Above & Beyond | Canada's Arctic Journal 2018 | 03

2018 | 03 • $5.95 Marks of Belonging

Yukon Ho! Who is this Cabin Boy? Inuit Traditional Tattoos Northern Quest for Canadiana Franklin Expedition Mystery

The Thick-billed Murre

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o www.arcticjournal.ca

Brock Friesen XÇ4 K‰n8

Dear Guest, With Spring in the air, we are thrilled to announce final Transport Canada approval of our new ATR42 freighter modification. Thanks to our innovative and highly skilled team members, this significant and unique modification is another 'first' by First Air, and a one-of-a-kind aircraft in the World. Our new full freighter brings additional cargo capacity to the North. Air freight is an essential component of the Northern economy for supplies, fresh food, mail, etc. and we take our role in this vital service very seriously.

Our new freighter modification is yet another example of our commitment to the communities and people we are proud to serve.

One of our Core Values is Community and we recognize how important it is to be actively involved in our communities.

We sponsor many local events and projects throughout the year and I would like to shine a light on a few recent events in which we were very proud to participate.

Every two years, the international Arctic communities gather in a tremendous show of sportsmanship and athletic prowess at the Arctic Winter Games (AWG). This year’s AWG were hosted in the South Slave Regions of Hay River and Fort Smith, NWT. First Air was a proud Diamond Sponsor. The athletes inspired us with their dedication and outstanding performances. An event of this magnitude takes many volunteers to ensure success and we tip our hats to all who helped make this year's AWG a tremendous success and a memorable experience for all!

Every March, Yellowknife, NWT, hosts the Annual Snowking and Long John Jamboree Festivals. First Air has been a proud sponsor and supporter of these events for many years and this year was no different. These festivals are a stunning display of Arctic pride, as community residents and visitors from all over come together to celebrate the beauty that is snow and ice.

On March 11, the inaugural Iqaluit Comedy Competition took place at the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit. This sold out event was a first-time expansion of the Crackup Comedy Festival in Ottawa, Ontario, which sought to find Nunavut’s best comic. Winner Peter Autut was flown down to perform on the Festival’s big stage in Ottawa with some of Canada’s best comics. The competition was so successful, the runner up, Angnakuluk Friesen, was also invited to take part in the Festival! The Crackup Comedy Festival is not only a laugh-out-loud event, but it also focuses on mental health awareness and fundraising. I could not be prouder for First Air to partner in support of such an important cause and its expansion to Nunavut.

Thank you for choosing First Air for your flight today.

I hope we made your journey great and we look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon.

Brock Friesen First Air President & CEO

ᑐᕌᖅᑐᑦ ᐃᑭᒪᔪᓄᑦ,

ᐅᐱᕐᖔᖖᒍᕆᐊᓕᕐᒥᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᖁᕕᐊᓱᓪᓚᕆᒃᑐᒍᑦ ᑐᓴᖅᑎᑦᑎᓯᒪᓕᕆᐊᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ ᑭᖑᓪᓕᕐᒥᒃ ᑲᓇᑕᒥ ᐊᒃᔭᖅᑐᐃᔨᕐᔪᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᓈᒻᒪᒃᓴᐃᓯᒪᓕᓚᐅᕐᒪᑕ ᓄᑖᖑᓪᓗᑎᒃ ATR42-ᓂᒃ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓂᒃ ᐊᒃᔭᖅᑐᐃᔾᔪᑎᓂᒃ ᐋᖅᑭᒋᐊᖅᓯᒪᓕᓚᐅᕐᓂᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ. ᖁᔭᒋᕙᖅᐳᑦ ᓄᑖᑎᒍᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᔪᖖᒋᓐᓂᖃᑦᑎᐊᒻᒪᕆᒃᑑᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᖃᑎᒌᒃᑎᒋᔭᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᔪᐃᑦ, ᑖᓐᓇ ᓇᓗᓇᐃᒻᒪᕆᒃᑑᓪᓗᓂ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᔾᔨᖃᖖᒋᑦᑐᑎᒍᑦ ᐋᖅᑮᒋᐊᕐᓂᐅᓚᐅᕐᑐᖅ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᒻᒪᑦ ‘ᓯᕗᓪᓕᖅᐸᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᓂᕆᔭᐅᓯᒪᔪᓄᑦ’ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓕᕆᔨᖏᓐᓂᑦ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᔾᔨᖃᕋᓂ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖑᓕᕐᓂᖓᓂᒃ ᓯᓚᕐᔪᐊᓕᒫᒥ. ᑖᓐᓇ ᓄᑖᖑᓪᓗᓂ ᐊᒃᔭᖅᑐᐃᔾᔪᑎᔅᓴᖅ ᐅᓯᖃᑦᑕᕐᓂᐊᕐᒪᑦ ᐊᖏᓂᖅᓴᐅᔪᒥᒃ ᐱᖁᑎᓂᒃ ᐊᒃᔭᖅᑐᐃᕙᓐᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒧᑦ. ᖃᖓᑕᓲᑎᒍᑦ ᐊᒃᔭᖅᑐᐃᕙᓐᓂᖅ ᑕᐃᒪᐅᔭᕆᐊᖃᓪᓚᕆᒃᑑᓪᓗᓂ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᔭᕆᐊᖃᕐᒪᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᓄᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᔾᔪᓯᐅᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ ᐱᖁᑎᔅᓴᓄᑦ, ᐱᕈᖅᑐᓄᑦ ᓂᕿᓄᑦ, ᑎᑎᖅᑲᓂᐊᕐᕕᒃᑰᕐᑐᓂᒃ, ᐊᓯᖏᓂᒃᓗ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᖅᑎᐅᓂᕗᑦ ᑕᒪᒃᑯᓄᖓ ᐊᑐᕐᑉᓂᖃᓪᓚᕆᒃᑑᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐱᔨᑦᓯᕋᕈᑎᒋᕙᒃᑕᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐱᒻᒪᕆᐊᓘᑎᑉᐸᒃᑲᑦᑎᒍ. ᓄᑖᖑᓪᓗᓂ ᐱᖁᑎᓂᒃ ᐊᒃᔭᖅᑐᐃᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ ᐋᖅᑮᒋᐊᖅᓯᒪᓂᕗᑦ ᓇᓗᓇᐃᖅᓯᔾᔪᑎᐅᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᒻᒪᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᒃᓴᕆᔭᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᓂᖃᖅᐸᓐᓂᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᓄᓇᓕᒋᔭᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓄᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᓴᕆᒪᒋᓪᓗᒍ ᐱᔨᑦᓯᕋᖅᑎᐅᕙᓐᓂᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ. ᐊᐅᓚᑦᓯᔾᔪᑎᒋᔭᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᑐᕐᓂᖃᖅᑎᑕᐅᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᒻᒪᑕ ᓄᓇᓕᐅᔪᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓕᑕᕆᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒍ ᖃᓄᑎᒋ ᐱᒻᒪᕆᐅᑎᒋᒻᒪᖔᑦ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᕙᕆᐊᖃᕐᓂᕗᑦ ᓄᓇᓕᒋᔭᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᕈᔾᔨᕝᕕᒋᕙᒃᑕᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ. ᑮᓇᐅᔭᑎᒍᑦ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᐅᕙᒃᐳᒍᑦ ᐊᒥᓱᐃᖑᔪᓄᑦ ᓄᓇᓕᓐᓂ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖑᑲᐃᓐᓇᖅᐸᒃᑐᓄᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅ ᐊᑐᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᓂᖓᓂ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓇᓗᓇᐃᖅᓯᓯᒪᒋᐊᕈᒪᕗᖓ ᐊᒥᓲᓗᐊᖖᒋᑦᑑᒐᓗᐊᓄᑦ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᕐᓂᐅᓚᐅᖅᑐᓄᑦ ᓴᕆᒪᒋᒻᒪᕆᒃᑐᒍ ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᖃᑕᐅᓐᓂᕆᓚᐅᖅᑕᑦᑎᓐᓄᑦ. ᐅᑭᐅᒃ ᒪᕐᕉᒃ ᓈᓯᒪᓕᑐᐊᕌᖓᑎᒃ, ᓯᓚᕐᔪᐊᓕᒫᒥ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᖏᓂ ᓄᓇᓕᒋᔭᐅᔪᐃᑦ ᑲᑎᓐᓂᖃᖅᐸᒻᒪᑕ ᐊᖏᔪᐊᓗᒻᒥ ᐱᓕᕆᖃᑎᒌᒃᑎᐅᓂᕆᕙᒃᑕᒥᓐᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᓐᓇᖅᑎᑦᑎᒋᐊᖅᓯᒪᕙᒃᑐᑎᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᖖᒍᐊᖅᑎᓪᓚᕆᐅᓂᕐᒥᓐᓂᒃ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ ᐅᑭᐅᒃᑯᑦ ᐱᖖᒍᐊᕕᒡᔪᐊᕐᓂᖃᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂ (AWG). ᑕᕝᕙᓂ ᐅᑭᐅᒥ AWG-ᖑᔪᑦ ᑐᖖᒐᓱᒃᑎᑕᐅᓯᒪᓚᐅᕐᒪᑕ ᓴᐅᔅ ᓯᓖᕝ ᐊᕕᒃᑐᖅᓯᒪᓂᕆᔭᖓᓂᕐᒥᐅᓂᑦ ᓄᓇᓕᖏᓐᓂ ᕼᐊᐃᕆ ᕆᕗᕐ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᕗᐊᑦ ᓯᑎᑦ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕐᒥ. ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᓴᕆᒪᒋᓪᓚᕆᒃᑐᒍ ᑕᐃᒪᓐᓄᑦ ᑮᓇᐅᔭᑎᒍᑦ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᒋᔭᐅᓚᐅᕐᒪᑕ. ᐱᖖᒍᐊᖅᑎᒻᒪᕆᐅᔪᑦ ᐃᓅᓯᕆᔭᖏᑕ ᐃᔾᔪᐊᕈᒥᓇᖅᑑᓂᖏᓂᒃ ᐊᒃᑐᖅᑕᐅᓯᒪᓚᐅᕋᑦᑕ ᑕᑯᓐᓇᖅᑐᒋᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᓂᖃᑦᑎᐊᕈᓐᓇᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓇᓗᓇᐃᒻᒪᕆᒃᑐᒥᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᓂᕆᓚᐅᖅᑕᖏᓐᓂᑦ. ᑕᐃᒪᓐᓇ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᕙᒃᑐᖅ ᐊᖏᔪᐊᓘᕙᒃᑐᓂ ᐊᒥᓱᐊᓗᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᑭᓕᖅᓱᒐᐅᓇᑎᒃ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᖃᕆᐊᖃᖅᐸᒻᒪᑕ ᐃᖏᕐᕋᑦᑎᐊᖅᑎᑕᐅᔪᓐᓇᖁᓪᓗᒍ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᔪᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓕᑕᕆᓯᒪᕙᖅᐳᑦ ᑕᒪᕐᒥᒃ ᑕᐃᒃᑯᐊ ᑕᕝᕙᓂ ᐅᑭᐅᒥ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᐅᓚᐅᖅᑐᑦ AWG-ᖃᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᐃᖏᕐᕋᑦᑎᐊᖅᑎᑦᑎᔪᓐᓇᓚᐅᕐᓂᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᖅᑲᐅᒪᐃᓐᓇᕐᓂᐊᕐᓗᒋᑦ ᐃᓅᓯᕐᒥ ᐊᑐᕈᓐᓇᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᖃᓚᐅᕐᓂᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᑕᒪᕐᒥᒃ! ᐅᑭᐅᑕᒪᑦ ᒫᔾᔨ ᐊᑐᓕᕌᖓᑦ, ᔭᓗᓇᐃ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕐᒥᐅᑦ ᑐᖖᒐᓱᒃᑎᑦᑎᓂᖃᖅᐸᒻᒪᑕ ᐅᑭᐅᑕᒫᑦ ᓯᓅᑭᖕ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓛᖕ ᔮᓐ ᑎᑕᒃᑎᑦ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᖃᑎᒌᒋᐊᖅᓯᒪᕙᓐᓂᖏᓂᒃ. ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᑮᓇᐅᔭᑎᒍᑦ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᐅᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᓕᕐᒪᑕ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᓯᔨᐅᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᓕᖅᑐᓂᒃ ᑕᒪᒃᑯᓂᖓ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᕐᓂᐅᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ ᐊᒥᓱᑲᓪᓚᐅᓕᖅᑐᓄᑦ ᑕᕝᕙᓂᓗ ᐅᑭᐅᒥ ᐊᑐᖅᑐᒥ ᑕᐃᒪᓐᓇᐃᓐᓂᖃᕆᓪᓗᑎᒃ. ᑕᒪᒃᑯᐊ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᒋᐊᖃᑎᒌᓐᓂᐅᕙᒃᑐᑦ ᑕᑯᕋᓐᓂᒻᒪᕆᒃᑑᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᑕᑯᔅᓴᐅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᕙᒻᒪᑕ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᑦ ᓴᕆᒪᒋᓪᓚᕆᒃᑐᒋᑦ ᓇᓂᕐᒥᐅᑕᐅᓂᕐᒥᓐᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᔅᓴᐅᑎᑦᑎᓂᕆᕙᒃᑕᖏᓄᑦ, ᓄᓇᖅᑲᑎᒌᖑᔪᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑎᑭᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᑕᑯᔭᖅᑐᐃᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᑲᑎᓐᓂᖃᖅᑎᑕᐅᕙᒃᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᖃᑎᒌᒋᐊᖅᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᑕᑯᔪᒥᓇᓪᓚᕆᒃᑑᓂᖓᓂ ᐊᐳᑎᐅᑉ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓯᑯᐃᑦ. ᒫᔾᔨ 11-ᖑᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᐃᓕᑕᕆᔭᐅᓯᒪᓕᓚᐅᕐᒪᑕ ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ ᐃᔪᖅᓵᕆᔨᒃᑯᑦ ᓵᓚᖃᕋᓱᐊᖅᑎᑦᑎᕙᓐᓂᖏᑦ ᕗᕉᐱᑕ ᓯᓂᒃᑕᖅᕕᖓᓂ ᐃᖃᓗᓐᓂ. ᑖᓐᓇ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᓚᐅᕐᑐᖅ ᓯᕗᓪᓕᖅᐹᒥᒃ ᐊᖏᒡᓕᒋᐊᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᓚᐅᕐᒪᑦ ᐃᔪᖅᓵᕆᔨᐅᕙᒃᑐᑦ ᑕᐃᔭᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ Crackup Comedy Festival-ᒥᒃ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᖃᑎᒌᒃᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᕙᒃᑐᒧᑦ ᐋᑐᕙ, ᐋᓐᑎᐊᕆᐅᒥ, ᕿᓂᓕᖅᓯᒪᓂᖏᓐᓂ ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒥᑦ ᐃᔪᖅᓵᕆᔨᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᕐᓂᖅᐸᐅᔪᒥᒃ. ᓵᓚᒃᓴᕐᓂᖃᓚᐅᖅᑐᖅ ᐲᑕ ᐊᐅᑐᑦ ᑎᑭᑎᑕᐅᓚᐅᕐᒪᑦ ᐃᔪᖅᓵᕆᖃᑕᐅᓂᐊᖅᑐᓂ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᖃᑎᒌᒃᑎᑦᑎᔨᐅᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᐋᑐᕙᒥ ᐃᓚᒋᓂᐊᖅᑐᓂᒋᑦ ᑲᓇᑕᒥ ᐃᔪᖅᓵᕆᔨᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᕐᓂᖅᐸᐅᔪᓂᒃ. ᓵᓚᒃᓴᕋᓱᐊᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᔪᖅ ᐃᖏᕐᕋᑦᑎᐊᕐᓂᖃᓗᐊᓚᐅᕐᓂᖓ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᒋᓪᓗᒍ, ᑐᒡᓕᕆᔭᐅᔪᖅ ᓵᓚᒃᓴᖅᓯᒪᔪᓂᑦ, ᐊᕐᓇᑯᓗᒃ ᕗᕇᓴᓐ, ᐃᔪᖅᓵᕆᖃᑕᐅᖁᔭᐅᓚᐅᕐᐳᖅ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᖃᑎᒌᒃᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᔪᒥ! ᖁᕕᐊᓱᖃᑎᒌᒃᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᔪᖅ ᑕᐃᔭᐅᓪᓗᓂ Crackup ComedyFestival-ᒥᒃ ᐃᔪᕈᓱᓕᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᖓ ᑕᕝᕙᑑᓚᐅᖖᒋᒻᒪᑦ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂᓕ ᑐᕌᖓᓂᖃᖅᑎᑕᐅᓚᐅᕐᒥᔪᖅ ᐃᓱᒪᒃᑯᑦ ᐋᓐᓂᐊᖃᓕᖅᐸᓐᓂᓕᕆᓂᕐᓄᑦ ᐅᔾᔨᕈᓱᓕᖅᑎᑦᑎᒋᐊᕐᓂᕐᒥᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑮᓇᐅᔭᖁᑎᔅᓴᓂᒃ ᐱᓯᒪᓕᕆᐊᕈᑎᐅᓪᓗᓂ. ᐃᓛᒃ ᓴᕆᒪᒍᓱᓐᓂᕋ ᐊᖏᒡᓕᒃᑲᓐᓂᕈᓐᓇᖖᒋᑦᑐᖅ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᓂᖃᕈᓐᓇᖃᑕᐅᓚᐅᕐᓂᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᓯᓂᖃᖅᑐᓄᑦ ᐱᒻᒪᕆᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᓂᐅᓕᖅᓯᒪᔪᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᖏᒡᓕᒋᐊᖅᑎᑕᐅᓯᒪᓕᓚᐅᕐᓂᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒧᑦ. ᖁᔭᓐᓇᒦᒃ ᓂᕈᐊᖅᖠᓚᐅᕋᑦᓯ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓕᕆᔨᖏᓐᓂ ᐅᓪᓗᒥᐅᔪᒥ ᐃᑭᒪᕝᕕᖏᓪᓗᒍ. ᖃᖓᑕᓚᐅᕐᓂᓯ ᓈᒻᒪᑦᑎᐊᖅᑑᖁᕙᖅᐳᑦ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᖅᑑᓪᓗᓂᓗ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓂᕆᐅᒋᒃᑲᓐᓂᕐᓂᐊᖅᐸᑦᑎᒋᑦ ᐃᑭᒪᒃᑲᓐᓂᕈᒫᕐᓂᑦᓯᓐᓄᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖁᑎᑦᑎᓐᓂ ᕿᓚᐅᒥᐅᔪᖅ.

