I, Nuligak

, the first autobiography written by an Inuvialuk, will soon make its debut on APTN in the form of a documentary. It will be aired in both English and Inuvialuktun. The film is gorgeously shot and sincerely made. Besides the telling of Nuligak’s story, his descents are also interviewed in the film. They discuss personal aspects of remaining connected to the land. Noel and Turpin Cockney, Nuligak’s great grandson and grandson, play Nuligak in his youth and later years respectively.

In his final days at a hospital in Edmonton, miles away from his home, Nuligak felt compelled to complete his documentation of how the Inuvialuit lived before the arrival of the tan’ngit (foreigners), and how the tan’ngit forever affected their identity and culture.

by Zoe Ho

Cathy Cockneyis one of Nuligak’s grandchildren and manager of the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Center. She has followed in her grandfather’s footsteps to make sure oral tradition becomes recorded and can be passed on. Tusaayaksat invites her to discuss the documentary, the book, her grandfather and his impact on her life. (Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.)

Tusaayaksat: What did you think of the documentary?

Cathy: To see my grandfather’s life story played out was amazing. I was really impressed with how they portrayed him, especially as an orphan. I read about his relationship with his grandmother, but to actually see him pull her around in a sled because she was crippled, taking care of her, being guided by her on how to survive and then having to deal with her death when he was only ten, I could feel how he must have hurt. She wasn’t afraid to face death alone, a situation which would drive anyone crazy nowadays.

Tusaayaksat: What was inspiring about this film?

Cathy: It really focused on the determined people of the North. Like Nellie said in the film, you need that will to survive.

Even though so many of our people died from lack of immunity to diseases from the tan’ngit, we still carried on our culture. Imagine being in a population of about 4000 people and have three quarters of them die suddenly. Especially when he talked about Kittigaaryuit, and there were only 2 men left to clear away all the dead. Nuligak was as an orphan, and he traveled, hunted and worked wherever food was.

The film documents the invasion of the whalers, how they assaulted our culture, and the diseases they brought; it is also about the Inuvialuit taking a stance, refusing to sign a land settlement treaty with the government just for $5 per person.

Tusaayaksat: The film also interviewed you and many of Nuligak’s young descendants.

Cathy: We represented how his values were transferred onto the younger generation. Topsy, my sister is in communications, she directs the documentation of our language and culture as head of ICS. My area is similar, but more anthropology based. Our mum taught us a lot about our past. Richard Gordon is well versed on the history of Herschel Island as Parks Warden, he talked about the whalers and the waste then of whale meat. He also guides the kids on how to hunt and not repeat that waste.

I thought I would be shy in front of the camera, but because I was talking about our culture and my grandfather, I felt don’t have any hard feelings about their arrival otherwise because our people still passed our traditions on to our children.

We are going through quite abit of change. A lot of kids are pursuing higher education, and are not going out on the land as much as we did, and we don’t go out on the land as much as our parents did. Thankfully, a lot of our oral history is being written down, and our language is being taught in schools.

Tusaayaksat: Does your grandfather inspire how you live?

Cathy: completely comfortable.

Tusaayaksat: How do you feel about the foreign culture coming in?

Cathy: When I was in University, I read more and more about our culture, and I became angry at how foreigners treated Inuvialuit women, so I stopped reading about that area. But I

I knew we didn’t always live in a house. I learnt from books and archaeological reports at first, and then I asked my mother, she knew I was interested in the past and wanted to document it. She became a storehouse of information for me. I also interviewed many elders, who were so happy to have an Inuvialuit interviewing them about their past, they shared a lot of information with me.

Tussayaksat: Is that why you work for the ICRC now, and before that the ISDP?

Cathy: Yes, Elisa and I worked on my first major oral history project for the ISDP, on Kittigaaryuit. I once interviewed elders about how they used the whale, and I found that so interesting, they used everything! Collecting that information gives you so much access to your culture and how we are all connected in some way or other.

Nuligak’s journey is also featured as a permanent online exhibit at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center.

Explore Inuvialuit place names with Nuligak at http://www.pwnhc.learnnet.nt.ca/inuvialuit/