse and irregularly spaced, unlike

million people live in the Arctic year-round but only 4,000 scientists and support staff

the tundra which is a mass of tangled plant material that

work at the 60 degree-plus research stations in Antarctica. is drops down to under

glows red, yellow and orange during the autumn months.

1,000 staff during the winter months and, unlike the Arctic, once the southern winter sets in, no one usually leaves.

People always ask me if I see any penguins in the Arctic or any polar bears in Antarctica. No, that’s never going to happen unless we place them there. Polar bears are thought to have evolved from brown bears moving over the Bering Strait when it was above sea level and the flightless penguin hitched a ride from New Zealand when the Earth’s tectonic plates began to shi.

Whether the landscape, the flora or fauna, or the people, my paintings capture the differences in the North and South Polar Regions.

Dr. Diane Howard Langlois taught at the University of Calgary, Florida State University and Mount Royal College before she became a full-time polar artist and videographer. For more of her work, contact Masters Gallery in Calgary, Alberta; Just Imajan Gallery in Cochrane, Ontario, or visit her website at www.dianelanglois.com.

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a b oV E & b E yo n d — c a n a da’ s a Rc T i c J o u R n a l

Abandoned Ship, Peel Sound Northwest Passage, 36 x 48 Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

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liVing aboVE & bEyond

kuujjuaq gears up for Johnny May’s last festive flight

after a candy drop farewell tour over nunavik

communities this past spring, the famed inuit

bush pilot Johnny May (now 71) will be waving

goodbye to this extraordinary tradition with one last christmas candy drop over kuujjuaq

on december 25. initiated in 1965 by Johnny May himself, kuujjuaq residents have been

enjoying the event each christmas for over 50

years. Watch for this legendary aviator in his Turbo otter, along with santa and his helpers

onboard, to drop candies and a medley of gifts

that will have everyone looking to the sky above, running and scrambling in the snow to catch their share.

© isabelle dubois (2)

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liVing aboVE & bEyond

Thor and Kelly emcee the closing ceremonies of the Hitmakerz Tour, which featured a talent show with local musicians, singers, dancers, throat singers and Inuit drummers. Š Hitmakerz

Hitmakerz tour nunavut

a new, northern arts initiative hopes to

give nunavut youth skills writing, recording,

producing,marketing, and selling professional music. The nunavut Hitmakerz travelled to clyde River, pond inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq in

the Qikiqtaaluk Region this summer to host workshops, concerts, talent shows, photo

shoots, interviews, brainstorming, jamming,

co-writing sessions and demonstrations of studio recordings.

This year, kelly fraser and Thor simonsen

were the tour instructors. fraser, a well-known

The two instructors hope to record the songs

The tour was sponsored by the government

singer from sanikiluaq, taught song-writing

created by the youth for a future Hitmakerz

of nunavut and Qikiqtani inuit association.

simonsen, a music producer from iqaluit, taught

future music videos. a small, mobile, recording

Hitmakerz to the kivalliq region before the end of

and performance, and gave motivational talks.

audio recording, production, business, and marketing.

2016 | 06

album. The tour will also be recorded on video for

studio was donated to each community on the

tour.

a b oV E & b E yo n d — c a n a da’ s a Rc T i c J o u R n a l

organizers are hoping to bring the nunavut

the year. To learn more, visit www.nuhitmakerz.ca.

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liVing aboVE & bEyond George River Caribou. © Heiko Wittenborn

upcaRT strategy moves forward

The ungava peninsula caribou aboriginal Round-

The Management strategy will set the

ensuring that the cultural and spiritual relation-

House lake on george River in september. as

River and leaf River caribou herds for this

Mark nui of the innu nation is the new

draft Management strategy and is committed

the continued decline and critical status of the

table (upcaRT) held their sixth meeting at indian

a result, the upcaRT significantly advanced its to adopting the Management strategy by the

end of the year.

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foundation for the management of the george

generation and the next. The upcaRT recognizes

george River caribou Herd and is considering

all options to provide for food security while

ships with caribou are preserved and respected.

co-chair who will be sharing his duties with

current co-chair adamie delisle alaku, executive vice president of Makivik corporation.

a b oV E & b E yo n d — c a n a da’ s a Rc T i c J o u R n a l

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liVing aboVE & bEyond

Makivik President Jobie Tukkiapik, Minister Bennett, and Jobie Saunders of Makivik Construction tour a construction site in Kuujjuaq. © Makivik

feds address housing issue

Residents in kuujjuaq, nunavik, in northern

Quebec, are desperate for housing. in an effort to alleviate some of the social housing issues in the area, Minister of indigenous and northern

affairs, carolyn bennett, announced $50-million

One of the textiles in the new exhibit at the WAG: Fanny Algaalaga Avatituq (Canadian (Baker Lake), b. 1950). Weaving, c. 1980. Wool, embroidery thread on wool duffle. On loan from the Government of Nunavut Fine Art Collection, 2.78.9. © Ernest Mayer

Eastern arctic exhibit begins canadian tour after the establishment of nunavut, the collections of art, archives, and artifacts from

the northwest Territories (nWT) were assessed, and ownership of the material from the eastern

arctic was transferred to the new territory of

nunavut. Much of the collection continued to

it has been expanded by the Wag to include

in funding that will mean an additional 144 units

will be build, for a total of 214 houses in nine

communities, in the near future.

The lack of social housing is common across

all four inuit regions in canada, with a shortage of approximately 1,000 units.

Makivik is working diligently with its regional

an even wider selection of sculptures, prints,

partners — the kativik Regional government

new exhibit will be at the Wag until april 2017.

(kMHb), and government of Quebec political

artifacts, photographs, films, and textiles. The Visit wag.ca.

be stored in the nWT at the prince of Wales

(kRg), the kativik Municipal Housing bureau

leaders and departments — to continually

address the housing crisis in nunavik.

northern Heritage centre in yellowknife. in

february 2016, the Winnipeg art gallery (Wag)

concluded a loan agreement with the govern-

ment of nunavut (gn) that put in motion the transfer of approximately 7,500 works from the

Heritage centre and other locations to the Wag.

Our Land: Contemporary Art from the Arctic

is the result of a collaboration between the gn

and the peabody Essex Museum in salem, Massachusetts. The exhibit, which has been

travelling the us circuit for the last few years, began its canadian tour in Winnipeg in october.

2016 | 06

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inuit Traditions focus of conference

The 20th biennial inuit studies conference,

held in october in st. John’s newfoundland, was

an interactive event that included presentations, demonstrations and panel discussions as well as

an inuit-focused arts festival and an all-night arts crawl, all around the theme of inuit Traditions.

The three-day gathering of elders, researchers,

artists, politicians and students heard speakers

cover topics such as the health benefits of

traditional inuit games, inuit art, language

revitalization and standardization, housing, archaeology, creative arts, technology, the environment, public policy and the decolonization of education in inuit communities.

speakers included natan obed (nunatsiavut),

president of the inuit Tapiriit kanatami; natalia

Radunovich (chukotka), linguist and folklorist; Joar nango (samiland), architect; Tanya Tagaq

(nunavut), performance artist; and Mataalii

okalik (nunavut), president of national inuit youth council.

The event also featured country food

demonstrations, glow-in-the-dark inuit tattoos,

nunavik’s avataq cultural institute’s foil

balloons shaped as sealskin floats, live music, theatre and film screenings, and the launch of

sakkijâjuk, a major exhibit of art and crafts

from the nunatsiavut region.

The Memorial university of newfoundland

and the nunatsiavut government hosted the event.

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NWT Premier Bob McLeod takes part in a drum dance in Deline last March at the community gathering to celebrate the settling of their self-government agreement. © gnWT

nWT’s first self-government celebrates

The new deline got'ine government cele-

deline got'ine government as its ʔekw’ahtı̨dé

brated their beginning in september, kicking

(‘highest honest leader’).

community. it has the distinction of becoming

residents — first nation or not — and eventu-

off a week of festivities in the great bear lake the northwest Territories' first self-governed

The government will assume control of all

ally be responsible for all community affairs,

including education, health care and social housing.

community, and canada’s first indigenous/ public self-government at the community level.

Hundreds of people attended to share

drum dancing, songs and stories, including

dignitaries, federal Mp Michael Mcleod, nWT

premier bob Mcleod, and gwich'in Tribal council

president bobbie Jo greenland Morgan.

all of the elected councillors speak north

slavey, and elected positions and activities will

be officially north slavey, the official language

of the new government. Raymond Tutcho,

instead of being called ‘chief,’ will lead the

2016 | 06

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2016 | 06

REsouRcEs

nunaVik

Economic assessment continues for rare earth deposit

commerce Resources corp.’s 2016 field program at its 100 per cent owned ashram Rare Earth

deposit in northern Quebec took place this fall.

Baffinland and QIA continue to work on plan

The Mary River mine, one of the richest iron

site mines about 21.5 million tonnes of iron

Hill silver district in canada’s yukon Territory.

hydrogeological test work, and continued

is hoping to expand its annual production,

hydrogeological program was comprised of

two phases. The first phase focused on the installation of various types of monitoring equipment down several previously completed

drill holes at the deposit. The second phase

included a pump test.

The data collected will be used to evaluate

the sub-surface water flow and slope stability

of the anticipated pit shell.

This economic assessment is preliminary

in nature.

nunaVuT

Feds back environmental review

The federal government is backing the nunavut

impact Review board’s decision to require a

full environmental review of agnico Eagle

Mine’s proposed Whale Tail pit gold project, however communities involved in the review

will not receive monies from the federal government to prepare their submissions.