ᐸᕌᒃ ᕗᕇᓴᓐ ᕘᔅᑎᐊᒃᑯᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᖓᔪᖅᑳᖅ & ᐊᐅᓚᑦᑎᔨᒻᒪᕆᒃ

Johnny Adams ÷i ≈bu Chairman of the Board, First Air grjx5typz vtmpq5b, { wx Président du Conseil d'Administration, First Air

Chers invités, À l’approche du printemps, nous sommes ravis d’annoncer l’approbation finale de la modification de notre nouvel avion-cargo ATR-42 par Transports Canada. Grâce à nos membres d’équipe novateurs et hautement qualifiés, cette modification importante et originale est une autre « première » de First Air, et un aéronef unique dans le monde entier. Cet avion-cargo offre une capacité de fret supplémentaire vers le Nord. Le fret aérien est une composante essentielle de l’économie du Nord pour les fournitures, la nourriture fraîche, le courrier, etc., et nous prenons notre rôle dans ce service essentiel très au sérieux.

La nouvelle modification que nous avons apportée à notre avion-cargo est un autre exemple de notre engagement envers les collectivités et les personnes dont nous assurons le service avec fierté.

L’une de nos valeurs fondamentales est la communauté et nous reconnaissons à quel point il est important d’y participer activement. Nous parrainons de nombreux événements et projets locaux tout au long de l’année, et je tiens à souligner quelques-uns des plus récents auxquels nous avons été très fiers de prendre part.

Tous les deux ans, les communautés internationales de l’Arctique se rassemblent dans une manifestation extraordinaire d’esprit sportif et de prouesse athlétique aux Jeux d’hiver de l’Arctique. Cette année, les Jeux ont été accueillis dans les régions de South Slave de Hay River et Fort Smith, dans les T.N.-O. First Air a été un commanditaire de niveau Diamant. Les athlètes nous ont inspirés par leur dévouement et leurs performances remarquables. Un événement de cette ampleur nécessite beaucoup de bénévoles pour en assurer la réussite et nous saluons toutes les personnes qui ont contribué au succès extraordinaire des Jeux et à l’expérience mémorable pour tous cette année!

Au mois de mars chaque année, Yellowknife, dans les T.N.-O., accueille les festivals annuels d’hiver Roi de la Neige et Long John Jamboree. First Air est un fier commanditaire et partisan de ces événements depuis de nombreuses années et cette année n’a pas fait exception. Ces festivals représentent de façon superbe la fierté de l’Arctique, alors que les résidents de la collectivité et les visiteurs de partout se rassemblent pour célébrer la beauté que sont la neige et la glace.

Le 11 mars, l’Iqaluit Comedy Competition inaugurale a eu lieu au Frobisher Inn à Iqaluit. Cet événement à guichets fermés était une première expansion du festival d’humour Crackup à Ottawa, en Ontario, qui cherchait à trouver le meilleur fantaisiste du Nunavut. Le gagnant Peter Autut s’est rendu à Ottawa pour se produire sur la grande scène du festival avec quelques-uns des meilleurs fantaisistes du Canada. Le concours a été une telle réussite que la personne qui s’est placée au deuxième rang, Angnakuluk Friesen, a aussi été invitée à participer au festival! Le festival d’humour Crackup n’est pas seulement un événement très amusant, mais il vise aussi la sensibilisation à la santé mentale et la collecte de fonds. Je suis extrêmement fier que First Air ait formé un partenariat en vue d’appuyer une cause aussi importante, ainsi que son expansion au Nunavut.

Merci d’avoir choisi First Air pour votre vol aujourd’hui. Nous espérons que vous aurez été satisfait de votre voyage et nous comptons vous revoir à bord prochainement.

Brock Friesen Président-directeur général de First Air

ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᐅᔾᔨᕆᔭᐅᑎᑕᐅᓂᖓ |

Employee Spotlight | Iqqanaijaqtiup Ujjirijautitauninga

ᓖᔅ ᓗᐊᕆᑦᑐ | Lise Loretto ᓖᔅ ᓗᐊᕆᑦᑐᖅ, ᒪᓐᑐᕆᐋᓪ, ᑯᐃᐸᒃᒥ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᔪᖅ, ᕆᒍᑦ, ᑯᐃᐸᒃᒥ-

Lise Loretto, based in Montreal, Quebec, is from Rigaud, Quebec. Lise is the Station Manager at the First Air Montreal base, responsible for coordinating all aspects of the operations there with her colleagues in Kuujjuaq, as well as serving Iqaluit and some charters.

ᐅᑕᐅᕗᖅ. ᓖᔅ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᕐᕕᒻᒥ ᐊᐅᓚᑦᓯᔨᒋᔭᐅᕗᖅ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᒪᓐᑐᕆ-

ᐋᓪᓕ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᕕᖓᓂ, ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᖅᑎᒋᔭᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᐋᖅᑭᒃᓱᐃᔨᐅᕙᓐᓂᕐᒧᑦ

ᑕᒪᐃᓂᒃ ᐊᐅᓚᑦᓯᓂᖃᕐᓂᕐᓄᑦ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᖃᖅᑐᓂᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᖃᑎᒋᕙᒃᑐᓂᒋᑦ

ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᒋᔭᓂ ᑰᔾᔪᐊᕐᒥ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕᕆᔨᒋᔭᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂ ᐃᖃᓗᓐᓂ

ᐱᓕᕆᓂᖃᕐᓂᐅᔪᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓚᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᓵᑐᒃᑰᕈᑎᒋᔭᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂᒃ.

ᓖᔅ ᐊᖏᔪᒻᒪᕆᒻᒥᒃ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᖃᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᓂᖓ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᓐᓂ, ᐃᓚ-

ᖃᖅᑐᒍ ᐊᑯᓂᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓚᒌᖑᔪᑦ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᕐᓂᖃᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᓂᖏᓐᓄᑦ

Lise’s extensive job experience at First Air, as well as a long family history in aviation has served her well over the years on her job. Both her parents and one sister are pilots and her spouse is a maintenance engineer. While attending the University of Ottawa 30 years ago, she worked as a flight attendant on First Air’s northern and southern routes, during a time when the company operated flights to New York and Boston daily, as well as had a vast charter network. Lise had intended to stay only until she graduated but got hooked on the company and industry. Thirty years later, she is still with us!

ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓕᕆᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᖃᖅᑐᓂᒃ ᐃᑲᔪᕐᓂᖃᓪᓚᕆᒃᓯᒪᒻᒪᑕ ᐱᓕᕆᐊ-

ᕆᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᔭᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᕆᔭᒥᓂ. ᑕᒪᕐᒥᒃ ᐊᖓᔪᖅᑳᖏᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ

ᐊᑕᐅᓯᖅ ᐊᖓᔪᖓ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖅᑎᐅᒻᒪᑕ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᐃᑉᐸᕆᔭᖓ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓂᒃ ᐋᖅᑭᐅᒪᑎᑦᑎᔨᐅᓪᓗᓂ. ᐋᑐᕙ ᓯᓚᑦᑐᖅᓴᕐᕕᖓᓂ ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᕈᑎᖃᖅᑎᓪ-

ᓗᒍ 30 ᐅᑭᐅᑦ ᓈᓯᒪᓕᖅᑐᓂ, ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒥ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᑲᒪᔨᐅᓚ-

ᐅᖅᓯᒪᕗᖅ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᖃᓪᓗᓈᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᓐᓂ

ᖃᖓᑕᖃᑦᑕᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ, ᑕᐃᒪ ᑲᒻᐸᓂᒋᔭᐅᔪᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᕙᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ

ᓂᐅ ᔪᐊᒃᒧᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐹᔅᑕᓐᒧᑦ ᐊᒥᐊᕆᑲᒥᐅᓂ ᖃᐅᑕᒫᑦ, ᐃᓚᖃᖅᐸᒃᑐᑎᒃ ᐊᖏᔪᐊᓗᒻᒥᒃ ᓵᑐᒃᑰᕐᓂᐅᕙᓚᐅᖅᑐᓄᑦ. ᓖᔅ ᑕᐃᔅᓱᒪᓂᐅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᕐᓂᐊᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᔫᒐᓗᐊᖅ

ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᕈᑎᒥᑕ

ᐃᓱᓕᓯᒪᓕᕐᕕᒃᓴᖓᓄᑦ

ᑭᓯᐊᓂᓕ ᑲᒻᐸᓂᒋᔭᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᓂᕐᒥᓄᑦ ᓱᖏᐅᑎᓯᒪᓕᓚ-

ᐅᕐᒪᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕᕆᔾᔪᓯᐅᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ. ᐊᓱᐃᓛᓕ, 30 ᐅᑭᐅᑦ ᓈᓯᒪᓕᕋᓗᐊᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ, ᓱᓕ ᐅᕙᑦᑎᓐᓂ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᖃᑕᐅᖖᒋᓐᓇᓕᕐᐳᖅ!

ᐅᑭᐅᓂ ᐊᑐᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᓯᒪᔪᓂ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖅᑎᐅᖃᑦᑕᓚᐅᕐᐳᖅ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖓᓂ ᐱᔨᔾᓯᕋᖅᑎᐅᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᑲᒪᔨᒋᔭᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂ ᐃᓚᖃᖅᑐᒍᑦ ᐱᓕᒻᒪᒃ-

ᓴᐃᔨᓕᕆᔨᒃᑯᓐᓂ, ᐱᓕᒻᒪᒃᓴᐃᔨᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒥ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᐅᕙᓐᓂ-

ᐊᖅᑐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓕᕆᔨᓂᒃ.

Over the years she has worked in First Air’s In-flight Services as a Purser as well as in the training department, training flight attendants and pilots.

Lise Loretto with the Stanley Cup. © Lise Loretto

ᓖᔅ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᔭᖃᕐᐳᖅ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖃᑎᒥᓂᒃ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖃᖃᑎᖃᖅᐸᒋᐊᒥᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐅᖃᐅᓯᕆᓯᒪᓪᓗᒋᑦ

ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᖃᑎᒌᑦᑎᐊᕙᐅᓂᖏᓐᓂᒃ. ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᖃᕐᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᐱᔭᕆᑐᔫᒋᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᒃᓴᕆᔭᐅᕙᒻᒥᔪᑦ ᐊᖏᔪ-

ᐊᓘᓪᓗᓂ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᐅᓪᓚᕆᒃᑑᓪᓗᓂ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᕝᕕᖕᒥ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᒃᓴᐅᕙᒃᑐᓄᑦ ᒪᓐᑐᕆᐋᓪ ᑐᕉᑑᒥ ᐊᖏᔪᐊᓗᒻᒥᒃ ᐅᑭᐅᑦ ᐊᑐᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᓯᒪᓂᖏᓐᓂ ᐃᓕᑦᑎᓯᒪᕝᕕᒋᓯᒪᓕᕐᒪᒋᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᔭᒃᓴᖅᑕᖃᐃᓐᓇᐅᔭᖅᐸᒃᑐᓂ.

“ᐃᓱᒪᕗᖓ ᕘᔅᑦ ᐃᐊᒃᑯᑦ ᐊᔾᔨᖃᖅᑑᖖᒋᓐᓂᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᓯᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᖃᖓᓲᓕᕆᔨᐅᒻᒥᔪᓂ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᓕᕆᔨᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ

Lise enjoys working with her colleagues and says she has a fantastic team. The additional challenges of working at such a large and dynamic airport as Montreal Trudeau has taught her a lot over the years and she is never bored.

“I think one of the things that sets First Air apart from other airlines is the attachment to the community and people we serve. We grew ᒋᓯᒪᒐᑦᑎᒍ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐸᑦᑎᑕᐅᔾᔪᓯᖏᑎᒍᑦ ᐊᑎᖏᓂᒃ ᑕᒪᕐᒥᑲᓴᒃ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᓪᓗᑎᒍ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓅᓯᕐᒥᓂ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᕆ- up with these people and know most by first name and most of their ᓯᒪᔭᖏᓂᒃᑕᐅᖅ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᒋᓪᓗᑎᒍ. ᐅᕙᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᑕᕝᕕᖃᓪᓚᕆᒻᒪᑕ ᑖᒃᑯᐊ ᐃᓄᖏᑦ. ᓲᕐᓗ ᐃᓚᓪᓚᑦᑖᕆᔭᑦᑎᑐᑦ.” stories as well. They mean a great deal to me. They are like family.”

ᐃᓚᐅᖃᕐᓂᖓᑕ ᓄᓇᓕᐅᔪᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓄᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐱᔨᑦᓯᕋᕐᕕᒋᕙᒃᑕᑦᑎᓐᓂᒃ. ᑖᒃᑯᐊ ᐃᓄᖏᑦ ᐱᕈᖅᓴᖃᑎ-

“ᐊᖑᑎ ᒪᒃᑯᒃᑑᓪᓗᓂ ᐅᕙᓐᓄᑦ ᐅᐸᒍᑎᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᒻᒪᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᒃ ᒪᕐᕉᒃ ᓈᓯᒪᓕᖅᑐᓐᓂ ᐅᖃᐅᑎᔭᖅᑐᖅᑐᓂᖓ ᐊᓈᓇᒥᓂᑦ ᐅᖃᐅᔾᔭᐅᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᓂᒥᓂᒃ ᑕᐃᒪᐅᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᓂᓐᓂᒃ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒥ ᐅᕙᓐᓂᒃ ᐃᕐᓂᔭᖅᑐᖅᑐᓂ ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᑦ ᐊᒃᔭᖅᑕᐅᑎᓪᓗᒍ. ᐅᑭᐅᖃᓕᖅᑐᓂ 19-ᓂᒃ”.

“A young man came up to me a couple of years ago to say his mother had told him it was on my flight that she was Medevac’d when she gave birth to him. He was 19!”

ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᕐᓇᖅ ᐃᓱᓕᓯᒪᓕᖅᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᓖᑦ ᓯᑐᓗᓂ ᓯᑮᒋᐊᖅᓯᒪᔪᒃᑲᐅᕗᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐅᓪᓚᒃᑎᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂ, When not working, Lise is an avid downhill skier and runner, hobbies

ᖁᕕᐊᒋᔭᒥᓂᒃ ᐱᓕᕆᓂᖃᖃᑎᒋᔪᒪᕙᒃᑕᖏᑦ ᐸᓂᓂ ᑎᐊ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑭᐊᕋ. ᖁᕕᐊᒋᕙᒃᑕᖏᑦ ᕿᑐᕐᖓᒥᓂᒃ

ᐊᐃᑉᐸᒥᓂᒃᓗ ᕆᒃᒥ ᐃᓚᒌᖑᓗᑎᒃ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᐅᖃᑎᒌᓐᓂᐊᕐᓗᑎᒃ ᑲᑎᖖᒐᔪᓐᓇᖅᓯᓯᒪᔭᕌᖓᒥᒃ.

she shares with her two daughters Tea and Kira. She enjoys spending family time with them and her husband, Rick.

From the Flight Deck Our response teams behind the scenes It takes a large team to enable a flight to depart on time. Many of the key players are highly visible to passengers – pilots, flight attendants, ticket counter agents, cargo agents. While passengers see those members of our team daily, there is also a very important team that isn’t visible but who also play a critical role in our operations. The frontline staff are largely charged with executing the operation but the members of our Operational Control Centre (OCC) develop the plan that gets carried out. The OCC can be broken down into four key groups: Duty Managers, Crew Scheduling, Maintenance Control, and Flight Dispatch.

Duty Managers ultimately balance all the variables and respond to any changes throughout the day. On any given day, First Air will use 17 aircraft to carry out an average of 70 flights. On a good day, it’s a relatively simple process to manage, since our schedule is well-planned out in advance. Things can get very complicated, very quickly, when something unexpected – bad weather, closed airports, unscheduled maintenance requirements, delays – occurs. Since most of our aircraft operate several different flights in a day, a delay in the morning can snowball and impact the rest of the day – sometimes that snowball can carry over for several days too.

Each day starts off with a plan, but that plan can change five or six times in a given day.

Duty Managers develop each of those plans and respond to unexpected changes.

The Crew Scheduling group is tasked with ensuring we have the required crew members assigned to each flight. That sounds like a simple task, but they must ensure the crews are all qualified and must monitor work times

The members of our Operational Control Centre (OCC) develop the flight plan that gets carried out.

and rest requirements to ensure the crew can carry out the flying that we plan for them each day. Each time the day’s plans change, the Crew Schedulers must re-evaluate and potentially re-assign various crew members to ensure we can carry out any revised or updated plans.

The Maintenance Control group is tasked with monitoring the status of the aircraft throughout the day. Should any aircraft encounter a technical issue, the Maintenance Control staff work closely with the maintenance workers at that airport to ensure any required work is carried out. When replacement parts are required, the Maintenance Control group coordinates the delivery of those parts. While that may sound like a simple task, our operations take us to some rather remote locations, which adds an additional layer of complexity to their work.

The Flight Dispatch group plans each individual flight. Between analyzing the weather, planning routings and identifying alternate airports, and coordinating with Air Traffic

Control, they can spend quite a bit of time planning a flight – only to have to start all over when the plans change throughout the day.

Depending on the day, the mood in the OCC can vary drastically. On a nice sunny day, when things are all going as planned, it is quite calm.

When a sudden, and unforecast, blizzard rolls though Yellowknife or Iqaluit and all our aircraft suddenly divert to different airports, things get fairly hectic while the OCC must start from scratch to rebuild a new plan – all with aircraft and crews that are now at the wrong location. On those days, they rely on a great deal of teamwork in the OCC to ensure we come up with the best response to get everyone to their destinations as quickly as possible.

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

Introducing onboard entertainment…

First Air will soon be launching a wireless in-flight entertainment on select flights.

It is a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) concept where passengers simply use their electronic device on-board, connect to the Wi-fi network and enjoy hours of entertainment.

Watch movies, listen to music, play games, read magazines!

Inuktitut and English Titles

Orphan and the Polar Bear

The Owl and the Lemming

Movies

Amaqqut Nunaat: The Country of Wolves

Amautalik

Black Mass

CHIPS

Dolphin Tale

Going in Style

The Great Gatsby

Harry Potter Deathly Hollows 2

King Arthur

Wonder Woman

11.22.63

Arrow

ER

Gotham

Mom

Pinky and the Brain

The Big Bang Theory

Teen Titans

The Flash

Westworld

The Mentalist

Television

Cirque du Soleil

Friends

Bugs Bunny

Tom and Jerry

Check out the entertainment onboard for further titles.

...and more.

2018 | 03 • $5.95 Marks of Belonging

Yukon Ho! Who is this Cabin Boy? Inuit Tradi onal Ta oos Northern Quest for Canadiana Franklin Expedi on Mystery

The Thick-billed Murre

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With climate change, polar bears are risking venturing on dangerous cliffs to snack on Thick-billed murre’s nests. © Émile Brisson-Curadeau

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May | June 2018 Volume 30, No. 3

Features

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The Thick-billed Murre

The Thick-billed murre, known locally as akpa in the North, is the most common seabird in the Arctic.

— Text and photos by Émile Brisson-Curadeau

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Marks of Belonging

In Canada’s Arctic, a preferred method for expressions of cultural identity has been “skin sewing,” the traditional form of tattooing.

— Michael Engelhard

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Yukon Ho!

What better place to experience a patriotic northern summer sojourn than Canada’s western most territory during the Yukon’s 120th anniversary of entry into Confederation.

— Alan Luke and Jacquie Durand

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Who is this Cabin Boy?

The search is on for the identity of one of the Lost Franklin Expedition cabin boys.