The Whale Tail pit operation is about

during the open water season. baffinland

increase its shipping to 10 months of the year

community groups across the kivalliq

region have been lobbying for years to have

the expansion is held up in the regulatory

drilling has confirmed and expanded the

bermingham high grade zone (the “bear Zone”)

ing the education and training programs with

imately 15,500 metres totaling approximately

delays and miscommunication implement-

from an initial 8,000 metre program to approx-

baffinland and the Qikiqtani inuit association

45 holes. Two adjacent zones (the Etta and the

for the mine as well. However, both groups

current silver resource estimate (not including

(Qia) have held up the hiring of more inuit continue to work together on the inuit impact and benefit agreement to ensure inuit benefit from the iron mine project.

nWT

Companies can now apply for discovery licences

according to an expert panel appointed by

the northwest Territories oil and gas regulator,

office of the Regulator of oil and gas operations

(oRogo), four companies can now apply for

discovery licences from the Minister of industry, Tourism and investment.

in 2014, conocophillips drilled and hydrau-

arctic Zones) in the bermingham area have a the bear Zone) of 5.2 million ounces indicated

(377,000 tonnes with average grade of 430 g/t).

beyond continuing geology work, remaining

work in the bear Zone and general bermingham area in 2016 includes completion of hydrological well drilling, geotechnical investigation

and metallurgical testing as well as waste rock

characterization studies to support permitting

activity.

Planning ahead for mining workers

yukon college has a new $8.3 million facility

on its Whitehorse campus — the centre for

northern innovation in Mining (cniM).

With two sections — classrooms and an

hydrocarbons. as such, the company, as well

airplane hangar-sized workshop floor — the

areas nearby — Husky Energy, shell and MgM

and electrical programs. The 18,000-square-

building will initially house the school’s carpentry

Energy — may receive the exclusive lifetime

foot centre, although based in Whitehorse,

metres south of norman Wells.

be transported to road-accessible communities

rights to explore nearly 4,000 square kilo-

However, although these oil and gas

companies may have the rights for further

as mining activity in the area increases.

mean commercial feasibility.

2016 | 06

and mineralization pattern similar to the largest

approval process.

tougher environmental controls to protect their water, sea mammals and caribou populations

from initial 2016 drill holes are impressive and deposits in the district.

as others with exploration licences covering

four years.

gram underscore the materiality and importance

of this discovery to the future of keno Hill. grades

baffin island, and build a port there. However,

to steensby inlet, on the western coast of

company proposes to haul ore mined from the operations to begin in 2018 and last three to

Early results from the 2016 exploration pro-

the emerging vein geometry reflects a structural

lically fractured a well that held significant

pit to Meadowbank for processing. it expects

in the bermingham deposit area of the keno

with ice-breaking, and possibly build a railway

50 kilometres northwest of agnico Eagle’s

Meadowbank gold mine near baker lake. The

alexco Resource corp. has announced interim

results from an ongoing diamond drill program

ore per year and ships to European markets

environmental baseline data collection. The

Diamond deposits promising

ore deposits in the world, is located south of

pond inlet and north of igloolik. presently the

The program consisted of three main

components: resource definition drilling,

yukon

exploration in the area, it doesn’t necessarily

a b oV E & b E yo n d — c a n a da’ s a Rc T i c J o u R n a l

has a mobile ‘trades training trailer’ that can

as well.

it is hoped that the cniM will help

students build skills they can use in the local

workforce.

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The herders prepare to move their families and the herd on their annual 300-km journey from the coast to the highlands of Finnmark.

Nowhere Left to Roam Preserving the Reindeer Herd Text and photos by Jonathan Frænkel-Eidse

“They’re always trying to make us change, as if what we do is just a lifestyle choice, like going skiing,” the matron explained with a wry grin as she welcomed me in. Surely this is a sentiment that has echoed over the millennia as Vikings, Tsars and modern governments have threatened the existence of her forbearers through subordination and assimilation. Her smile then faded suddenly, and while the words that came next were softly spoken, her eyes blazed fierce in the firelight: “A lifestyle you can change. We can't just change; this is our life.”

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Currently around 10 per cent of Saami are connected with the reindeer herding industry, with the vast majority now employed in other sectors. While climate change may one day require that these herders too change employment, one must consider that it is possibly not simply the reindeer that these Saami identify with, but instead the multiple layers of meaning that their livelihoods entail and the implications these may have on their sense of identity.

A

s I settled onto the so skins on the floor, I could

the herd). I had been invited into his kota (tent) for an interview and a warm drink as

feel my body sigh with relief that the day was over

they made preparations for their annual 300 km migration across Finnmark, Norway’s

— catching reindeer by the antlers all day, it seemed,

northernmost county. ere, sitting semi-circle around the fire sat three generations

did not appear to be a part of my muscle memory’s repertoire.

of his family.

Not so for my aging contact Anders, who showed neither

Hopping over pleasantries entirely, the various family members were tense — eager

mental nor physical fatigue throughout the day despite being

to know who I was and why I was here. I explained my purpose in the Arctic, that I

old enough to consider taking out his pension (to which he

had travelled to one of the most radically changing climates on Earth, a so-called

insisted he would put off as long as he could keep up with

“hotspot,” where temperature increases double the global average. is phenomenon has, among other things, resulted in a rapid reduction in sea ice, thawing of the tundra permafrost, expansion of the tree-line both in latitude and elevation and a growing disruption of indigenous human communities. Here I sought to meet with individuals who were most exposed to these changes, with the goal of gaining insight into what the rest of the global population may have in store when climate change’s effects become more pronounced. In other words, to use the Arctic as a crystal ball of sorts, to see what destiny may lie in wait for southerners.

With my intentions clear, their restraint dissipated and was replaced with a torrent of responses. I hastily took out pen and paper as they shared their story and their plight. Mild winters had become an increasing challenge for the herders. One of the Nikko’s Camp: The summer camp of Anders’ youth, used by his father and his grandfather.

Now it has become so lined with powerlines and surrounded by development that he can no longer use it.

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Bottom right: Why certain animals like reindeer have avoided power lines has long been a mystery, but now it is believed that this may be due to their eye’s sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) light, which is frequently emitted in sudden flashes from the power lines.

most oen cited challenges associated with this involved the increasing frequency of ice build-up on the rocks, which cuts the reindeer off from their primary winter forage of lichen. is has forced many herders to turn to expensive pellet feed to ensure their herd’s survival through the winter. A second problem involved winter’s delay: whereas once they could count on frozen ground for their migration, they now found themselves bogged down in marshy terrain. A more long-term concern related to the expansion of the treeline, that is slowly taking over grazing pasture.

As the challenges stacked up one upon the next, the dedication they held to their way of life and the conviction in their voices sent a shiver through my body despite the heat of the fire — a chill that I now imagine to stem from their ancestors’ fingers upon the frozen ice cap that once covered this land during the last great Ice Age, for it is already here that their story begins.  e Saami’s ancestors are believed to have been the first people to inhabit Arctic Scandinavia, arriving on the scene some 14,000 years ago with a retreating four-kilometrethick ice sheet as a backdrop. Scored down to the granite bedrock, this would have been a virtually sterile land where only moss and lichen could grow — a reindeer’s two favourite meals. e Proto-Saami were likely hunters who followed these reindeer herds from Siberia into Scandinavia, over time developing a means of semi-domesticating them. In the millennia that followed, reindeer husbandry has endured through climates both warm

Reindeer herds in Finnmark are now primarily composed of productive females and their calves, with males typically accounting for roughly five per cent of the herd. The proportion of males can be increased in periods of adverse winter conditions, whereby their size and strength can be used to break trail and dig through the snow and ice layers to the lichen that lies below.

and cold: from the Medieval Warming Period — that witnessed deciduous forests replacing

involves using the geography of the land itself. is tactic is

glaciers atop Scandinavia’s highest peaks and Norse agriculture in place of today’s

believed to be based on a replication of the natural, seasonal

barren tundra — to the Little Ice Age, which saw the re-glaciation of the Scandinavian

movements of the herds before they became semi-domes-

mountains and a wide scale abandonment of neighbouring Viking Arctic colonies.

ticated, using the folds of the vast Arctic landscape to shelter

eir persistence through shiing climates and numerous hostile regimes is a testament to both the adaptability of the Saami and the tenacity of their cultural identity.

them from the harsh elements and following the seasonal nutrient cycle of the land in their annual migration route.

Yet despite this impressive history, the family I sat with now feared that they were

Over time these routes became entrenched in Saami

leading their herds into a dead end as they struggled to cope with the double-threat of

governance, whereby individual communities, or siida, were

rapid human development and climate change.

entitled to specific summer pastures along the coast, winter



pastures in the highlands, and the migration corridor that connected the two. ough neighbouring siida may

Earlier that week I had been out trekking through kilometres of undulating virgin

sometimes allow temporary access to their district (known

tundra, with the steel-blue expanse of the Barents Sea filling the horizon. As I plodded

as “trading snow”), by and large herders must work with the

along, a white veil grew in the north and fell upon me with surprising speed. Taking

land they are allotted.

shelter from the season’s first snowy squall in a primitive stone hut together with several other trekkers, the conversation quickly turned towards the Saami. ough respectful



in tone, the negative implications of reindeer husbandry on the land-use rights of not only trekkers, but the oil, mining and fishing industries as well, became a central theme.