— Forensic Artist Diana Trepkov

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23

31

09 Destination Focus

13 Living Above&Beyond 21 Resources

35 Culture Ship Time — Nick Newbery

39 Education Building a Northern Marine Labour Force — Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium

43 Adventure Ulittaniujalik National Park — Nunavik Parks

46 Science Hoarfrost River Environmental Field Study — Wilfrid Laurier University

49 Bookshelf

50 Inuit Forum — Natan Obed National Inuit Leader & President, ITK

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63.7467° N, 68.5170° W

I Q ALUIT

Canada’s capital will provide you with a fascinating glimpse of the Nunavut territory and its ever-changing culture. The bustling capital is a modern Inuit community, home to Inuit people from around the Territory as well as proud newcomers from around the world. Set along the spectacular hills of Frobisher Bay, Iqaluit (Inuktitut for ‘Place of Many Fish) is a sparkling jewel in Nunavut’s crown.

Iqaluit is an accessible destination and will give you an excellent taste of Nunavut’s culture and history.

Walking through the beautiful community you will be delighted with the stunning vistas of mountains and sea ice, and can catch a glimpse of what makes Nunavut so special. Home to people from around the world, you may encounter a famous Inuk artist dining at a restaurant or catch a visiting Hollywood celebrity at the local museum.

Iqaluit boasts many fine hotels and restaurants, where you can relax after a hike through the Sylvia Grinnell Park or Apex Beach. There are hiking trails for people of all abilities that lead to the untamed beauty of the Arctic tundra.

The city is home to many famous Inuit artists, and their work can be found at several local galleries.

Iqaluit’s artists not only excel at traditional artmaking, but also draw inspiration from the influx of newcomers to the area, creating a truly modern and vibrant art scene.

In the spring, you can experience the Toonik Tyme Festival, and see the community celebrate the end of a long winter. The games and activities bring the residents of this small city together, creating a warm and welcoming environment.

The annual Alianait Festival in late June/early July brings together musicians and artists from around the North and welcomes artists and performers from around the world. Music, theatre, circus acts, storytelling and visual arts are all featured. The festival also produces a concert series throughout the year.

There is much to see and do in the Nunavut capital. In and around Iqaluit, four territorial parks offer a variety of cultural and wildlife experiences. Historical buildings, such as the original Hudson’s Bay Post on the shore in Apex are also within easy reach.

For nature buffs, local outfitters can take you on an amazing experience ‘down the bay’ and out to the floe edge where you can encounter whales, pods of seals, and perhaps even one or two wandering polar bears. The stark contrast of leaving a bustling community and finding yourself lulled by the silent breaths of a hard-working dog team will tug at your soul.

The history of Iqaluit is unique. While Inuit have lived, fished, and hunted in the area for millennia, the modern history of the city began with the establishment of the Iqaluit Airport — a part of the staging route for American aircraft being delivered to Europe during the Second World War. In Iqaluit you can still see some of the remaining buildings left behind.

Checking in with the Unikkaarvik Visitor’s Centre will provide the latest up-to-date information on the various seasonal activities available. This centre is conveniently located next to the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, allowing you to place this wonderful city in a historical context.

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D E S T I N AT I O N F O C U S

© Mueller

Some essential Iqaluit experiences:

• Explore nearby Qaumaarviit Territorial Park and learn about the thousands of years of local Inuit history • Hike through beautiful Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park, located within the Iqaluit city limits, and then relax in one of the excellent dining options in town • Explore the vibrant arts scene: Public carvings and graphics are incorporated into the buildings and landscape throughout the town.

Galleries display local and territorial arts and crafts, jewellery, and locally made clothing. The Legislative Assembly incorporates Inuit motifs in its modern design and showcases Inuit treasures, and the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum curates displays of art representing artists throughout the Territory.

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Fish, squids and even shrimps, few living creatures are safe from the murre’s appetite, putting the bird on the top of the marine ecosystem.

The Thick-billed Murre A Bird of all Records

Text and photos by Émile Brisson-Curadeau

Do you know which flying bird holds the record for the deepest dive?

What about the bird that holds the record for the heaviest body compared with the size of its wings (which is a good indicator for how

clumsy a bird is when it flies)? Any clues? And the bird that lives in the most densely populated colonies of the Arctic. Do you know that one? It turns out all these records are held by the same bird: The Thick-billed murre, known locally as akpa in the North.

Thick-billed murres have short wings despite their heavy weight. While they are agile divers, their flight is quite clumsy.

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Although unknown apart from the hunters who seek them for their delicious meat, the akpa is nevertheless the most common seabird in the Arctic. Akpas are however hard to see, as they spend winter far from shore, in ice-free water. They come back on land during the summer to breed, where they gather in colonies of up to one million individuals. These loud and dense aggregations are, however, often located far from settlements, on hard-to-reach island cliffs. Those colonies close to settlements, such as the Digges Island colony near Ivujivik, Nunavik, are great spectacles that spark the imagination of any visitor.

As this bird spends most of its time at sea, one wouldn’t be surprised to know that it feeds on fish. But this bird is more determined than others, often diving more than a hundred metres 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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Although murres only lay one egg per year, an individual can live up to 36 years in the wild, with plenty of opportunity for reproduction.

deep and staying up to six minutes underwater to capture prey. One bird was recorded going as deep as 180m, a record for a flying bird, as only the flightless penguins go deeper. Its diving prowess has a cost however. The optimal shape of a wing for diving is short and broad, for better manoeuvrability, quite the opposite of what you would expect from a wing efficient for flying. Result: the akpa can fly, but movements like taking off or changing direction are quite tricky to accomplish. Its heavy body doesn’t help either, making the akpa the flying bird with the highest “mass/surface of the wing” ratio.

Lack of agility in flight is not a big problem for this bird however, as very few predators attack adults, so there is no need for a quick escape. The main cases of predation happen rather during their early stage of life. On the cliff, during the breeding season, eggs and chicks are often sought by gulls and foxes. Climate change has brought an even more voracious predator, the polar bear! Polar bears usually do not wander around bird colonies during the summer, as the seals they hunt on the ice sheet during late spring are normally enough for them to survive the whole summer without eating. With climate change however, the sea ice is melting faster, allowing less time for polar bears to stack up reserves. Bird colonies suddenly look like giant buffets, and what used to be a risky undertaking is now worth a try. A polar bear is much more gluttonous than a gull or a fox, eating hundreds of nests at a time and clearing whole ledges from akpa occupation. Fortunately, these birds are long-lived birds (up to 36 years old), and adults that lose their nest to predation will have plenty of opportunities to breed again in the following years.

There is still much to know about this fascinating bird, and research is ongoing to learn more about its lifestyle, which have been studied by Inuit hunters for eons. Its diving abilities, position in the marine ecosystem as a top predator, and abundance makes it a great scientific model for studies all around the Arctic. Who knows, we might discover another record to add to its already impressive collection.

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The Glaucous gull, one of the biggest gulls in the Arctic, is usually the main predator of murre’s eggs and chicks

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LIVING ABOVE&BEYOND

Art of Labrador Inuit to be showcased Left: Michelle Baikie The Hunter, 1998 Digital Photography Ed. Artist's Proof 71.12 x 50.80 Collection of Michelle R. Baikie Firekeepers

Nunatsiavut is home to the world's most southerly population of Inuit who live above and below the tree line. The Inuit artists and craftspeople from Nunatsiavut produce a stunningly diverse range of work from the varying Arctic and Subarctic flora and fauna in their surroundings.

Artists have traditionally used stone and wood for carving; fur, hide, and sealskin for wearable art; and saltwater seagrass for basketry, as well as wool, metal, cloth, beads, and

paper. In recent decades, they have produced work in a variety of contemporary art media, including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, video, and ceramics, while also working with traditional materials in new and unexpected ways.

SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut is the first major exhibition on the art of the Labrador Inuit. SakKijâjuk means “to be visible” in the Nunatsiavut dialect of Inuktitut and includes 85 artworks by 47 artists across four generations of artists — Elders, Trailblazers, Fire Keepers, and the Next Generation. It opens at the Winnipeg Art Gallery May 26 to Sept 30.

The exhibit is curated by Dr. Heather Igloliorte, co-chair of the WAG’s Indigenous Advisory Circle and Lead Guest Curator of the recently named group of three all-Inuit, all-female team to create the inaugural exhibitions of the Inuit Art Centre, opening in 2020.

Organized by The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Division, St. John’s, Newfoundland, the project is possible in part by the Government of Canada and by the Nunatsiavut Government.

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Above: Billy Gauthier Song from the Spirit World Caribou, moose antler, serpentine 38.10 x 33.02 x 17.78 Collection of Grenfell Campus, Memorial University Firekeepers

Left: Chesley Flowers The George River Herd, 1996 Wood, antler 121.92 x 121.92 The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, Memorial University Collection Elders

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Ivakkak mushers finish race despite weather woes

Willie Cain Jr. and Ken Labbe from Tasiujaq, Nunavik, win first in the annual Ivakkak race. © Ivakkak

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With a day’s late start, Nunavik’s annual dog team race left the Ungava coast community of Tasiujaq on March 20. Inclement weather would continue to follow the mushers throughout the race. High winds and blowing snow started to deteriorate trail conditions and visibility in the region March 22. As a result, the race couldn’t continue until March 26.

As of early March 27, the teams were set to reach Quaqtaq by the day’s end. With weather delays still holding up the race, a night of dancing in Quaqtaq was called for on April 1 and many took part in the boisterous activity.

April 3, the weather finally improved again for racers to leave for the final leg of the race, travelling approximately 70-kilomoetres that day.

Taking the lead from Day 1, Team 6 was well ahead of the rest of the teams by about 45 minutes.

Team members Willie Cain Jr. and Ken Labbe, both from Tasiujaq, maintained their first place throughout the race, completing with a final time of 47:16:44.

A Makivik Corp.-sponsored event, racers covered just over 500 kilometres through Aupaluk, Kangirsuk and Quaqtaq on their way to the race’s finish line in Kangiqsujuaq, along the Hudson coast.

On-the-land programs receive funding

On-the-Land Collaborative, an initiative whose partners include local Indigenous governments, Tides Canada, the NWT government and private industry, announced a $1-million grant to distribute to 48 approved projects.

Projects include a hide tanning camp in Lutsel K’e, ice fishing in Whati, a healing program for the homeless in Behchoko, a spring camp in Colville Lake, a summer camp in Ulukhaktok, and a program teaching fishing and hunting skills in Tulita.

Projects must be an on-the-land program that delivers community benefits like mental wellness, cultural revitalization and environmental stewardship and have a good mix of elders and youth.

Lutsel K’e Hide Camp Gathering. © NWT On the Land Collaborative

The program was created in response to a forum on mental health and addictions the territorial government held in every community in 2015.

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LIVING ABOVE&BEYOND

First place DeBeers Inspired Ice carving by Junichi Nakamura of Japan and Shinichi Sawamura of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Photo Courtesy of De Beers Canada

Ice carving tradition continues

During the Long John Jamboree March 24-25, Junichi Nakamura of Japan and Shinichi Sawamura of Fairbanks, Alaska, (formerly of Japan), created a dazzling ice elephant to win the 6th annual De Beers Inspired Ice International Ice Carving Competition in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Having won the event in 2015, these 15-time World Ice Carving Champions finished with a final score of 91.17, just ahead of defending 2017 champions Peter Slavin from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Chris Swarbrick from Ellsworth, Wisconsin, who scored 90.20. Aaron Costic and Jeff Meyers both from Broadview, Ohio, came in a close third place with a score of 90.00.

Northwest Territories participant Terry Pamplin of Yellowknife with team member Stephan Koch from Yorktown, Indianna, placed sixth with a score of 83.63 to win in the Silver Medal category, the top win for the territory.

This year was the largest array of international participants with 10 teams from the United States, Japan, Sweden, Belgium and Italy.

De Beers Canada announced it will provide $150,000 in funding into the popular Inspired Ice Carving Competition over the next five years. A Yellowknife tradition, the funds will help transform the competition into one of the world’s premier ice carving contests.

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LIVING ABOVE&BEYOND

Reinvigorating an Inuit legend The cast and crew of Kiviuq Returns. © Qaggiavuut

The Inuit cast and crew from Kiviuq Returns recently returned from an unprecedented tour of Nunavut presenting the show to hundreds of Nunavut children and youth in 11 communities and all three regions.

The cast and crew, who are all young Inuit, taught attendees the songs and stories they

had learned from elders. These Inuit youth were involved in many leadership roles while on tour, including managing the tour, teaching, performing and running the technical aspects of the show.

Kiviuq Returns is about an ancient Inuit hero wanderer and his struggles to find his way home.

For more information, visit qaggiavuut.com

Peter Autut of Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, wins the Iqaluit Crackup Comedy Competition. © Crackup.ca

Nunavut’s best comedian wins

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On March 11, Canada’s very own Mary Walsh, aka Marg, Princess Warrior, hosted and helped judge the inaugural Crackup Iqaluit Comedy Competition at the Frobisher Inn. This sold out event was a first-time expansion of the Crackup Comedy Festival in Ottawa, Ontario, which sought to find Nunavut’s best comic.

After a tough evening of competition and laughter, Peter Autut from Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, was announced the winner, receiving an all expense paid trip to perform in the 2018 Alterna Savings Crackup Comedy Festival Finale in Ottawa March 24, with some of Canada’s best comics. Runner up, Angnakuluk Friesen, was also invited to take part in the Festival!

Sponsored by First Air, the competition promotes mental health awareness and fundraising.

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LIVING ABOVE&BEYOND

Explore mysteries of lost ships in new exhibit In May 1845, Sir John Franklin set sail from Britain in command of the most ambitious Northwest Passage expedition ever initiated by the Royal Navy. The Expedition’s two ships, Terror and Erebus, and 129 men never returned.

Now, 173 years later, the Canadian Museum of History invites visitors to explore one of history’s most enduring mysteries in the new exhibition, Death in the Ice – The Mystery of the Franklin

A section of the ship’s wheel recovered from HMS Erebus, September 2015. © Parks Canada, 89M100A1-2

Expedition, presented until September 30, 2018.

Through historical artifacts and Inuit oral histories, Death in the Ice provides the most comprehensive account to date of Franklin’s final voyage and brings together more than 200 objects among others from the collections of the Canadian Museum of History and the National Maritime Museum in Britain. The exhibition

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highlights an array of Inuit artifacts and interviews, which introduce visitors to the critical role Inuit continue to play in solving the Franklin mystery.

The exhibition was developed by the Canadian Museum of History in partnership with Parks Canada and the National Maritime Museum, and in collaboration with the Government of Nunavut and the Inuit Heritage Trust.

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LIVING ABOVE&BEYOND

Partnership empowers youth On March 8, excitement ran high for students at Ulluriaq School in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik, as they hosted the Gatineau-based charity I Love First Peoples for an all-day school celebration event.

Last fall, I Love First Peoples collected over 10,000 gift-filled shoeboxes, many of them filled by students in urban schools, such as St. Edmunds Elementary School in Beaconsfield and Symmes-D’Arcy McGee High School in Gatineau, Quebec. The shoeboxes are being distributed to 20 remote and semi-remote Indigenous communities across Canada.

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“When opening the shoeboxes, students at Ulluriaq School were thrilled to see pictures and videos that had been packed for them. They really felt the connection created by this gesture of friendship,” said Josée Lusignan, President and founding-member of I Love First Peoples.

I Love First Peoples is a Canadian registered charity, with 30 chapters across the country, that empowers Indigenous youth to succeed in school, through projects that foster reconciliation.

I Love First Peoples also partnered with Inuit actor and champion Arctic games athlete Johnny

Johnny Issaluk facilitates a workshop during the special event organized in Kangiqsualujjuaq by I Love First Peoples at Ulluriaq School on March 8. © I Love First People

Issaluk who delivered a powerful workshop to students. His personal and professional journey, his role as an ambassador for the Inuit culture and the stories he shared about survival in the Arctic environment were truly inspirational.

The day ended with a community event during which the film, Indian Horse was premiered ahead of its April release in theatres across Canada. The movie features Johnny Issaluk.

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Ashevak and Pitsiulak exhibit coming to AGO

“Tunirrusiangit” means “their gifts” or “what they gave us” in Inuktitut. It is also the name of a new exhibit by the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, which will showcase the artwork of Kenojuak Ashevak and her nephew Tim Pitsiulak from June 16 to August 12, this year.

Hailing from Kinngait (previously known as Cape Dorset) Nunavut, Kenojuak Ashevak (1927– 2013), an Order of Canada recipient, is known as the “grandmother of Inuit art”. She is famous for her fluid graphic storytelling and stunning use of magic markers. Ashevak heavily inspired Pitsiulak (1967–2016), who became a popular figure in Inuit art during his relatively short career for drawing animal figures with a hunter’s precision, and for capturing the technological presence of the South in the hamlet. It will be Pitsiulak’s first major gallery retrospective.

This exhibition is a new venture in collaboration and curating at the AGO and will feature many drawings, sketches and prints by Ashevak and Pitsiulak, highlighting their immense creativity, confidence and artistic ambition. It will showcase works from the AGO Collection (the secondlargest collection of Inuit art in the country), important pieces from Dorset Fine Arts, newly-

LIVING ABOVE&BEYOND Kenojuak Ashevak, Luminous Char, 2008.

Stonecut, stencil, Overall: 51.1 × 63.8 cm.

Courtesy of Dorset Fine Arts. © Estate of Kenojuak Ashevak

commissioned work from contemporary artists, as well as significant loans from public, private and corporate collections, such as TD Bank Group’s Inuit art collection.

The AGO has also invited Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage (MICH) project at York University as well as the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative (WBEC) to bring together a curatorial team comprising of Inuit artists and curators to lead the project.

Tim Pitsiulak, Swimming Bear, 2016. Black ink and coloured pencil on paper, Overall: 74.9 × 105.4 cm.

Purchase, 2017 © Estate of Tim Pitsiulak

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RESOURCES

NUNAVIK

Drilling program shows potential

Drill testing continues at the Commerce Resources Corp. Niobium Claim Group Property located in northern Quebec, approximately 130 km south of Kuujjuaq. The work includes numerous surface samples highlighting strong potential for high-grade discovery on the Property, high-grade drill intersections, and mineralogical analyses.

The work encompasses three primary areas of interest at various stages of exploration: the Miranna Area, Southeast Area, and the Northwest Area, all showing numerous, high-grade, niobium-tantalum occurrences.

NUNAVUT

Whale Tail mine given go ahead

Agnico Eagle has received a project certificate to go ahead and develop its new Whale Tail mine. The certificate from the Nunavut Impact and Review Board comes with 64 terms and conditions to ensure the mine is built, operated and cleaned up in a way that doesn’t “unduly and adversely” harm the environment, especially regarding reducing damage to the region’s migrating caribou population.

Whale Tail would be an open-pit gold mine at the Agnico Eagle’s Amaruq property, about 150 kilometres north of Baker Lake, and about 50 km northwest of the company’s existing Meadowbank gold mine.

Open pit mining is expected to start in the third quarter of 2019, employing 930 workers on rotating shifts and lasting three to four years.

Silver Range expands gold projects

Silver Range Resources Ltd. has announced it has significantly expanded the size of the South Kitikmeot Gold Project in western Nunavut and has optioned the Project to Amaroq Gold Corp.

The Project covers 72,810 hectares, including claims and permits.

Silver Range and Amaroq are planning a summer field program involving systematic goldin-till sampling, magnetic and electromagnetic field surveys, to locate targets on unexplored ground and to expand existing drill targets.

The South Kitikmeot Gold Project includes the following prospects: Esker Lake, Gold Bugs, Qannituq, Uist, Ujaraq, Hiqiniq and Bling.

Silver Range Resources Ltd. has also announced it has been awarded three prospecting permits for the Tree River property, located 155 kilometres southeast of Kugluktuk and covering 39,250 hectares.

New apprentices learn trades

Qikiqtani Inuit Association, in partnership with Baffinland is pleased to announce that 14 Inuit from the Q-STEP program have joined Baffinland as part of a new apprenticeship program. Spread across the company’s operations departments, the trades assistants will gain valuable firsthand experience job shadowing experienced employees and learning more about the basics of mining operations.

The new program allows Inuit to become Baffinland employees while completing the educational and experience requirements to be certified in a skilled trade.

The trades assistants will job shadow Baffinland’s carpenters, electricians, plumbers, welders, and more, learning about their respective trades.

Upon successful completion of the six-month term, candidates will have written their Trades Entrance exam. Pending successful enrollment in their respective trades programs, they will become full-time, permanent apprentices at Baffinland.

Qikiqtani Skills and Training for Employment Partnership (Q-STEP) is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Skills and Partnership Fund.

NWT

Funding for STEM students available

De Beers Canada has announced that the first four scholarships in support of De Beers’ UN Women partnership commitment are now available to female students applying for first-year full-time studies in eligible Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs at the University of Waterloo.

These four one-year scholarships will be for the September 2018 enrolment.

Unique to the program is a commitment to identify female Indigenous candidates from the Northwest Territories and northern Ontario in areas where De Beers Canada has mining operations.

De Beers will also provide a total of $76,000 in funding over the next three years to sponsor ten Grade 7 and 8 girls from Indigenous communities each year to attend the University of Waterloo summer IMPACT Camps.

YUKON

Gold mine receives funding

Orion Mine Finance, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd., and Caterpillar Financial have come up with the bulk of financing necessary to help jump start Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold project. As a result

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of the new funding, the company expects to have 60 to 70 per cent of the construction completed this summer.

The project is located about 85 kilometres northeast of Mayo. There will be two open pits, and gold will be recovered by a heap leach process. Victoria Gold plans to process about 26,000 tonnes of ore per day. When in full production, the company expects the mine to produce 200,000 ounces of gold annually.

Roughly 500 employees will work at the mine on a rotational schedule.

Drill targets discovered

White Gold Corp. has announced that its 2017 regional exploration program has led to the discovery of multiple high-priority drill targets and further validation of previously discovered high-priority targets. The discoveries were generated using the Company’s innovative, tactical and efficient exploration methodologies including aerial drone surveying, soil sampling, magnetic and electromagnetic surveys and utilization of the GT Probe.

Soil sampling occurred on the following properties: Betty, Hayes, Wolf and Calisle properties in the Coffee Trend East Area; Pedlar Property (White-Stewart Area); Nolan Property (Sixty Mile Area) and the Pilot Property (Beaver Creek Area).

The new targets will be followed up with drill testing along with other high priority targets during the 2018 field season.

Gold estimates to be reported later this year

ATAC Resources is planning its biggest drilling program in more than five years at its Rackla gold property north of Mayo in central Yukon.

The 1,742 square kilometre property includes three zones — Rau, Orion and Osiris — all containing gold deposits and targets for ongoing exploration.

ATAC will be working with Barrick Gold Corporation on the program, providing estimates as to the amount of gold in the area by the end of the year.

To further advance the project, the company received approval in March from the Yukon government and the Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation to construct a 65-kilometre all-season road from a point near Keno City, to the Tiger deposit on the Rau property, though it’s not expected to begin construction this year.

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Marks of Belonging Inuit Traditional Tattoos

By Michael Engelhard

The human face is a marker of individuality. It holds clues about a person’s gender, age, mood, and ethnicity. Since time immemorial, people employed this charged surface to announce their belonging to kin groups and a place through countless modifications. In Canada’s Arctic, a preferred method for such expressions of cultural identity has been “skin sewing,” the traditional form of tattooing.

In 1577, Sir Martin Frobisher encountered tattooed Americans on the first of his three unsuccessful sea voyages to find a Northwest Passage to China. Though unsuccessful in that endeavour, he did gain a certain amount of fame when he returned to England with three Inuit. The gentleman artist John White, painting their portrait, included the tattoos on Arnaq’s forehead and chin and the infant peeping from her fur-trimmed amauti. Sadly, all three died shortly after their arrival, and Arnaq was buried far from home, at Bristol’s St. Stephen’s church.

The tradition of “skin sewing” is thousands of years old, nourished by beliefs and procedures widespread in North America’s Arctic. It also had roots in the mythic realm.

Above: Book plate based on John White’s painting of Arnaq, whom Martin Frobisher brought to England in 1576. It shows a V-shaped tattoo on Arnaq’s forehead. © Zentralbibliothek Zürich

Miniature ivory mask with incised lines thought to depict tattoos. Dorset Culture, Devon Island (Nunavut), ca. 1700 B.C. © Canadian Museum of History

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Tattooed Netsilik woman, by photographer Albert Peter Low (1903-04). © Canadian Museum of History

Below: At the 2016 Inuit Studies Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Marjorie Tahbone explains the difference between hand poking and skin stitching during her workshop “Kakiniq: Revitalizing Inuit Tattooing”. Here, she shows the skin stitching technique. © France Rivet

Nunavut girls received facial tattoos when they first menstruated. People believed that “Sister Sun” — the Sun spirit would burn the face of any woman, after her death who had not been tattooed, because unmarked faces displeased the Sun. The burning pain of a freshly stitched face was a reminder of that connection. Also, outlasting the body’s demise, face tattoos linked a woman to her ancestors, allowing the long departed to recognize her soul in the afterlife.

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Elaborate finger tattoos reminded Inuit women of another powerful deity, Sedna or Nuliajuq, the “mother of all sea beasts,” controller of the animals’ migrations. Seals, walruses, whales, and polar bears sprang from Sedna’s severed finger joints, according to her origin myth. Women passing Sedna’s home on their way to the underworld of the dead pleased and honoured her with prettily tattooed hands and black bands encircling their finger joints. Those not adorned with ink might get stuck just under the Earth’s crust, in the limbo of Nuqurmiut, where listless souls dined only on butterflies.