I quickly took note aer one respondent remarked, “ey say ‘no’ to pretty much everything. ey already have the whole island; can’t they just go some place else?” As it turns out, they cannot. e reason for this requires some explanation of the herder’s primary adaptation strategy. One tactic involves altering the composition and size of the herd: for example, adjusting the male to female ratio or adjusting the overall number in the herd depending on whether it is a time of scarcity or time of plenty. e second, more crucial strategy, 2016 | 06

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Below: The larger herd is composed of smaller family-owned flocks that each family is responsible for. Yet when it comes time to move the herd, everybody pitches in communally.

While rapid climate change will certainly challenge the adaptive strategies developed over millennia, projected

range has fallen into disuse due to herd avoidance of infrastructure, and this number is projected to reach 78 per cent by 2050.

climate change is well within the historic range of what

In order to secure their future, Anders and his family will need to adapt to rapid

reindeer herders have demonstrated they can manage. In

climate change. ese changes are already adversely impacting them, and if their

mild winters for example, they can skilfully move their herd

livelihood is to survive, the herders will need to employ their landscape-based adaptive

away from icy mountainsides to terrain with better lichen

strategy to the fullest — only now they have much less land.

grazing conditions, and manoeuvre around unfrozen marshes if needed. In the summer, they can move the herd



to the coasts to graze on the nutrient rich grasses, even as

Adaptation in Finnmark is unlikely to be a question of life and death in the near

the treeline continues to grow and claim more grassland.

future. With substantial social and financial capital, its inhabitants will undoubtedly adapt

Access to a diversity of terrain will be all the more crucial as

and survive. is likely holds true for the Saami as well, who will, as always, find a way to

the Arctic continues to warm; however, this adaptive strategy

adapt. But the question remains whether adaptation can be seen as successful when it is

has historically been premised on the use of the vast land-

forced, either by environmental disaster or human intent, leaving individuals with battered

scape — otherwise virtually absent of human settlement.

A quick glance of satellite images of Arctic Norway

identities? History is replete with examples where individuals and whole communities lose what they value and feel that their identity has been irrevocably destroyed.

reveals human developments as mere specs, individual

Whether it be the loss of a cultural symbol such as a traditional local industry that goes

pixels on the seemingly infinite canvas of brown tundra and

belly up, or the loss of the place itself such is the case in numerous dam constructions

blue sea. Yet the miniscule area these structures inhabit

— the social consequences have been identified by several experts (i.e. TrudelleSchwarz

belies the threat they represent to the Saami.

1996; Oliver-Smith 1991, Adger et al. 2009) as devastating, chronic, and long-lived.

e heart of the problem lies in that the Saami’s so-called

Cultures are always in a dynamic state; the same is also true of the environments in

“tame” reindeer are in fact extraordinarily skittish, and will

which they are situated. Indeed, it is not a given how adaptation will or ought to proceed.

avoid an area surrounding an intrusion by sometimes up to

Species have come and gone, new lands have been claimed and others abandoned, and

several kilometres. Human developments now sprawl across

livelihoods have risen and fallen, all to the ebbs and flows of opportunity and calamity.

the Nordic coastlines. Homes, power lines and large mining

In saying “no” to development, the herders are not simply being obstinate; the

operations dot the landscape. A handful of cabins may be

preservation of rangeland is essential to their way of life and their people’s future, one

enough to scare a herd out of an entire valley, and a power

that becomes less and less certain with every road and cabin built.

line can divide an island as effectively as an electric fence.

Within the last 50 years it is estimated by Jernsletten and

Jonathan Fraenkel-Eidse is a freelance writer who covers Nordic environmental issues. He is

Klokav (2002) and the United Nations Energy Programme

a graduate of the Norwegian Center for Environment and Development’s MA program, and

(2004) that up to 35 per cent of Finnmark’s coastal reindeer

also works as editor for several publications.

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Celebrating First Air’s 70th Anniversary

First Air is...

Trusted Celebrating the communities First Air serves

It all started in 1946 when a small aviation company, Bradley Air Services, began operating a flight school out of the Ottawa Airport in Ontario. Fast forward 70 years and that small aviation company, now known as First Air, provides essential air services to many remote communities in and across Canada’s Arctic. As part of their service-based approach, First Air takes pride in participating in a number of community events across the Arctic to help give back to the communities the airline serves.

This philosophy of giving back includes economic development, cultural and educational programs and sporting events. Every year, the company selects initiatives worthy of recognition, financial help or sponsorship.

Year after year, First Air proudly sponsors major community events across the Arctic. Some garner wide attention such as the Arctic Winter Games, Aboriginal Day concerts, Students on Ice, and Project North, while other events, though smaller, are just as important: youth exchanges, sports, arts and educational programs, and major fund-raising events for local charities and associations.

With 2016 being First Air’s 70th anniversary, we feature a glimpse of how the company has given back to Arctic communities over the years.

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Brock Friesen, First Air President & CEO receives the Community Impact Award acknowledging First Air’s long-standing partnership with the National Arts Centre.

Left to right: Vince Timpano, President and CEO of AIMIA (Community Impact Award sponsor), Jayne Watson of the NAC and Brock Friesen. © Tom Sandler/Business for the Arts

is year, as part of First Air’s 70th anniversary celebrations, northern youth were flown to the nation’s capital to celebrate the Summer Solstice Aboriginal Festival in June 2016. e Economic Club of Canada also held a financial literacy toolkit class for the visiting youth.

Sporting Events

Economic development

Attending region-based trade shows and conferences to support opportunities and provide important representation at sector-driven gatherings such as the Geoscience Forum held in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, are key aspects of First Air’s commitment to help develop a successful and sustainable economic future for the Arctic.

Investing in the education of youth is key to the economic development of the many Arctic destinations First Air serves every day. In 2011, First Air launched a recruitment and employment initiative called Sivurariaqnik (in Inuktitut, it describes the momentum of “going forward,” “moving ahead” or “reaching a destination”). e program targets High School students, College students and young adults, and is focused on increasing awareness of the employment opportunities available within the aviation industry and specifically First Air. Also that year, First Air unveiled Airline Foundations, the first of several post-secondary aviation courses and youth training and development programs in cooperation with Nunavut Arctic College and 795 Iqaluit Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron.

In 2012, as part of the Sivurariaqnik Program, First Air became a sponsor of the Aviation Career Development Program (ACDP), which provided 15 scholarships of $5,000 each to support full-time training in an aviation-related career.

2016 | 06

No matter what time of year, First Air is involved in many athletic events in the communities it serves, helping to develop sports in the Arctic and the camaraderie of friendly competition.

First Air has been supporting Project North since its inception in 2010. In the spring of 2015 and 2016, in addition to bringing hockey equipment to Arctic communities, First Air helped bring the iconic Stanley Cup to Canada’s Arctic. First Air was overjoyed to be part of these exciting trips that have so far travelled to Arctic Bay, Arviat, Cambridge Bay, Cape Dorset, Clyde River, Gjoa Haven, Hall Beach, Iqaluit, Igloolik, Kimmirut, Kugluktuk, Kuujjuaq, Makkovik, Nain, Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Qikiqtarjuaq, and Taloyoak. Project North has also brought soccer equipment to the communities of Kimmirut and Resolute.

First Air and Project North bring the iconic Stanley Cup to Canada’s North. © Lindsey Gibeau

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Russell deCarle from The Russell deCarle Trio (also from the country music group Prairie Oyster) at the Peter Gzowski Invitational in Inuvik, NWT, in 2012. © NWT Literacy Council

First Air is a proud supporter of the Arctic Winter Games.

Here, Arctic Winter Games 2016 participants prepare to return home.

The 2013 Northwest Territories men’s curling champions: Jamie Koe, Tom Naugler, Brad Chorostowski and Rob Borden, all from Yellowknife.

In January 2013, First Air participated in the Northern Hockey Challenge (NHC), a pan northern hockey series showcasing the best in men’s hockey in the Arctic. With seven teams divided into Western and Eastern divisions, the NHC covered eight consecutive weekends in a best-of-five-games series, reaching a division champion. e Eastern and Western division champions then faced off in another best-of-five series with the top two teams in each division advancing to the playoffs to vie for the First Air Northern Hockey Challenge Cup. Over the years, First Air has been a sponsor of many charitable golf tournaments including the Tungasuvvingat Inuit Charity Golf Tournament, e Habitat for Humanity Iqaluit Charity Golf Tournament, and the Peter Gzowski Invitational, helping to raise funds for many

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worthy causes, including healing centres, affordable housing and literacy.

First Air has also provided aircra for a number of Airplane Pull events in Yellowknife and Ottawa over the years. It’s a friendly competition with proceeds going to various charities.

In October 2012, the Annual World Girls Hockey Weekend took place in Iqaluit, Nunavut, introducing girls and women to the game in a positive, safe and supportive environment. In November 2012, Doug Russell, a former junior hockey player and a scout with the Western Hockey League brought his “Hockey Development Systems” program to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, to work with boys and to develop their creativity and confidence. First Air was pleased to support both these programs with air transportation requirements.

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2016 | 06

Team NWT Basketball members in 2006. © Kim Poulter

Above right: First Air’s Chairman of the Board and the President of Makivik, Jobie Tukkiapik, performs the ceremonial puck drop for the Kuujjuaq opening game against Iqaluit at the Northern Hockey Challenge in January 2013.

In October 2012, the Annual World Girls Hockey Weekend took place in Iqaluit, Nunavut, with transportation provided by First Air.

First Air is also a proud sponsor and long standing partner of the Northwest Territories Curling Association. e annual Sport North Awards were held in May 2016 in Yellowknife. e awards recognize athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteers for their performance and contribution to sport in the Northwest Territories. As e Airline of the North, First Air is a proud sponsor of this organization, which strives to develop sport at every level throughout the territory.

2016 | 06

In November 2012, First Air provided air transportation to help bring the “Hockey Development Systems” to Inuvik.

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Left: In partnership with First Air, the National Art Centre (NAC) is able to deliver comprehensive, accessible, meaningful, youth- and communitycentered music education programming to schools and communities in Nunavut. First Air significantly offsets the costs of travel for the musicians and for transporting materials for their music education programs.

The Long John Jamboree board at the main entrance to the site on Yellowknife Bay in 2015. © Angela Gzowski

Enthusiastic students from Arnaqjuaq School in Hall Beach, Nunavut, participate in fiddling workshops with instructors Greg Simm and Kim de Laforest from Tusarnaarniq Sivumut Association (TSA) Music for the Future program. © TSA

Cultural Programs

Whether it’s at festivals, community gatherings, fundraisers, or educational initiatives, First Air is proud to support the Arts and many cultural events in the North. Just a few examples of the programs First Air has sponsored: • First Air President’s Charity Ball in Iqaluit supports many worthy community-based organizations; • Long John Jamboree winter festival in Yellowknife; • Annual anksgiving Day event in Kugluktuk; • Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre and Operation Go Home; • Festival of Giving fundraising gala in Yellowknife in support of the Stanton Regional Hospital; • Warm Hands Network — to deliver gis of knitted goods to many communities served by First Air; and • Tusarnaarniq Sivumut Association (TSA) Music for the Future — fiddle workshops in Iqaluit, Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet.

Brock Friesen, First Air President and CEO, was honoured to attend the Business for the Arts Canadian Arts and Business Awards gala in Toronto in October 2015 to receive the Community Impact Award acknowledging First Air’s long-standing partnership with the National Arts Centre.

2016 | 06

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In September 2015, First Air provided an ATR-42 for the Law Enforcement Torch Run Airplane Pull at the Yellowknife Airport. © Kim Poulter

Elders enjoy a meal at the Annual First Air Elders and Students Thanksgiving Feast at Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik School in Kugluktuk, Nunavut. © Naomi Tremblay/Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik

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A B OV E & B E YO N D — C A N A DA’ S A RC T I C J O U R N A L

2016 | 06

Youth from our Northern communities had the opportunity to meet some of the members of Artcirq at Summer Solstice 2016. First Air and ArtCirq’s focus is to allow northern and southern artists and residents to bridge and meet in a meaningful way. © Kathleen Hanson

Youth attend the nation’s capital to celebrate the Summer Solstice Aboriginal Festival this June, compliments of First Air. Here, members of Artcirq’s Kalabante group from Guinea, West Africa, perform on the First Air stage.

As the official airline of the Sedna Epic Expedition, First Air, in July 2016, transported Sedna’s allfemale team of ocean scientists, explorers, educators and artists, its Inuit advisers and its scientific and SCUBA diving equipment to communities across Canada’s Arctic.

Team Sedna will mentor the next generation of Inuit leaders, introducing them to ocean-related careers.

First Air will continue to provide tangible benefits for beneficiaries, meaningful employment opportunities and sponsor key educational, recreational, sporting and cultural events in the Arctic. In these ways, First Air continues to demonstrate social responsibility and leadership in northern transportation services.

A service-based approach and extensive northern experience are two of the main reasons why First Air is a natural ‘first choice’ when it comes to choosing an airline in Canada’s Arctic.

Why has this airline been in business for nearly 70 years? In anything First Air does and supports across the Arctic, whether it’s the mining sector, the arts industry or sporting events, it is always about the people. You have made First Air successful. ank you for putting your trust in First Air and helping it reach its 70th year milestone as it continues to be e Airline of the North.

Check out the last three issues of above&beyond Magazine online as well, for more stories about First Air’s history.

2016 | 06

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Building the post manager’s house, September 1937.

The HBC steamship Nascopie is anchored in the bay.

Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba, Richard S. Finnie,1937, HBCA 1987/363-F-56/14

By Season Osborne

Fort Ross First east-west trade post

Fort Ross is not your average tourist area. There are no souvenirs or post cards to buy. In fact,

the Hudson’s Bay Company post there hasn’t sold anything in 68 years.

Located on the southeast corner of Somerset Island at 72°N, 94°14′W, Fort Ross is not easy to get to. However, it’s become a main attraction for passengers aboard ships cruising the Northwest Passage (NWP) via Bellot Strait. What draws people to its rocky shore isn’t just the abandoned clapboard buildings, but its connection to the search for Sir John Franklin’s Northwest Passage expedition.

Bellot Strait, a narrow channel 25 km long and 2 km at its widest, connects the Gulf of Boothia and Prince Regent Inlet on the east with Peel Sound and Franklin Strait on the west. e strait divides Boothia Peninsula from Somerset Island, separating the mainland of North America from the rest of the Arctic Archipelago. e first non-Inuit to see Bellot Strait was Capt. William Kennedy during his 1854 search for Franklin. He named it for his second-in-command, Joseph René Bellot. e strait had been entirely missed by Englishman John Ross on his 1829–33 Women watch the Nascopie leaving Depot Bay for another year, 1938. Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba, Lorene Squire, 1938

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Northwest Passage expedition, as ice and snow had made the strait’s indistinguishable from the land. As a result, Ross concluded that Prince Regent was an Inlet and, therefore, a virtual dead end in the search for the NWP. 2016 | 06

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Putting the roof on the Fort Ross storehouse, September 1937.

Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba, Richard S. Finnie,1937, HBCA 1987/363-F-56/10

Inside the big transport plane after the rescue. L. to R: Clerk Darcy Munro, Barbara Heslop, Post Manager Bill Heslop, Major M.Q. Hancock, medical officer, 1943.

Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba, 1943, HBCA

In 1858, Lady Jane Franklin hired Francis Leopold

trading post on the northern end of Boothia Peninsula. It offered good hunting and

M’Clintock to search for her husband. He entered Bellot

new fur trading opportunities. e Company’s 2,540 tonne, 87-metre steamer-

Strait in the Fox, intending to pass through it to the waters

icebreaker Nascopie, carrying building supplies for the post, headed to Bellot Strait.

on the west, then head south to King William Island.

Aboard were passengers, RCMP officers and three Inuit families from Cape Dorset

M’Clintock’s men unloaded supplies at a little harbour that

who were moving to the new post.

he subsequently named Depot Bay, and built a cairn on

When the Nascopie dropped anchor in Depot Bay at 11 a.m. on September 2, they

a rock promontory. e Fox made seven attempts to get

could see the schooner Aklavik coming through the strait from the west. e Aklavik,

through Bellot Strait, but came up against impenetrable ice

the Company’s supply ship for the Western Arctic, was the first ship to make passage

blocking the western entrance. M’Clintock gave up and he

of Bellot Strait. e smaller ship came alongside the Nascopie and exchanged cargo —

and his men sledded overland to King William. ey returned

furs from the west and trade goods from the east — making this the first east-west

to England with profound evidence, including a written

trade through the strait. e Hudson’s Bay Company proudly boasted that the Nascopie

document, of the demise of Franklin’s expedition.

and the Aklavik made a combined transit of the Northwest Passage.

No one attempted passage of Bellot Strait until 1937

e Nascopie stayed at anchor for six days while passengers and crew erected the

when the Hudson’s Bay Company decided to establish a

three post buildings: a three-bedroom house for the post manager, Lorenz Learmonth

Unloading the Nascopie with supplies for the post.

Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba, 1943, HBCA

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Painting depicting the meeting in the Northwest Passage of the Nascopie and the Aklavik by Thomas Harold Beament.

Courtesy of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, Victoria, BC

With ships passing through the strait, Fort Ross reopened to tourists. e Government of Nunavut doesn’t track how many ships stop at historic places like Fort Ross, although cruise ships passing through the Arctic are required to report their itinerary. In 2015, 11 ships made nine NWP transits with seven reporting visits to Fort Ross. As of May 2016, the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Economic Development and Transportation expected a similar number of cruises with 10 visits anticipated.

Hundreds have visited Fort Ross in the last decade, climbing out of zodiacs onto the sandless beach to explore. ey troop up to M’Clintock’s cairn, and the monument that his descendants erected in his honour in 1979. e post and two clerks, a store and a big warehouse. e Inuit families set up their homes

buildings show their age, faded paint and broken windows.

nearby. e new post was named Fort Ross aer John Ross. Richard Finnie, one of

e storehouse is still used as shelter by occasional

the Nascopie’s passengers, reported that several of the passengers discovered that

travellers, with bunk beds and shelves of canned goods. A

M’Clintock’s cairn had been destroyed by bears, so “had promptly set up one of their

pathway lined with stones leads from the store to the house,

own.” is cairn still stands on the hill behind the post. Many records have been

an effort to bring order to the endless jumble of rocks.

deposited in it since, including one by RCMP Sgt. Henry Larsen on his historic 1942 transit of the NWP aboard the St. Roch, when he stopped at Fort Ross.