Women’s intricate thigh patterns were thought to ease childbirth. Newborns beheld beauty in them, the first thing they saw as they slid from the womb. Depending on the body part, tattooing can be excruciating — a woman’s ability to tolerate it was a measure of physical and inner endurance, both valued in a harsh environment. “You couldn’t keep your toes from wiggling,” one Pond Inlet elder recalled apropos of her nose tattoo. The pain of getting one’s knuckles incised can be seen as a sacrifice to Sedna, and perhaps, to the sea’s animals.

“They said you weren’t a real woman until you had tattoos!” Jacob Peterloosie of Pond Inlet, Nunavut, summed up the importance of female skin markings. Above all, an Inuit woman’s tattoos proclaimed her coming of age, her domestic competence; she was now qualified to marry and run her own household.

Men also were tattooed, though less frequently, and illustrations showing their body designs are extremely rare. A kigjugaq between the eyes could protect you against the spirits of the deceased. While a Bathurst Inlet shaman lay “dead” — in trance — he received a nose tattoo to return him to life, as part of his initiation. Similar riteof-passage tattoos commemorated a shaman’s slaying of a spirit; a hunter harpooning a whale; or a warrior killing an enemy. Whale tallies could be lines traced across the bridge of the nose (Cape Bathurst), or three crosses on one shoulder and four on the other — one for each whale (Mackenzie Delta). In some places, man killing and whale killing were deemed equally meritorious and celebrated with eating and storytelling while the lines were tattooed. The harpooner so honoured was often allowed to take a second wife.

Stone figurine of Inuit woman with facial and leg tattoos by Dominique Tungilik, Netsilingmiut from Gjoa Haven (Nunavut). © James Glazier

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Left: Portrait of an Inuit woman, 1945. © NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 1008

The inventory of Inuit tracery comprised lines, chevrons, squares, dots, arrowheads, triangles.... It had its own vocabulary: quajaq (forehead lines), tunit (cheek lines), and tablerutit (chin lines). The practitioners were almost exclusively respected older women who drew on their experience as expert seamstresses. In “skin-stitching,” they followed each pass of a needle of copper or caribou bone with a greased wood sliver dipped in lamp-black or soot from a kettle’s bottom, to insert the pigment. For “hand-poking,” they pricked a hole in the skin with a needle fixed to a handle and immediately applied soot stirred in blubber to the wound, with a second needle or stick held in the same hand at the same time.

Inuit tattoos shocked Canadian missionaries, as they did those gawkers at Renaissance fairs. Like drum dancing and throat singing, to the clergy they spelled pagan life ways, backwardness. Scripture was the strongest indictment: “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you” (Leviticus 19:28). Like shamanism, the practice became stigmatized and in most regions of the Arctic disappeared. On Baffin Island in the early 1920s, only a few of the youngest women still boasted facial tattoos. Church-operated boarding schools sped up the decline. Forcibly taking children from their homes over decades, they created generations alienated from their indigenous language and culture. The effects of this rift are felt to this day.

Face stitching is now being revitalized, a vigorous step in reclaiming ethnic identities.

Iqaluit filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos (2010) is an emotionally raw, succinct primer on the subject. Researching this then-moribund tradition, Arnaquq-Baril visited nine Baffin and Netsilik communities, interviewing 56 elders. Many who had long been ashamed, relished speaking about the tattoos. The filmmaker’s decision to have her own face ink-scored at first did not even find approval with her Inuk mother.

Inspired by activist-artists and by tradition bearers, more and more women (and men) again embrace traditional-style tattoos — old regional styles and innovative filigree flourish in sync with new self-esteem. The transformation Arnaquq-Baril and some of her cohorts underwent is not merely skin-deep. Their subcutaneous embroidery bestows sovereignty. It repatriates indigenous bodies and minds.

Inuit woman with facial tattoo. Engraving by Charles Finden, in George Back’s Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition (1836). © Biodiversity Library

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Above: “Oomna”—detail of engraving by Charles Finden after a drawing by Captain George Francis Lyon. From Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific (1824). © Biodiversity Library

Trained as an anthropologist, Michael Engelhard now works as a freelance writer and wilderness guide. He is the author of Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon and lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.

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Yukon Ho!

Northern Quest for Canadiana Text and photos by Alan Luke and Jacquie Durand

What better time to experience a patriotic northern summer sojourn than over the Canada Day long weekend. And what better place to visit this year than Canada’s western most territory to witness the 20th Annual River Quest race during the Yukon’s 120th anniversary of entry into Confederation.

Into the mountains on the Tombstone National Park flightseeing tour in Dawson. © Alan Luke

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We began our Yukon Trip commencing in Whitehorse at the Yukon River Quest (YRQ) aka “Race to the Midnight Sun,” an international competition. We viewed 88 teams from 12 countries competing during last year’s Sesquicentennial.

A running start of the participants from the starting line to the waterfront is a collective mad dash. The world’s longest river race involves canoes, kayaks and even a smattering of stand-up paddle-boards heading down river, 715 km from Whitehorse to Dawson City.

Last year, we observed a cornucopia of watercraft creations and this year should be no different. It generally takes the winning contestant close to 40 hours (with two mandatory

stop-overs en route). Yukon Wide Adventures won the “Overall Voyageur Canoe” class in 2017. Those competitors finishing in 55 hours or less received a cash prize; 69 teams completed the world’s longest paddling marathon. Some of the watercraft have sponsors and whimsical names, such as an Aussie team called “Yukoned Me into It.” Stephen Pilon of Red Deer, Alberta, was sponsored by the Terry Fox Foundation. He conveyed that “Terry himself helped me with the training by putting cancer victim’s names on the kayak as my fuel.”

The YRQ usually finishes on Canada Day in the Town of Dawson City with a population close to 1,400. Check out the local Canada Day Parade with the proud townsfolk led by a

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S.S. Klondike in Whitehorse, YT. © Alan Luke

few RCMP officers heading along King Street and past the Post Office, Klondike Kate’s and Info Centre. We continued along the dirt road to the renowned Downtown Hotel and the Sourdough Saloon for a drink with a digit. Yes, this is the establishment of the infamous SourToe Cocktail. Since 1973, thousands of patrons have engaged in this challenge. An official SourToe Captain drops a gnarly mummified toe into your glass of Yukon Jack (naturally) and states, “You can drink it fast or you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the toe.” I told the toe-bearer, Terry Lee, I suppose this is the “Canuck Yuck” thing to do. He simply nodded with a wry smile. After performing this ritual, we were presented with a SourToe Cocktail certificate and a member number, as well as a SourToe Cocktail Club Card.

Subsequently, during the close to 19 hours of daylight, we moseyed up the gravel roadway to a venerable institution and Canada’s premier casino hall, Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. From a toe-tasting session to toe-tapping entertainment we strolled into the two-tiered hall. The Can-Can dancers here provide three floor shows daily dressed in period costumes. After our obligatory respite at Gertie’s during the midnight sun, we were awakened to witness a truly golden event. Spread along the riverfront was the annual Gold Panning Competition. Just south of Dawson City the public can pay for a gold panning session of their own. You’re guaranteed a few flakes of gold, which are put in a vial for you as a souvenir.

The discovery of placer gold occurred on August 16, 1896, when three men staked their claim at Rabbit Creek (currently Bonanza Creek). By the end of 1897, 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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Teams dash to start the Yukon River Quest race in Whitehorse. © Jacquie Durand

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population swelled from 1,500 to 17,000 and in the following year it peaked at 30,000 with people residing in tents and log cabins. The Klondike Gold Rush was expedited by newspaper coverage which triggered a veritable stampede for the region.

The western facades of shops and eateries reflect the golden era of the Klondike days with the gold standard evolving into more of a legacy as mirrored by myriad manifestations. The Klondike atmosphere is a quasi-historical homage which is proudly perpetuated by the local Dawsonians. Some stores are named after the prolific writers who lived here. At the north end of town, you can find the “writer’s block.” Within a block of each other on 8th Avenue are the former residences of prominent prolific scribes: Pierre Berton, Robert Service and Jack London; the latter includes a separate Interpretive Centre.

It was time to get a topographical view of the region. So, we headed 75 km northeast of Dawson City for a flightseeing tour which provided an ideal aerial perspective over Tombstone Territorial Park. We could identify the tombstone-like rocky outcrop from which the 2,200 sq. km park derived its name.

Rugged peaks of the craggy mountain ranges protruded from pristine wilderness, home to bears, caribou and moose.

The SourToe Cocktail Challenge at the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City. © Jacquie Durand

From the air to water, we returned to Dawson City for a river tour. Adjacent to the Yukon River Quest finish line sits the Klondike Spirit, an old faux sternwheeler.

Reminiscent of the plenitude of paddle wheelers that plied the Yukon River during the late 1890s. An informational narration aboard conveys the history of Dawson City and the historical site of Moosehide.

Returning south to the territorial capital, we stopped by the riverfront to view the S.S. Klondike National Historic Site. More than 250 sternwheelers shipped cargo from Whitehorse to Dawson for more than 20 years (1929-52). Self-guided tours into the past on this floating museum are available.

Above: Gold panning collage. © Jacquie Durand

Klondike Kate's, Dawson City. © Jacquie Durand

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Diamond Tooth Gerties, Dawson City. © Alan Luke

It was time to become airborne once again and drive west 157 km to Haines Junction for more flightseeing. Here we had the opportunity to fly over Kluane National Park and Reserve, (22,013 sq. km), home to Canada’s highest mountain peak, Mount Logan (5,959 metres). The terrain is dotted with turquoise-tinted glacial pools and sprawling glacier icefields. We viewed the Park’s most abundant large mammal, Dall sheep, foraging on the slopes.

For some indigenous Canadian culture over the Canada Day long weekend, we experienced the Adaka Cultural Festival back in Whitehorse. The week-long arts and culture event involves 70 First Nations people, 60 volunteers and 40 workshops.

Funded by different levels of government and other sources, the key project for the Sesquicentennial was the creation of four canoes. They had to weigh less than 40 pounds and be no longer than 16 feet long. It was fascinating to watch these veritable artisans at work on the distinctly different canoes such as a birch bark, spruce dugout and animal hide variations. The latter was a combined caribou and seal skin which they meticulously rubbed with lard as a waterproofing. Founder and executive director, Charlene Alexander stated, “this is a meaningful, interactive, total immersive experience for people”.

From a cultural to a historical experience, we arrived at the MacBride Museum of Yukon History. We explored Sam McGee’s log cabin in the museum’s courtyard. It was originally situated in downtown Whitehorse (1899). There is a replica gold miner’s saloon during the peak of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Intricate and colourful beadwork from 14 First Nations groups are displayed. One of the permanent exhibitions is the Wild World gallery. Evidently, the Yukon is home to an estimated 17,000 bears, 70,000 moose and 160,000 caribou. The life-like exhibition of assorted taxidermized wildlife includes a seven-foot tall grizzly bear.

When you observe the Territory from land, air and water, you can appreciate the Yukon’s motto: “Larger Than Life”. Unequivocally, an underestimation during our quest to become ensconced in a genuine northern Canadiana adventure.

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The view while on the Kluane National Park flightseeing tour. © Alan Luke

When You Go:

www.travelyukon.com www.whitehorse.ca

www.yukonriverquest.com

www.macbridemuseum.com www.adakafestival.ca

www.kluaneglacierairtours.com www.dawsoncity.ca

www.klondikespirit.com www.greatriverair.com

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Final frontal view Facial Reconstruction drawing of the Cabin Boy. © Diana Trepkov

Who is this Cabin Boy? Franklin Expedition Mystery

By Forensic Artist Diana Trepkov

Dedicated to all the members of the Lost Franklin Expedition who tragically lost their lives.

The search is on for the identity of one of the Lost Franklin Expedition cabin boys.

Who is he? As his face slowly appeared in my drawing, I couldn’t help but think to myself; it is like history is coming alive while his face appeared. Who is this handsome young man with such distinctive facial features? I created his face based on his skull for identification purposes.

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The Team

My personal involvement in the Lost Franklin Expedition began when I was initially approached in 2014. The Expedition quickly earned worldwide attention and I am now honoured to be involved in the third facial reconstruction based on this cabin boy’s skull. A little information about this team: Dr. Douglas R. Stenton (Director of Heritage (Retired), Government of Nunavut, Department of Culture and Heritage), has directed archaeological research in the Eastern Canadian Arctic since 1980, and since 2008 has led the investigations of Franklin expedition archaeological sites on King William Island and Adelaide Peninsula. Douglas also played a key role in the discovery of the HMS Erebus.

Dr. Anne Keenleyside (Department of Anthropology, Trent University) is a bioarchaeologist, who analyzes skeletal remains from historic and archaeological contexts and has worked on the Franklin expedition project since 1993.

Dr. Robert Park (Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo) also played a role in the discovery of the HMS Erebus.

History of the 1845 Lost Franklin Expedition

Presentation of the original cranium. © Anne Keenleyside Underlying Skull with face showing. © Diana Trepkov

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This cabin boy went missing during the ill-fated Franklin expedition, just over 170 years ago. There were four “Boy 1st Class” (trainees) on the expedition. With this illustrated face, one of the four cabin boys who are missing may be identified.

Explorer Sir John Franklin set off from England in 1845. He and his crew of 128 individuals disappeared while searching for the Northwest Passage across what is now Canada’s Arctic. The two navy ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror had vanished.

The expedition ended in disaster when both ships became trapped in ice well into their journey. Sadly, the crew never returned home alive.

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This was followed by the placement of the thickness and width of the nose. I drew in a bulkier soft tissue nasal tip on the nose following the nasal aperture. The nose width is 10mm (5mm on each side) for Caucasoids, which was used for this cabin boy.

As for his mouth, I drew in the missing teeth on the photo of the mandible to have a better understanding of the shape of his mouth.

I followed the contours for cheeks, jaw and chin along with the outline of his face, which was drawn accordingly to the shape of his skull. His hairstyle and clothing were replicated based on fashion research from the 1845 era.

Many of the techniques I use have been learned from many years of training and experience. When the technical part of the drawing is finished, I usually view it later. In this way, I observe my work more clearly. Placing the final drawing upside down will also always show if something appears off.

It is a test I do at the end of an illustration.

After illustrating the face from his skull, this is the face I believe to be an accurate representation of this cabin boy. I stopped as soon as I felt the boy was correctly drawn and didn’t over render since forensic art is an “investigative tool for identification” and not a portrait.

Diana Trepkov illustrates with pencil the face of the Cabin Boy. © Martin Brown

Both ships have been found in Nunavut. In September 2014, HMS Erebus was discovered south of King William Island. In September 2016, HMS Terror was discovered in Terror Bay. This has been one of the Arctic’s biggest mysteries and it is starting to unfold.

Two-Dimensional Facial Reconstruction Drawing

When skeletal remains are found, it is essential for the skull to be positioned in the Frankfort Horizontal Plane position. Once the photograph is ready, the twodimensional facial reconstruction drawing can begin.

Anthropologist Dr. Anne Keenleyside informed me that this individual was a Caucasian male, approximately 15 to 16 years of age, based on the degree of dental development, but he could have been as old as 19 at the time of his death. DNA analysis was able to match the skull and mandible together. The remains were discovered in 1993 at the NgLj-2 site in Erebus Bay, Nunavut.

While illustrating this cabin boy’s face, I drew in the zygomatic arch and his cheekbone that was missing from the original skull. Usually if there are missing parts from a skull, I will study the skull and draw on a photograph according to the bone structure, to complete the face.

Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with eyes as they reveal a lot about a person. The eyes are the mirror to the soul. This cabin boy’s eyes seem gentle and sweet.

The cabin boy’s eye placement is the first part of the drawing I placed on paper.

The eyeball and iris are centred within the bony orbit; the human eyeball is approximately 25 millimetres and the size of the iris is 12 millimetres. His eyeball was measured and drawn at 1 inch.

While following his skull as a template, I began to see a young boy develop before my eyes. I followed the brow bridge on the skull and drew in fuller brows. The eyebrows do lie directly on top of the brow bone covering the superior margins of the bony orbits of this cabin boy’s eyes.

According to the skull, the cabin boy has a wide forehead as shown in the drawing.

Ears on the facial reconstruction were created as generic and are positioned behind the angle of the jaw. Average ears were drawn in, as there is no way of indicating what his ears would look like in life from just the skull. Ears are usually estimated to be equal in length to the nose length. They are positioned parallel to the top part of the eye area and parallel to the bottom part of the nose.

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The area at NgLj-2 where the human remains were recovered in 1993. You can still see the excavation units on the left-hand side of the image. In the upper right is a pile of light-coloured rocks, which is the memorial cairn erected at the site in 1994 and contains the human remains from the site.

Photograph courtesy of Douglas Stenton

Facial reconstructions, also known as craniofacial reconstructions, are a way for the public to recognize a face from an unidentified skull. Forensic art is 75 per cent science and 25 per cent art. Facial reconstruction is not a positive identification method strictly on its own. Dental records and DNA are accepted methods that are used to make a positive identification.

The skull gave many clues to who this unidentified cabin boy was. Now that his face is released to the public, his identity may be revealed.

We are concentrating on living descendants who will see his face and come forward with information on his identity.

Who is this young Cabin boy from the Sir John Franklin Expedition? I am hoping we will soon discover his identity.

Working together as a team is the only way I believe he will get his name back!

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C U LT U R E

Standing guaRd! in iqaluit, nunavut, quite often the coastguard must break a passage through the ice to enable the wind to then push that ice down the bay, opening a passage for the other ships to service the community. the ice can often be more than a metre thick when the icebreaker arrives at the end of June or early July. © Nick Newbery/Government of Nunavut (2)

Ship Time

Breaking ice, fuelling and supplying

nick newbery

Sealift via cargo ships brings heavy supplies to most communities, such as oil for heating homes, housing supplies, machinery and vehicles while re-supplying the stores and some private individuals with their annual stock of supplies. the Central and Western arctic is re-supplied from Hay River by huge barges and taloyoak is the last community to be serviced, which often was a race against freeze-up.

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Ship time is always a major event in every northern community, usually involving at least three types of ship: the coastguard/icebreaker, the oil tanker and the cargo ship. The coastguard comes in ahead of the others to ensure the ice is broken up and the passage safe. The oil tanker brings in the year’s supply of oil, gasoline, heating fuel and aviation gas, while the government cargo ships unload heavy supplies such as lumber and vehicles.

The Northwest Company (which replaced the Hudson Bay Company in the 1980s) have their own ships to re-supply the communities, sometimes racing against time to get in and out before the ice brings winter freeze-up. It is always an exciting time. The Northwest Company ships often hire every male in town to help unload a year’s supply of goods as quickly as possible, from freezers and snowmobiles to frozen foods and Christmas supplies. The last ship’s departure means that winter is close, snow flurries are in the air and once more Inuit can look forward to getting back to hunting on the land again.

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C U LT U R E SHip to SHoRe. in iqaluit the low tides stretch far out into the bay, so shallow draft barges are used to freight goods from offshore cargo ships to the shoreline. time is precious as ships try to make as many runs from the South as possible, so they often work through the night to speed up offloading.

Middle left: tHe CaRgo SHip. Most cargo ships unload their goods onto smaller craft which then transport them to shore. in iqaluit, which boasts some of the most extreme tides in the world, cargo ships with shallow drafts used to employ a practice no longer used of beaching themselves at low tide and then departing later at high tide.

Here, the ship is serviced by forklifts and trucks that drove right up to the side of the vessel. tides are not an issue in many communities and increasingly wharfs are used for unloading.

Bottom left: tHe oil tankeR. the tankers bring oil (for heating buildings and homes) gasoline and aviation fuel to last the territorial capital for a full year, providing for buildings, aircraft and vehicles. as the oil tanks are situated out of town, the ship stays offshore while the fuel is pumped through mobile pipes to land lines. Because the fuel comes once a year, the government negotiates an annual price, so the consumer pays the same throughout the following year. this process is carried out in all communities and at mine sites.

Middle right: tHe CoaStguaRd also serves as an icebreaker and is often the first ship to arrive in many arctic communities to pave the way for oil tankers and cargo ships. usually stationed in dartmouth, nova Scotia; or Quebec City, Quebec, they appear in nunavut from the first week of July on and their Canadian red and white colours remind northerners of their links to the rest of the huge country in which they are a part.

Bottom right: tHe offSHoRe CaRgo SHip. this type of cargo vessel re-supplies all the Qikiqtani communities. it unloads goods onto a small barge which then makes runs to the shore and back.

Sailing from Montreal or other southern ports, the cargo ships have a northern shipping season between July and november, depending on a community’s latitude and its freeze-up time. © Nick Newbery/Government of Nunavut (5)

Nick Newbery taught in several communities in Nunavut from 1976-2005.

He would like to acknowledge the assistance he received for this article from Bert Rose, northern educator and long-time resident of Nunavut. The photos in this article are from Nick’s Arctic photo collection that can be found at www.newberyphotoarchives.ca and should be viewed from a historical perspective.

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E D U C AT I O N

Marine Safety training in frobisher Bay in october. © Kerone Folkes

Building a Northern marine labour force

nunavut fisheries and Marine training Consortium

The Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium (NFMTC) is a marine training school based in Iqaluit, Nunavut, with a history of 12 successful years of marine training. Some of its goals include:

• Providing marine training in all its facets in the North, so northerners will be able to access all marine training without “going south”.

• Creating a marine labour force in Canada’s Arctic that is reflective of its population — indigenous, northern, men and women.

On February 2, the Federal Government announced it is providing $12.6 million over three years to NFMTC to deliver marine training in the North to reduce barriers for under represented groups in the marine labour force, such as women, Inuit, Indigenous Peoples and Northerners. This initiative, funded under the Ocean Protections Plan (OPP), and in partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories, will help establish a marine training

facility in Hay River, Northwest Territories, and will allow expansion of NFMTC’s current marine training programs in Nunavut and Nunavik. This funding will help with the development of curriculum and the purchase of new specialized marine training equipment which will equip the Marine Training Program so northerners will not have to travel south for marine training.

“NFMTC’s philosophy has always been Northern jobs should be filled by Northerners,” points

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out Jeffrey Maurice, Chair of the Consortium, “this funding initiative will allow us to do just that and meet one of our long-standing objectives.”

There have been many success stories. Young men and women from every region in Nunavut have discovered the marine industry as a career path, not just a job to “tide you over” but a career with a future. The marine industry is not just about fishing — while that sector is a major employer — it is about sea lift companies,

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E D U C AT I O N working on research vessels, in the processing plants, in the inshore fishery.

To date, the training has taken place almost exclusively in Nunavut (in Iqaluit and in communities across Nunavut) with some courses delivered out of the Territory, when the equipment is simply not available. About twoand-a-half years ago, NFMTC opened a Training Centre in Iqaluit which is second to none; however, the demand for training in all areas has been growing. With the new funding under the OPP, the operations in Iqaluit will be expanded to include a new space to house new equipment (such as a life boat/fast rescue boat simulator, a radio simulator, a training boat, etc.) as well as a new classroom/workshop. Under CanNor funding, another federal government agency, NFMTC has received additional funding for renovation costs, an expansion to its existing bridge simulator and other equipment, over two years.

Now the training is set to expand to the Northwest Territories, with the main training facility in Hay River. Community-based programming is expected to be delivered as well.

“NFMTC has always been about partnerships — that is part of our success,” says Elisabeth Cayen, Executive Director of NFMTC. NFMTC is in the early stages of this three-year program and is seeking partners throughout the North to connect with to see where there is interest in marine training that leads to certification and employment opportunities in Canada or internationally. This consultation process with partners has always been and will continue to be ongoing.

With the monies received under OPP, training programs are set to expand to include marine safety training from the basics to advanced training, as well as environmental response training. The training is intended to reduce the barriers faced by Northerners who are trying to enter the marine sector and build a strong marine labour force representative of the population. It is all about providing economic opportunities for Northerners. It is also about helping Northerners protect their communities by providing training that will allow them to play a meaningful role in local marine emergency response to protect the Arctic’s waterways.

The new NT training facility is expected to open sometime in the spring and the expansion to its current Training Centre is expected to be operational about the same time. These are exciting times for the marine industry — to build a Northern marine labour force and to build that force in the North.

Marine firefighting training. © Randy Pittman

Students learn how to navigate using charts. © Randy Pittman

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ADVENTURE

Ulittaniujalik

Nunavik’s fourth national park

Qamanialuk lake, ulittaniujalik national park. © Alain Thibault

nunavik parks

Under the direction of Nunavik Parks, Ulittaniujalik National Park was officially created after six years of collaboration. Covering an area of 5,293 km2 and offering protection to a large portion of the majestic George River Plateau, Ulittaniujalik is the second-largest national park in the province of Québec. The Inuit communities of Kangiqsualujjuaq and Kuujjuaq, as well as the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach work jointly with the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks and the Kativik Regional Government to make the Park a reality. Through regular Working Group meetings with them as well as the Land Holding Corporation, outfitters and Makivik Corporation, the Park project unifies the interests and concerns of all land users. Renowned for its vast landscapes, ancestral culture and welcoming inhabitants, Nunavik’s new park helps celebrate its rich heritage.

To support the Park, a Harmonization Committee has been established with representatives from each of the organizations and local stakeholders of the Working Group. Its role is to share information on the development of activities and services, to study proposals for scientific research projects to be conducted in the Park, and receive comments. The committee also plays an important role in maintaining the harvesting rights of The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Northeastern Québec Agreement beneficiaries.

our great land

Encompassing the valleys of the George River and the Ford River, on the surrounding high plateaus, the Ulittaniujalik National Park has a fascinating history in terms of human occupancy, geology and biology. Its mountains were worked by the gradual retreat of an ancient glacial lake; the positions of former shorelines are still visibly etched across the landscape. It is these rock streaks that have lent the Park its name, known by Inuit and Naskapi as ‘the place where there are shorelines’.