Tourists wander the small house. Furniture was le behind: two beat-up armchairs, a rusted potbelly stove, an

Hunting around Fort Ross was plentiful with narwhal, beluga, walrus, caribou and

old fridge, a metal bed frame. ere are four unmarked graves

seal. But so was the ice. And Fort Ross turned out to be a difficult place for ships to get

piled with stones near the storehouse. ese are poignant

into.

reminders of the transient life of Fort Ross.

In the summer of 1942, the Nascopie couldn’t break through the jumbled pack ice, and had to land the supplies at Arctic Bay. e men headed off on the 480-kilometre sled journey to retrieve them once Prince Regent Inlet had completely frozen over months later. e following September 1943, the Nascopie was again unable to get through the ice to the post. Without fresh supplies, the situation was dire. e Company had no alternative but to close the post. It would do an air drop of supplies, then pick up the manager William Heslop, his wife Barbara, and Darcy Munro, the clerk, once the ice was thick enough to land a plane. e US Army forces in Winnipeg, Manitoba, had an available Arctic-worthy plane, and took on the mission.

On November 4, Capt. J.F. Stanwell-Fletcher parachuted in with the supply drop to determine a good landing place, becoming the first parachutist above the Arctic Circle. e lake ice measured 1.2 metres thick, enough to hold a 15-tonne plane. A rough landing strip, 915 metres long and 15 wide, was marked out with snow blocks covered with empty coal sacks. ree days later, the plane with “Fort Ross or Bust” painted on its side landed on the makeshi runway. Due to weight restrictions, the four passengers were told to leave their baggage behind on the ice, including the films the Heslops had taken over the past two years. is was one of the first Arctic ‘rescues’ by plane. e Nascopie got into Fort Ross in 1944, and the post reopened. However, ice continued to be a hindrance and the post closed permanently in 1948.

With the Arctic ice thinning over the last 20 years, Bellot Strait has now become more easily traversable. e commercial cruise industry began in Nunavut in 2006.

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The stone lined pathway leading to the manager’s house. © Michelle Valberg, 2012

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EXCERPT Inupiaq hunter and polar bear, circa 1924. This photo actually shows the reenactment of a traditional hunt for a silent movie like Robert J. Flaherty’s Nanook of the North but was filmed in Nome, Alaska.

Courtesy of Library of Congress.

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EXCERPT

ICE BEAR The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon

By Michael Engelhard University of Washington Press November 2016

“I know that there are a lot of people who like polar bear meat and a lot of people who don’t like [it].”

— Mary Takkiruq, Gjoa Haven (Nunavut, Canada)

W

e are what we eat. is is not New Age mysticism or even a matter

Arctic, people have always eaten more polar bears than vice versa, the

of culture. Archeologists use bones and tooth enamel to reconstruct

animal’s reputation as an ogre persists, a psychological bias not supported

the diets and migrations of Paleolithic humans through isotope analysis.

by statistics. Based purely on the percentage of meat in each species’ diet,

While we are growing up, our bodies accumulate chemical elements —

the polar bear tops the Arctic food chain. Closer to herbivore than to

carbon, nitrogen, strontium, oxygen — from the foods that we eat and the

carnivore, Homo sapiens rank somewhere between anchovies and pigs.

water we drink, which in turn carry mineral traces of the specific soils from

Unlike medieval royalty — or later, zoos — which pampered rare

which they sprang. ese fingerprints of place stay with us throughout

collectibles, explorers and whalers, always near starvation, treated the

life and even aerward, for a while at least, locked in our skeletons. e

White Bears as survival rations. “Bear-beef ” was oen the only course

plants and animals that sustain us are part of us, just like our stories and

on the menu for months. e meat is much greasier, however, than beef.

memories.

Paraphrasing the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, one could claim that the North’s Native peoples are taken with polar bears not only because they are spiritually potent — “good to think” — but also because they are physically potent — “good to eat.” roughout Arctic history the bear has served as food, though in most indigenous societies, whales, walrus, seals, caribou, or reindeer provided the bulk of the diet.

Unfamiliar dishes or ingredients like bear meat strike Western palates as surreal or exotic and might also be seen as “politically incorrect” — but from our births onward, the culture that surrounds us shapes our food preferences and what we consider “normal” or acceptable.

Food can be a marker of belonging, contributing to a group’s self-image and coherence. Food taken directly from one’s surroundings is symbolic of place, forming a link with a people’s history. is is why even in countries that ban polar bear hunting, such as the United States, Native groups with a tradition of hunting polar bears are permitted to keep hunting them (and other animals covered by the Marine Mammal Protection Act).

Together with the bear’s humanlike appearance, the richness of bear meat and its rarity in modern diets seem to account for non-Native people’s rejection of it. But our culinary preferences have changed. In nineteenth-century North America, bear meat (though not that of polar bears) was standard fare. Settlers also used bear fat to fry other foods and preferred it to butter.

As far as our relations with the bear family go, we are much more Homo gustandibus than Homo deliciosus. Despite the fact that in the A B OV E & B E YO N D — C A N A DA’ S A RC T I C J O U R N A L

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EXCERPT One of the last photos from Swedish balloonist Salomon August Andrée’s expedition. His two fellow crewmembers are shown here with a polar bear they killed to feed themselves after crashing their balloon north of Svalbard in 1897. Trichinosis from polar bear meat may have contributed to their demise. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Bottom: Polar bear hide strung up to dry on a house in Upernavik Kujalleq, Greenland.

Photo by Kim Hansen, Wikimedia Commons

It has received mixed reviews, from “exceeding coarse” to “strongly scented,” to “passable, with a taste akin to lamp oil” (Arctic lamp oil, that is, rendered from whale or seal blubber), to “very good flesh and better than our venison ... as good savory meate as any beefe could be.” Fridtjof Nansen’s captain, Otto Sverdrup, called it a “royal dish” and the explorer himself judged breast of polar bear cub to be delicious. Of course, hunger always has been the best sauce and could have swayed culinary opinions.

“Heaven had sent us succor at a time of utter distress,” one castaway recalled, of a polar bear windfall, “and our gratitude for this miraculous gi was apparent in our overflowing happiness.” e marbled cuts’ flavour also varies with a bear’s diet and age. A teacher in 1930s Alaska suffered fumes of seal pervading the schoolhouse as she was broiling polar bear chops on a bed of coals, which she attributed to the bear’s diet. She liked the roasted heart much better. Despite his privileged background, Baron Nordenskiöld deemed the bear, “if he is not too old or has not recently eaten rotten seal-flesh ... very eatable.”

Captain Scoresby served bear ham to his ship’s surgeon who, for a month aerward, thought he had supped on beefsteak. Having run out of provisions on one of the numerous searches the British launched for Sir John Franklin, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane ate raw, frozen meat from a polar bear head that he had saved as a specimen and called it a godsend. He described the meat of lean bears as “the most palatable food” and “rather sweet and tender,” but warned against well-fed bears, which were made

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2016 | 06

EXCERPT Livestock production is responsible for 51 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Reminding us of links between food and the environment, Vincent J. F. Huang takes a jab at the ecological consequences of our appetites, with Polar Bear Hamburger, 2014.

Courtesy of Vincent J. F. Huang.

nearly inedible by “the impregnation of fatty oil throughout the cellular

tolerate ten thousand units of vitamin A. Trouble, if it comes, occurs

tissue.” Frozen polar bear fat has the texture (and caloric load) of ice cream.

between twenty-five thousand and thirty-three thousand units. One

A modern-day East Coast urbanite transplanted to Point Hope, Alaska

pound of polar bear liver — a fist-sized chunk and barely a meal — can

praised polar bear meat as an absolute delicacy: “jet black, grainy like old

contain nine million units of vitamin A. e occasional lack of liver

gnarled wood, but ... sweet and tender, ten times better than the best prime

toxicity that some explorers reported can be explained by differences in

rib I have ever tasted.” Given the benefits of eating fatty meat in subzero

the age, hibernation, and feeding habits of the bear.

environments, gustatory considerations seem trite. While one modern

Equally bad is trichinosis, a parasitic disease contracted by eating the

Alaskan compared polar bear meat to “last ursday’s pot roast basted

raw or undercooked flesh of pigs or wild game. Its symptoms can include

with cod-liver oil,” she swallowed three bites and came to appreciate it.

fever, muscle pain, and fatigue, as well as inflammation of the heart mus-

Would-be connoisseurs should keep in mind the possibility of

cle, lungs, or brain, which have led to a few deaths. In 1897, the Swedish

negative side effects from the consumption of polar bear meat, such as

aeronaut and physicist Salomon August Andrée and his two companions

hypervitaminosis A, an excess of the vitamin that can be contracted from

perished aer their balloon was forced down on the ice before they ever

eating the liver of polar bears, seals, walrus, or huskies. Affecting the

got close to the North Pole. ey survived the crash, but the Trichinella

central nervous system, it can cause hair loss, extreme peeling of the skin,

parasite from a polar bear on which the trio later fed has been suspected

birth defects, liver problems, vomiting, blurred vision, loss of muscle

in their deaths. Even dried bear meat can cause the disease, and three

coordination, and even death. One officer swore never again to eat bear

members of a Gambell, St. Lawrence Island family became sick aer eat-

liver, no matter how much it might tempt him, aer his crew showed

ing jerked polar bear intended for their dogs — so cook those steaks well.

symptoms akin to carbon monoxide poisoning. Native peoples have long

In Alaska and Siberian Native societies, taboos concerning polar bear

been aware of this danger, as have explorers, though some felt no worse

meat reflected not only the spiritual risks associated with the hunt but

aer eating the liver. Research has shown that a healthy adult person can

also the separation of male and female spheres. Further, as a creature of

Favourite bear recipes

In the far American Northwest, on Little Diomede Island, a stormy

Bering Strait outcrop near the International Date Line, Inupiat still

largely depend on the sea’s bounty — blue crab and bowhead whale, seal, walrus, and polar bear, which they can legally hunt. Little

Diomede resident and tribal coordinator Frances Ozenna has two

favorite recipes:

Diced: Dice polar bear meat, leaving fat on some chunks of meat.