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The George River once witnessed the migrations of hundreds of thousands of caribou, and also served as a travel route for Inuit and Naskapi, as well as explorers and adventurers. Located just upstream from the mouth of the Ford River, the Chutes Helen act as an impassable natural barrier for some species of fish, in particular Arctic char. The Lac Tasirlaq and Lac Qamanialuk sector nurtures a varied fauna and flora, including species that are rare, at risk or unique to northern environments.

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ADVENTURE

Camping in ulittaniujalik national park. © Alain Thibault

The territory offers a wide array of landscapes that are easily explored thanks to the low relief and open terrain. Visitors may choose an organized package with Nunavik Parks, an authorized outfitter (Pyramid Mountain Camp, Hellen Falls Camp), tour operator (Inuit Adventures) or decide to conduct an independent and selforganized expedition. Since the George River is the main focus of the Park, nautical activities and sport fishing is highlighted during the summer. Hiking is also a prized intermediatelevel activity that quickly gives access to an paddling the george River. © François Léger-Savard

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ADVENTURE White water paddling in ulittaniujalik national park. © France Brindamour

exceptional view of the region. In winter, crosscountry skiing, snowshoeing and dogsledding will make for unforgettable excursions over frozen lakes and valleys where snow accumulates.

The George River historically served as a transportation route and for human occupation.

It continues to this day to be used frequently, in particularly by the owners and clients of the Pyramid Mountain Camp, located on the river bank opposite to Pic Pyramide. Indeed, the territory is used by outfitters, who offer fishing activities in the Park along with accommodations.

Following the creation of the Pingualuit National Park (2004), Kuururjuaq National Park (2009) and Parc National Tursujuq (2013), the region’s attention now focuses on Ulittaniujalik National Park. In accordance with the mission of national parks in Québec, this Park will facilitate the discovery of this protected territory, as well as its natural and cultural heritage. The creation of Ulittaniujalik National Park opens new ways for nature, historical, outdoor and genuine-experience enthusiasts.

Like all Nunavik parks, the pristine natural environment of Ulittaniujalik National Park makes it a unique destination in the modern world to discover its exceptional territory accompanied by local guides who still today travel and use this land for their traditional activities. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Hiking in ulittaniujalik national park. © François Léger-Savard

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SCIENCE

dog sledding from the olesen’s Homestead out onto Mcleod Bay. © Bill Quinton

Hoarfrost River environmental field study

Investigating winter eco-hydrology after forest fires

Wilfrid laurier university

Students from Ontario’s Wilfrid Laurier University and Yellowknife high-school students head to a remote research site in the Northwest Territories for a once in a lifetime experience.

temporary home of the olesen’s while they rebuild their homestead, much of which was lost during the forest fires of 2014. © Bill Quinton

a team of students from Wilfrid laurier university and Sir John franklin High School break for lunch while on the trail. © Bill Quinton

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Accessible only by a small, 15-person plane from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the Hoarfrost River research site is as remote as it gets.

Eight undergraduate students from the Geography and Environmental Studies program at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, joined three senior high school students from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, for a week-long field course in February at the Hoarfrost River site, located 260 km northeast of Yellowknife.

“I’ll never be able to go somewhere like that again,” says Caleb Cober, a fourth-year Laurier student who participated in the course.

Led by Laurier Geography and Environmental Studies faculty members Bill Quinton and Michael English, along with technician Alex McLean, the course provides students a unique opportunity to hear first-hand about topics learned in the classroom like winter eco-hydrology, the impact of a recently devastating forest-fire on the land and to hear from Indigenous elder Herman Catholique and his son about their experiences of the changing landscape.

The Hoarfrost River site is home to Kristen and Dave Olesen. Since 1987, the family has run a large kennel of 33 working sled dogs, operates a commercial aviation service and hosts training courses on wilderness first aid and backcountry survival. The site is located on McLeod Bay off Great Slave Lake with the taiga-tundra transition zone to the north.

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SCIENCE

“The knowledge that the Olesen’s and Herman shared was more than you could ever get from a textbook,” says Katrina Greenfield, a fourth-year Laurier student who participated in the week.

“Herman was with us for a while and would share so many stories of his experiences. In the field, getting to actually collect data for yourself and using the snow water equipment was also cool.”

With no running water, the students helped bring in water from the frozen lake, fished for fresh lake trout for dinner and chopped wood for the fires. Students stayed in large, winter tents with a cast iron stove to keep warm. Some nights went down to -50 C; the only bathroom was an outhouse.

“This is definitely a course for people that love being outside,” says Greenfield. “How the Olesen’s live is so simple and they have such a strong connection with nature.”

“You really felt secluded from the world,” says Cober. “No one has really been there before; you just have no idea what to expect.”

Ella Kokelj, a grade 10 student from Ecole Sir John Franklin High School in Yellowknife, was thrilled to be able to learn about the land from the Laurier faculty members and the Olesen’s.

“I love being outside to learn about the land and the location of the course is very beautiful.

It would be crazy to pass up an opportunity to go there,” says Kokelj.

In July 2014, a wildfire devastated the area and destroyed the Olesen's family home along with other outbuildings. The Olesen’s are rebuilding

Wilfrid laurier university student katrina greenfield (l) and Sir John franklin High School grade 10 student kea furniss measure and record the physical properties of snow. © Aaron Shantz

Wilfrid laurier university research technologist alex Maclean and Sir John franklin High School students inspect the data collected by a recently installed weather station. © Bill Quinton

their home while observing the land in its stages of regrowth and recovery. This site provides an exciting research base for Quinton’s students to learn about changes to winter eco-hydrology after forest fires.

The group passed the time going for outdoor walks, breaking out into research groups to take samples and collect data, and used the equipment and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to

map the landscape and terrain surrounding the Olesen homestead.

Quinton is the director of Laurier’s Cold Regions Research Centre and runs a large research program in the Northwest Territories along with several other faculty members. For more information on Laurier’s northern research program, visit wlu.ca/northernresearch.

Students make their way across a frozen lake. the burned forest from the 2014 fires can be seen in the background. the air temperature rose to -39 C on this day. © Aaron Shantz

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BOOKSHELF

Minik

The New York Eskimo

Kenn Harper Steerforth Press, September 2017

Minik: The New York Eskimo is an updated, rewritten version of a book author Kenn Harper first published in 1986. It is a true story from the great age of Arctic exploration of an Inuit boy's struggle for dignity against Robert Peary and the American Museum of Natural History in turn-of-the-century New York City. Sailing aboard a ship called Hope in 1897, celebrated Arctic explorer Robert Peary entered New York Harbor with peculiar “cargo”: Six Polar Inuit intended to serve as live “specimens”. Four died within a year. One gained passage back to Greenland. Only the sixth, a boy of six or seven with a precociously solemn smile, remained. His name was Minik.

The story is about Minik Wallace, known to the American public as “The New York Eskimo”. Orphaned when his father died of pneumonia, Minik never surrendered the hope of going “home,” never stopped fighting for the dignity of his father’s memory, and never gave up his belief that people would come to his aid if only he could get them to understand.

Studying arctic fields

Cultures, Practices, and Environmental Sciences

Marine fishes of arctic Canada

Co-editors Dr. Brian Coad and Dr. James Reist University of Toronto Press December 2017

With the dramatic pace of change in the climate and ecosystems of the Arctic, comes the critical need for science that documents the state of those ecosystems. Now, the first definitive reference to fishes in Canada’s Arctic marine ecosystems provides just such a benchmark.

The authors document 221 species of fishes found in the Eastern and Western Arctic, along the coasts, and up to the most northern reaches of Canada’s Arctic Ocean. Marine Fishes of Arctic Canada is the culmination of decades of scientific research to collect specimens, compile data, and collate records about these fishes. The book covers the history of Arctic fish research, fish habitats, Arctic climate, fisheries, fish structure, the collection and preservation of fishes and traditional ecological knowledge. Each family is presented with a general account followed by species descriptions comprising the common name, taxonomy, physical description and identification. English and French names are provided for each species, with Inuktitut names where applicable. Black-and-white drawings as well as numerous photos and illustrations are included, as well as new range maps documenting known species distributions as confirmed geographic points across Arctic Canada. Coad and Reist drew on the expertise of 10 other researchers to complete the scientific documentation for the book. Collections in natural history museums in Canada, Europe and the United States were also consulted for the book.

Richard C. Powell McGill-Queen’s University Press December 2017

In recent years the circumpolar region has emerged as the key to understanding global climate change. The plight of the polar bear, resource extraction debates, indigenous self-determination, and competing definitions of sovereignty among Arctic nationstates have brought the northernmost part of the planet to the forefront of public consideration. Yet little is reported about the social world of environmental scientists in the Arctic. What happens at the isolated sites where experts seek to answer the most pressing questions facing the future of humanity?

Portraying the social lives of scientists in Resolute, Nunavut, and their interactions with logistical staff and Inuit, Richard Powell demonstrates that the scientific community is structured along power differentials in response to gender, class, and race. To explain these social dynamics, the author examines the history and vision of the Government of Canada’s Polar Continental Shelf Program and John Diefenbaker’s “Northern Vision,” combining ethnography with wider discourses on nationalism, identity, and the postwar evolution of scientific sovereignty in the High Arctic. By revealing an expanded understanding of the scientific life as it relates to politics, history, and cultures, Studying Arctic Fields articulates a new theory of field research.

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Strength in the Face of Hardship

INUIT FORUM

© Letia Obed

I was reading an article one recent morning on missing and murdered Nunavik Inuit women in Montreal, Quebec, and suddenly I felt a crushing sadness that was followed by tears. It was in part a response to the details of the story, but it was also an emotional response to all that I know about the hardships many Inuit have gone through or continue to go through.

I can only work on Inuit rights respectfully by knowing the weight of the truth and doing all I can to respect those who bring truth to me.

Many of the key issues Inuit organizations work on are heart wrenching and complex.

Issues such as tuberculosis, suicide prevention, and murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls are not abstract policy issues to many of the people who work on them daily as advocates or service providers, since we often have direct family members, relatives, and friends who are experiencing hardship in these areas.

Many people knowingly choose professions that may increase their stress or put their own health at risk but do so for the benefit of Inuit society. Their selfless work on tough issues may forever change their outlook on life. Often, these same people are not adequately appreciated or thanked for their tremendous service.

I am so grateful for those who speak out about their lived experiences in order to help others. Many who have experienced trauma are not able or interested in drawing attention to themselves through public advocacy, and that is completely understandable. But some can stand up and I thank them. I think of Susan Aglukark in Rankin Inlet or Charlotte Wolfrey in Happy Valley-Goose Bay or Helen Navalik Tologanak in Vancouver at the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry hearings; of Toby Obed in front of media in St. John’s, fighting through tears to describe his abuse in residential school; or housing activist and advocate Qaumariaq Inuqtaqau in Iqaluit who has used his past experience of being homeless to bring national attention to the issue.

I also think of those community leaders who have dedicated their lives to supporting those

in the greatest need, including people like Annie Pisuktie, who worked for years as a frontline crisis worker with Inuit in Montreal. I am in awe of people like David Serkoak, who has taken on the weight of leadership and is fighting the federal government on behalf of the Ahiarmiut who were relocated in the 1950s. I think of Janet Brewster talking about mental health or turning graffiti into hopeful and encouraging messages in Iqaluit, or Lillian Elias in Inuvik tirelessly championing Inuvialuktun and Inuvialuit culture.

And I also think of those running the services, who strive to find a way to make things better for those in crisis: Inuit who work as nurses, doctors, faith leaders, mental health workers, first responders, in governments and Inuit

© ITK

organizations, and in municipalities. There are so many amazing people who know their roles are to provide services that demand love and care under stress. We may have many challenges, but we are also surrounded by those who have shown leadership in building stronger communities.

There is so much compassion that has risen to meet grief and transform it into positive action. There are wonderful acts that are performed every day by those who choose to care and help, and it is those acts of selflessness, kindness, and compassion that reflect the best aspects of our Inuit society.

Natan Obed

National Inuit Leader and President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

A Taste of the Arctic ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᑦ ᓂᕿᒋᕙᒃᑕᖏᑦ, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐱᐅᓯᑐᖃᖏᑦ, ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖃᖃᑎᒌᓕᕐᓂᖏᑦ Arctic Food, Inuit Culture and Northern Networking Ukiuqtaqtumiut niqigivaktangit, Inuit piusituqangit, Ukiuqtaqtumiut piliriaqaqatigiilirningit

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613-238-8181

@inui apiriitkanatami • #ATOTA

ᓇᒡᒐᔾᔭᐅ | Monday | Naggajjau

ᒪᐃ | May 28, 2018

6 pm – 10 pm

www.itk.ca/atota

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C-FTID