Season pieces with bouillon, onion, Mrs. Dash Seasoning Blend, and salt. Boil. (Chef’s note: Polar bear fat is drier than walrus or seal blubber.

It is neither fatty nor runny and is subtle in taste and very tender.)

Diced, variation: Cook polar bear meat with frozen, sliced fermented walrus flipper. (Chef’s note: When you eat the two together, it sweet-

ens the bear meat, and the bear takes away the greasy taste of the fermented flipper.) Serve with mixed greens and [seal] oil.

Stew: For choice cuts, choose meat from the back of the polar bear

Boil a pot of water and add onion, Mrs. Dash, bouillon, salt, and

Worcestershire sauce. Add meat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours. Add

shoulder blade. Dice meat. Marinate in refrigerator for one to two

rice, potatoes, and carrots, if available. Thicken with flour, cornstarch,

Dash Seasoning Blend. After marinating, rinse well to remove some

stew rest before serving. Serve with homemade corn bread or

days with beef bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, and Mrs.

of the blood. (Chef’s note: A small amount of brown sugar can also be added to the seasoning.)

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or elbow macaroni about 10 minutes before the soup is done. Let

biscuits. Lacking polar bear meat, you can substitute brown bear or black bear. (Or pork.)

2016 | 06

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EXCERPT Below: Polar bear roast, one of the delicacies served at the 2012 Tourism in Nunavut Conference in Iqaluit. © Doris Ohlmann

both land and sea, the bear occupied a position between both environ-

at the home of the successful hunter ... A big pot of boiled polar bear

ments and their respective animals. Only the use of whales was regulated

meat is usually supplied and everyone helps himself from time to time.”

by equally strict rules. In addition to the hunt and preparations for the

Until temperatures rose in the spring, people kept the bear carcass on

hunt, taboos guided the butchering, cooking, sharing, and disposal of

the roof of their house, away from the dogs, and sawed off chunks as

remains as well as the actual consumption of polar bears. e proper

needed. Nowadays, they keep it in closet-sized electric freezers.

observance of such taboos insured that hunters were spared the wrath

Wild meat such as the polar bear’s is not only more nutritious but also

of the offended bear spirit and that bears would be reborn, released

much cheaper and fresher than store-bought food — a significant factor

once again by the pleased master spirit of game. Some Inuit groups

in places where cash and jobs are scarce and goods need to be imported

shunned bear meat altogether, because the animal too closely resembled

from afar. A few years ago, the Nunavut town of Iqaluit organized an

a human. Individuals who had resorted to cannibalism during famines

open-air market, for local Inuit “country foods,” including seal, caribou,

avoided it also — they believed that bear meat would make them crave

and polar bear. While such meats are normally still shared informally, that

human flesh.

initiative sought to raise cash that hunters could invest in ammunition,

Native peoples avoided polar bear liver for its vitamin A concentration, and, like explorers and whalers, fed it only to their dogs. Modern Inuit

gas for snow machines, and other necessities.

For many Inupiat, polar bear meat remains a favorite meal and a

and Inupiat value the flavour nuances of different bears or parts of a bear.

prestigious gi. When a polar bear has been killed, a call goes out on a

Some prefer den polar bears instead of bears caught in the open, because

village radio channel, asking people to get some. ese days, the hunter

they taste better. Like their neighbours, the Cree, some consider the front

normally keeps the skin, a trophy and commodity. e rest of a bear still

and back paws (tukiq) the best eating.

is widely shared, a token of group identity and solidarity, a kind of Arctic

In the 1960s, the anthropologist James W. Van Stone witnessed a polar

communion. Unlike the whalers and explorers, who saw it as staple or

bear feast at Point Hope — a scene still common 60 years later in northern

last resort, indigenous peoples have always considered eating polar bear

Alaska and Canada: “When a polar bear skin and meat are brought back

a reaffirmation of community and of their beliefs, as much as an act of

to the village it is the sign for a general gathering of friends and relatives

physical nourishment.

A recipe from Canada’s Arctic Roast Polar Bear

Trim all fat from the roast. Wash well. Soak meat for at least two hours in water, salt and vinegar. Remove and pat dry. Place meat in a roaster, lay strips of bacon on top and place quarters of onion beside it. Roast at 350°F for about three hours. 15 minutes. Before serving, remove bacon strips, coat top of roast with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast another 15 minutes and drizzle butter on top two or three times during this period. Serve hot. Serves 6 to 8.

Eleanor A. Ellis (editor), Northern Cookbook.

Ottawa, Ministry of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, 1973.

Bering Strait Recipe Polar Bear Stew

4 pounds (1.8 kg) polar bear meat (paw is particularly desirable) Water to cover 3 tablespoons (45ml) salt 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) dried potato 1 cup (340 ml) celery flakes 1 tablespoon (15ml) dry union 2 cups (480 ml) dehydrated carrots 1/2 cup (120ml) melted butter 1 3/4 cups (420 ml) flour 1 teaspoon (5ml) garlic powder or garlic salt 3/4 teaspoon (3ml) pepper

Cut meat into bite-sized pieces and boil in salted water for 1 1/2 hours or more. Then add dry vegetables; mix melted butter with flour, blend in seasonings and add to meat. Cook 15 minutes longer. Serves 8 to 10.

Norma Silook, Gambell, Saint Lawrence Island

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SCIENCE Bluefish Lake, NWT. © Paul Vecsei (3)

Yellowknife Lakes

The final frontier in exploratory fish biology For an ichthyologist with a Ph.D., my fall assign-

ment sounded routine: a basic lake-wide survey of fish in a small waterbody above the

went about setting the nets at dusk and waited

till early morning for the pull. Our base was the Bluefish construction camp dormitory and it

Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC)

was a bustling place.

as part of ongoing monitoring. Sure, I liked

water. Our first deep water station net pull had

Great Slave Lake.

juvenile whitefish were, in fact, mature adults.

Bluefish hydroelectric plant near Yellowknife, setting nets in the abyss of mystery bound

had stumbled upon one of the most significant species range extensions in modern times.

Until this capture, there was a 1,000-kilometre

gap in pygmy whitefish presence between

At the break of dawn, we were back on the

known populations in Great Bear Lake and Lake

some small whitefish. But what appeared to be

science, there is a lengthy procedure required

Athabasca. I knew this was big news, but in

to make your case to the scientific community

This could only mean: either they were dwarf

before such a claim could go public.

was, well, the size of a pond. For this work, I

species, or it was something different. As we

morphometric (proportional/ratio) and meristic

Panayi, a wildlife biologist and colleague. We

we had. These were likely pygmy whitefish and we

the females were counted. Female pygmyies

It looked uneventful to say the least. And

by the standards of a big lake aficionado, it was once again in the company of Damian

forms of the common lake whitefish or similar

rushed back towards shore, I already knew what

So to the laboratory we went and started on

(enumeration) measurements. Next, eggs from have low fecundity and I was stunned but glad

to see egg counts in the low 300 range as

opposed to 10,000 as seen in round or lake whitefish. We also referred to the literature as

to morphological and biological characteristics that are unique to pygmy whitefish and deter-

mined if our specimens shared those traits. All

good so far. And finally, the low number of scales

along the midline sealed the deal.

But that’s not the end of the story. In the

same net pull, we caught a kaleidoscope of

small ciscoes as well. Ciscoes are those silver

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Pygmy Whitefish.

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SCIENCE Biologist Damian Panayi navigates through thick morning fog as we head for the net pull that changed the map on Pygmy Whitefish distribution in North America.

fish known as Tulibee but also encountered by

dip-netters at Tartan Rapids near town. Now I

was really in my element. I deduced that these

ciscoes represented unique and likely recent

local adaptations and even differed from the

species flock of ciscoes in nearby Great Slave Lake. Imagine the post Ice Age lakes around Yellowknife as the Galapagos Islands as seen

by Darwin during his famous expedition aboard

the Beagle in 1835. Darwin found the different

islands occupied by finches of differing beak

shapes and sizes. He postulated that a species

of finch reached the islands and eventually evolved radically different beak shapes and sizes.

This process in which one species gives rise to

multiple species that exploit different niches is

called adaptive radiation. And that’s exactly

what our cisco catch seemed to be. As on various

islands where finch species have become adapted for different diets, our little ciscoes displayed differences in head shapes, mouth

sizes and, most importantly (and the equivalent

of the Darwin finch beak), gillraker counts.

So Bluefish Lake offers us a window into a

Gillrakers are the comb-like food-filtering struc-

moment in time where evolution is captured

of ciscoes. The different niche availabilities

Maybe this process occurred over a greater

tures attached to the gill arch inside the mouth have allowed a post-ice age re-colonizing cisco

to radiate into a multitude of forms, each best

suited for feeding on a particular resource.

in its later phases, finalizing its “new products.”

area and the deep hole in Bluefish Lake is their last refuge under changing and shrinking

waterbodies. Indeed, the multitude of lakes

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around Yellowknife represent the final frontier in exploratory fish biology.

Paul Vecsei

Paul Vecsei (Ph.D.) is a Fisheries Biologist with Golder Associates Ltd. in Yellowknife. Golder has been working for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) in assessing the fish fauna of Bluefish Lake since 2011.

45

SCIENCE

Flat Plants from a Flat Land

Would you believe me if I told you that a plant in the coffee family grows wild on the expansive tundra outside Arviat, Nunavut, or that pale green, mosquito-pollinated orchids can be found right on the doorsteps of Arviamiut?

T

hough many outside the North might assume the territories to be all snow and ice, you know better. During the sunny Arctic summer, the tundra bursts with colour. Flowers of all shapes and sizes push forth and track the sun; it’s a frantic rush for pollination and reproduction as fall is sometimes only a few weeks away. These blooms are a beauty to behold, but when you’re a member of the Canadian Museum of Nature’s annual Arctic botany

46

Mary Anowtalik (left), a local elder, explains the uses of fireweed, while Angelina Suluk (right) interprets.

David Beamer © Government of Nunavut.

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SCIENCE Left:Raup’s paintbrush (Castilleja raupii) is a colourful sight around the proposed Nuvuk Territorial Park.

Paul Sokoloff © Canadian Museum of Nature Below: Troy McMullin shows Shane Ubluriak some of the lichens he collected around Arviat.

Paul Sokoloff © Canadian Museum of Nature

expedition, once the gawking and photosnapping is over, it’s your job to pick these plants and squash them flat, all in the name of science.

At the museum, Arctic biodiversity is one of our core activities, and our library of pressed and dried plant specimens (the National Herbarium of Canada) is well stocked from the collective output of botanists over the last 200 years. These million-some-odd specimens, like collections in herbaria around the world, are the foundation for knowledge on how to tell plant species apart (by comparing their physical attributes and DNA), and where these species occur in

The tiny coralroot orchid (Corallorhiza trifida), one of two native orchids that can be found around Arviat.

Paul Sokoloff © Canadian Museum of Nature

any given part of the world. Early on in the museum’s history, collectors working in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories deposited their plants here, through time our herbarium grew to include one of the finest collection of Canadian Arctic plants anywhere. Today, we continue this tradition through research programs that take us throughout the North.

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This year brought us to Arviat, on the vast, flat, windswept tundra shores of Hudson Bay. Our team: expedition leader Dr. Lynn Gillespie, lichen expert Dr. Troy McMullin, botanist Dr. Geoff Levin, graduate student Sam Godfrey, field assistant Ruth Kaviok (our Arviat hometown hero), and myself were on a mission alongside David Beamer from Nunavut Parks

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SCIENCE

and Special Places. The point just east of Arviat is the location of the currently proposed Nuvuk Territorial Park, and we were there to catalog each and every plant and lichen species in the proposed park as a baseline for this future protected area.

So, each morning, after coffee and tea, we’d meet up with our bear monitors, Shane Ubluriak and Leo Ikakhik, climb on our convoy of Hondas, and zip out to Nuvuk to explore the land. We spent a lot of time gazing at our feet, and crawling about on our hands and knees searching out new plants and digging them up.

Over tundra hummocks (and while dodging angry Arctic terns) we swapped plant names with Ruth, who gave us the Inuktitut names of plants in return for the English and Latin ones.

More than once loud exclamations of “neon moss!” and “paunaq!” could be heard shouted across the land.

Once we’d filled our collecting bags with the day’s spoils, it was time to head back to home base and flatten our plants between sheets of cardboards in a plant press — a design that hasn’t changed much since the 1700s. Our finds, ranging from cauliflower-shaped reindeer

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SCIENCE Left: Expedition leader Dr. Lynn Gillespie and Ruth Kaviok in the proposed Nuvuk Park.

Paul Sokoloff © Canadian Museum of Nature

Right: Geoff Levin and Sam Godfrey press the day’s plant haul in the Nunavut Research Institute’s Arviat bunkhouse.

Paul Sokoloff © Canadian Museum of Nature

When we weren’t collecting or pressing, we had ample time to get to know “Nunavut’s Friendliest Community” — as proclaimed by the large sign on the road in from the airport (and confirmed by us).

lichens to insect-eating butterwort plants, totaled some 700-odd specimens, will become our research focus for the next several months while we summarize the flora of Nuvuk.

When we weren’t collecting or pressing, we had ample time to get to know “Nunavut’s Friendliest Community”— as proclaimed by the large sign on the road in from the airport (and confirmed by us). Word spread quickly that a group of “plant experts” had come to visit, and we met many who were happy to share what they knew about plants in Arviat, and even (in one case), show off their own pressed specimens. Towards the end of our trip, we sat down with seven community Elders over a table spread with branches, grasses, berries, and leaves. Samples in hand, the Elders shared the Inuktitut names and traditional uses of each plant, and more than a few jokes and stories about life in town and out on the land.

Arviamiut young and old made us feel right at home on the shores of Hudson Bay, so we were all a bit disappointed that there was no flight-delaying fog to give us at least one more day. Though next year will take us to different plants in a different part of Nunavut, I hope that one day my travels will take me back to this flat and friendly hamlet.

Bedstraw (Galium trifidum) is a tiny, uncaffeinated member of the coffee family (Rubiaceae).

Paul Sokoloff © Canadian Museum of Nature

Paul C. Sokoloff

Paul C. Sokoloff is a Senior Research Assistant at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario.

The Canadian Museum of Nature will be opening their Canada Goose Arctic Gallery in June 2017. Visit mus-nature.ca.

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E D U C AT I O N

An Arctic Residence Concept A paradigm shift in design

Like many Inuit people, I give great credence to visions, waking dreams. They often transcend time and space pointing to a new direction.

I

A typical living space inside the dome.

n 2010, on my tenth sojourn in the Arctic as a staff member on the Adventure Canada tour ship, between Gjao Haven and Kugluktuk, Nunavut, I had one of those powerful half awake dreams that took me to a time before humans had spread across the globe.

I was in a large, low domed structure with hundreds of people of every race and colour. Like a long delayed family reunion, there was the most overwhelming feeling of love. In the centre was a podium and representatives of each race rose to speak one by one. Like a family of kids excited about moving into a new home, choosing their new rooms, they spoke about which part of the planet they would make their home and how they would develop their culture to suit the local environment.

The last to speak had the colour and stature of an Inuit. He spoke as a representative of the parent race, so to speak, from which all coloured races had sprung. This person spoke in respectful loving terms as a parent would speak to grown

children. He said: Our people will remain small in number and we will occupy the harshest territory of this great planet — the Arctic region. We will learn to survive within the extremes of this land and develop the skills of survival, for we know that this great planet cycles through many changes and at some time in the future when the weather on the planet

becomes extreme, we will have developed the culture of survival to share with you all.

This was such a powerful message, tears came to my eyes as I arose and wandered out onto the deck in the bright clear light of the Arctic dawn. With this message came an image of a new form of architecture for living in an extreme climate — an image not unlike the place where that great meeting had taken place.

Throughout my varied career as an artist/ inventor, I have stood in awe of the inventive resilience of the Inuit culture. In the winters of the ’70s when our two boys were preteens and the snow was just right, we would build an igloo. I was so taken with the shape I adapted it to the design of the house that I would build for our family in the late ’80s. Twenty-five years has passed and we could not move back to conventional rectangular housing. With natural light from above, and the infinite feeling of the dome, it is like being outside yet protected from the harsh vagaries of the weather.

The concept I envision for extreme climates is a low-level dome, about 100 metres in diameter.

Around the periphery are slightly wedge-shaped

An artist’s conception of the domed structure.

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E D U C AT I O N

Below: The DomoQagg offers a year-round place of daily social interaction.

A view of the inside, with the roof open.

condominiums, each with an exterior entrance and storage area with the front of the condo opening to a central climate-controlled courtyard. Like our house, a central skylight opens and closes in accordance with the weather or the season and, when open, a mirror tracks the sun reflecting light inside. When closed, LED Lighting can be programmed to suit a more southerly daylight time period, eliminating the long months of darkness experienced in the High Arctic winter.

The dish-shaped foundation mirrors the domed roof allowing the whole structure to float while housing an energy storage system and the mechanical requirements that renders the unit an autonomous living system. Embedded tubes in the foundation transfer heat from the ground to floor level aiding in keeping the

interior warm while maintaining stability in permafrost.

Current conventional housing in the North is not working. In the extended extreme cold of Arctic winter, the elderly and the young seldom venture forth; many are relegated to debilitating, extended periods of solitary confinement, a primary cause of depression and associated problems. The DomoQagg, as I call it, offers a year-round place of daily social interaction. It can be designed to be energy neutral with an economy of common services.

Once the construction technique is developed, it can be constructed and maintained at a fraction of the cost of current prefab box houses.

The DomoQagg is like a turtle that can close up tight when things are tough and open to be reenergized when there is light. There

Traditional Inuit art captures the beauty, truth and spirit of Canada’s Arctic

is an animation of the concept on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKfwz5fTPd. Producing these structures in multiples is the only way to make them economical and it will take the initial capital input of all levels of government and private companies.

More boxes for the people of the North only exacerbates the current problems. There must be a paradigm shift in residential design.

I offer this, a modern version of the traditional shapes of Inuit architecture, as a starting point, gleaned from the vision that had been shared with me in an Inuit way that morning in Coronation Gulf.

Bill Lishman

William A. Lishman, M.S.M., L.L.D. (Hon), is a Fellow of the Explorers Club and Royal Canadian Geographic Society.

“Bear Mother and Child”

by Norman Quamautuq, Pangnirtung Nunavut.

northern images A Division of Arctic Co-operatives Ltd.

Yellowknife 867-873-5944

Visit Our Website www.northernimages.ca A B OV E & B E YO N D — C A N A DA’ S A RC T I C J O U R N A L

Supporters and Promoters of Inuit and Dene artists and their art

2016 | 06

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BOOKSHELF

Idioms of Sámi Health and Healing

Patterns of Northern Traditional Healing Series Barbara Helen Miller, Editor The University of Alberta Press November 2015

The Sámi — indigenous people of northernmost Europe — have relied on traditional healing methods for generations. This collection of essays by 10 experts records how ancient healing traditions and modern health care systems have worked together, and sometimes competed, to provide solutions for local problems. Idioms of Sámi Health and Healing is the second volume in the Patterns of Northern Traditional Healing series.

Mining and Communities in Northern Canada

History, Politics and Memory Arn Keeling and John Sandlos, editors University of Calgary Press November 2015

Mining and Communities in Northern Canada: History, Politics and Memory examines the historical, contemporary, social, economic and environmental impacts of mining on Aboriginal communities in northern Canada. With oral history and archival research, the perspectives of the local communities are juxtaposed with those of government and industry, providing a significant record of the histories of mining and development in their regions.

Hunting Caribou in the Fall

Pelagie Owlijoot Nunavut Arctic College May 2016

Hunting Caribou in the Fall is a guide to hunting one of the most important game animals for Inuit. Advice is given for fall hunting in the Kivalliq Region during the barren-ground caribou migration, when hides are most suitable for the making of winter clothing. The book includes advice on preparing for the hunt, setting up camp, avoiding detection by caribou, skinning the animal, preserving the meat, and staying safe on the hunt.

It also includes information about traditional Inuit hunting beliefs and taboos, and reflections on how to keep the caribou population stable and healthy. A DVD is included that contains actual hunting footage and interviews with hunters, Elders, and wildlife officers. This unique resource was developed in collaboration with the Nunavut Department of Environment, Inhabit Education, Taqqut Productions, and the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Organization. Also available in Inuktitut.

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Inuit in Canada and Greenland Meet with the Pikialasorsuaq Commission

Our children no longer know the place names of our hunting grounds, nor have they travelled across the ice bridge that links these lands.

This is what we are hearing.

We are travelling in a 40-year-old vessel,

the Adolf Jensen, making stubborn progress

arch that links Umimmat Nunaat (Ellesmere

Island) and Greenland, linking these communities of Pikialasorsuaq to the hunting grounds

on Ellesmere.

As we heard last Spring when we travelled to

Canadian communities linked to Pikialasorsuaq,

Inuit here are best placed to monitor and manage

this region. They want to lead and set the research agenda, study the indicators of change and establish more realistic hunting regulations

through icy swell whipped up by the first storms

that will sustain their communities.

ing to hunters. We’re heading south stopping

desire for free movement, once again, of Inuit

of September. Today we are in Savissivik listenin the hamlets along Melville Bay, having visited

Qaanaaq and Siorapaluk — the most northern community in the world.

Inuit on both sides are expressing a strong

across Pikialasorsuaq and increased cooperation

to arrive at a common vision for shared resources

and Inuit-led management of Pikialasorsuaq.

Most of the beautiful villages in this region

Similar concerns over increased tourism, ship-

world. Sled dogs wait on the shore. There’s a

testing in the Pikialasorsuaq are being heard on

lack airstrips. The sea is their link to the outside

ping, fishing, resource exploration and seismic

foot of new snow, a reminder that winter will

both sides of Pikialasorsuaq. Most emphatically,

hunting platform, allows these villagers to live

polynya together as Inuit living, though divided

soon return. Sea ice, critical to travel and as a

from the bounty of Pikialasorsuaq, the Great Upwelling, the North Water polynya.

we want to rebuild a caretaking regime for the by country, from one sea.

Pikialasorsuaq, or “Great Upwelling,” is the

The hunters of Savissivik today are generously

largest Arctic polynya and the most biologically

theme is instability, unpredictability, changes in

Pikialasorsuaq has been recognized by Inuit for

sharing with us their knowledge. A recurring

productive region north of the Arctic Circle.

migration patterns, new species, and open water

generations as critical habitat. Communities in

political change. And, of borders that separate

to rely on the polynya’s biological productivity.

where there should be ice. They also talk of

them from a time not so long ago when they

could still travel across the polynya’s great ice

the Qikiqtani and Avanersuaq regions continue Pikialasorsuaq is vital to many migratory species

upon which these communities, as well as farther

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GUEST EDITORIAL Pikialasorsuaq Commissioners meet in Siorapaluk Greenland. September 2016. © Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada)

afield, depend. In some recent years, the northern ice bridge in Kane Basin, Nares Strait and Smith Sound (Ikeq) has become less reliable and the polynya less defined. The consequences of these changes, linked to larger climatic shifts observable in many parts of the Arctic, are not known.

Led by three Commissioners, Okalik Eegeesiak (chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council) the International Commissioner, Eva Aariak (former Premier of Nunavut) the Canadian Commissioner, and Kuupik Kleist (former Greenland Premier) the Greenland Commissioner, the Pikialasorsuaq Commission is mandated to conduct consultations in the communities in Nunavut and Greenland that are closely connected to Pikialasorsuaq.

With the support of the Oak Foundation, Oceans North and World Wildlife Fund, the Commissioners have undertaken consultations with Canadian Inuit communities in April (Grise Fiord, Resolute, Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet and Clyde River) and in Northern Greenland in September to hear from Inuit on the Greenlandic side of the Pikialasorsuaq (Siorapaluk, Qaanaaq, Savissivik, Kullorsuaq, Nuussuaq and Upernavik). The consultations are designed to facilitate local and regional input, to incorporate indigenous knowledge, and to recommend an Inuit strategy for safeguarding, monitoring and management of the health of Pikialasorsuaq for future generations.

Okalik Eegeesiak, Eva Aariak and Kuupik Kleist, The Pikialasorsuaq Commission

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Implementing UN Declaration Essential to Reconciliation

INUIT FORUM

© Letia Obed

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007 after 25 years of dialogue and negotiation between Indigenous peoples and UN member states. Inuit should be proud of the role we have played as active participants in this process since it began in 1982. The UNDRIP affirms the wide range of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous peoples. It provides a framework for action aimed at the full protection and implementation of the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Canada was one of four countries that initially voted against the UNDRIP in 2007 but in November 2010 reversed its position and announced its conditional endorsement of the document. Despite this “partial” endorsement, the past Conservative government did not take steps to implement the UNDRIP. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) mentions the UNDRIP in 16 of its 94 Calls to Action. Call 43 calls upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the UNDRIP as the framework for reconciliation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letter to Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, instructs her to prioritize implementation of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, “starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

On May 10, 2016, Minister Bennett announced in a speech to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 after 25 years of negotiation between Indigenous peoples and UN member states. © Basil D. Soufi

54

that Canada is “now a full supporter of the Declaration without qualification.” However the speech includes statements about Canada’s responsibilities under the UNDRIP that suggest no departure from the past Conservative government’s position of inaction.

The Minister went on to state that Canada believes that its existing constitutional obligations under section 35, the section of the Constitution that protects Inuit land claims agreements and other treaties and Aboriginal rights, “serve to fulfill all of the principles of the Declaration.” These statements misrepresent the scope of section 35 as being the same as the international human rights affirmed by the UNDRIP. This interpretation suggests that Canada will not take action to implement this important human rights instrument despite calls to do so

by Indigenous Canadians.

The UNDRIP is significant for Inuit because it affirms rights that are not explicitly affirmed

or clarified within our land claims agreements, such as the right of Indigenous peoples to establish and control our own educational systems and institutions.

ITK has written a position paper outlining Inuit concerns to the Government of Canada that will be released in November. It insists that a federal legislative framework, drafted in collaboration with Inuit and other Indigenous peoples, is needed to begin the process of implementing the UNDRIP. We are urging Canada to work in partnership with Inuit to create the specific mechanisms or pathway by which to implement the UNDRIP. ITK will continue doing all we can to ensure that Canada’s words of support translate into actions that help move our society toward reconciliation for Inuit while implementing our hard-fought human rights.

Natan Obed

President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

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ᓄᓇᓕᓐᓅᖓᔪᖅ, ᐊᑲᕐᕆᓇᖅᑐᖅ, ᐊᑐᐃᓐᓇᖃᑦᓯᐊᖅᑐᖅ

Nunallaat, Ihuarniq, Atuttiarniq Community, Comfort, Convenience

ᑲᓲᑎᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᓄᓇᕐᔪᐊᑉ ᖄᖓᒍᑦ

Haniliriikhutik Hilarjuap Qulaani Spanning the Top of the World

www.InnsNorth.com

( 1-888-To-North

ᓄᓇᓕᒻᒥᐅᓄᑦ ᓇᒻᒥᓂᕆᔭᐅᔪᑦ ᑐᔪᕐᒥᕖᑦ, ᑲᑐᔾᔨᖃᑎᒌᑦᑐᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᕐᒥᑦ.

Nunalimmiunut namminirijaujut tujurmiviit, katujjiqatigiittut Ukiuqtaqturmit.

Locally owned hotels, working together across the Arctic.