go to calgary

1There was one thing on the minds of the elementary group of the Delta Demons Wrestling Team most of the season: Calgary! After much anticipation and weeks of build up, the day had finally arrived for 11 lucky “Li’l Demon” wrestlers from the Sir Alexander McKenzie School team who were chosen to travel to Alberta for a five day trip that would see them practicing with a southern team and coaches before bringing all their energy and excitement into a tournament to cap off the trip. The team consisted of 10 girls and 1 boy (Christian Van Vliet) who commented afterwards that “It was tough at times [being the only boy], but I had a lot of fun actually.” With the team leaving to Calgary on a Wednesday there was a lot of time to fill before the South Elementary Wrestling Festival tournament took place on Saturday. Rather than just fly in and out the coaches decided to maximize the experience for the kids. Each day started off with a good breakfast and some time swimming in the hotel pool to get rid of any sleepiness before setting out on another adventure in the big city.

The big day was Saturday with the tournament in the morning. Things started off with a good warm-up and some wrestling games to get the kids going. This was followed by an actionpacked few hours of three matches going on simultaneously that had coaches David Halpine and Steven Baryluk bustling back and forth to coach the wrestlers when they were up. Even though, according to Paisley Day, the tournament was “kind of hard” because some of the girls had to wrestle boys, the Demons had a strong showing and each wrestler came away with a medal: 6 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze medal!! Their performances and skill level impressed all the coaches who made many positive comments to the Inuvik coaches, and to many of the kids themselves. A trip to the movie theater in the evening was a nice reward for a job well done on the mat.

On Friday the Li’l Demons made a trip to the Calgary Zoo and enjoyed some great weather – as warm as +14 degrees!! The kids spent the day winding their way through prehistoric lands filled with dinosaurs, tropical rainforests gorillas, monkeys, elephants, giraffes, hippos and stingrays and many other animals in their enclosures. “I got to see the hippos poop!” exclaimed an excited Karly King Simpson. After the zoo, the wrestlers went to the University of Calgary wrestling room – home of the U of C Dinos – for some instruction from a couple of the Junior Dino coaches, Casey and Ryan. The coaches put on a fun-filled clinic for the Li’l Demons that had them working on their basics and some more advanced techniques. The practice was topped off with some front and back flips onto the crash mat. Sisters Chelsea and Kristen Elias said they enjoyed meeting up again with Women’s National Team member Britanee Laverdure who had recently been in Inuvik for the Territorial Championships a couple weeks earlier. The Women’s National Team coach and the President of Canada Wrestling also happened to be in the wrestling room and stopped to take a look at some of our northern wrestlers in action. They all had great comments about the Li’l Demons skills and enthusiasm!!

In the end, all the kids had a great trip and are already looking forward to more opportunities to wrestle in the next season. “It makes me want to wrestle more” said Neta Allen. Asked what they liked most about the trip, twins Tanya and Tamara Moore both agreed “I liked the tournament the most. It was fun!” A big thank you also has to be given to chaperones Karen King and Carly Turner, without whom the trip would not have been possible.

tHe nasogaluak brotHers, elI, bIll and Joe Have buIlt tHeIr Fame as aCC laImed artIsts from Canada’s north.

Their works have been featured both nationally and internationally. Eli has had prominent art exhibitions at places such as the Canadian Museum of Civilization in o ttawa, o ntario. h e now lives in yellowknife. Bill was a collaborator on the design and production of the Ceremonial Mace for the Government of the n WT Legislature, and now works out of Toronto. Joe’s claim to fame is with his mythical yet highly realistic carvings. h e has chosen to stay in their hometown, Tuktoyaktuk. a s a team, the brothers won first prize and the a rtist’s Choice award at the 2002 Canada n ational s now s culpting Competition. They placed second in the same competition in 2005. s now sculpture, although not a traditional form of sculpting for the Inuvialuit, presents exciting possibilities to the brothers. Eli has participated in this snow sculpture competition over the past seven years; his collaboration with John s abourin ( yellowknife) and r andy ( Fort Simpson) placed Team NWT as first prize winner last year. Below are extracts from our conversation with the brothers in o ttawa, where they finish their latest piece for the competition.

t: W H at does Your su CC ess mean to You?

elI: It’s an honour to represent the territories, and to be able to be recognized as artists. There are many artists up n orth, and a lot of good artists. It’s an honour to be here in o ttawa competing with Canada’s best.

bIll: To be able to make a living as full time artists, (not only my self but the three of us)…it’s not only a career. It’s a passion. We all have that desire to make a living with our passion. That to me is my greatest achievement. a lso, [success is being able to] interpret our culture in stone, a very permanent stillness.

Joe: When I first started I went from gallery to gallery, and trying to sell a piece. I got a lot of rejection… now that we’ve built a name for t: t ell us about

Your latest PI e C e.

elI: This piece is titled Dance of the Northern Lights. It represents a story that our elders have passed on for generations. They said if you see the n orthern lights, you can whistle, and they will come down really low and start dancing. We used the idea of two dancers dancing with the n orthern lights, with ice birds around it. It also represents our culture and our people, going through changes from the past and still holding on to our culture, traditions and values of who we are as Inuvialuit aboriginal people. The icebergs are done in a very contemporary style to represent the changes in life. yet we’re carving the rest in a very traditional style in the top section to show that we still hold onto our values.

t: W H at Was t H e P ro C ess F or t HI s PI e C e?

bIll: It’s very labour intensive, I’d say it’s about 90% labour and planning. It’s difficult because the three of us live in three difference places: Toronto, Tuktoyaktuk and Yellowknife. Our first day was trying to come up with how we’ll see this piece together. The three of us are artists in our own right, so we just work individually and yet we very much share the same process of working… We’ve missed our camaraderie and fun for a few years. This year we thought it would be nice to join Eli in producing a piece as brothers. It’s good to be with my brothers.

Joe: I am a full time hunter too, and to come down here, to represent your community and to see the different interpretations of the theme, and how other people carve broadens my mind. When I am hunting I see the animals and I know how they behave. you can see the wildness in the animals’ eyes…and recognize how they feel too. The challenge for me is to recreate that expression…on stone it’s easier to do, on snow it’s really hard. There are limitations with snow, and it’s a challenge for me, and for us.

ourselves, we can choose who we want to sell to, and I think that’s my achievement. I want to show the young people, to keep going even if you get rejected from galleries. I want to give back to my community where I live so the younger people can at least try to make a living from carving…I have a shop at home and I always have time for kids who come by, to show them how to carve and be proud of themselves and their culture. That’s my passion, to pass it on.

t: W H at dr I ves You?

elI: Ideas - We grew up together, beginning as sketch artists. I believe it was a good starting point and we started to challenge each other. If I see one of my brothers with a nice drawing, I would quietly think wow, that’s really good and it will challenge me to go further. I think having that in our lives is really fulfilling.

bIll: It was always there, even when I was very young, around ten, twelve years old. We did art, we drew, carved on wood. I myself always envisioned doing art full time. I wasn’t the only one talking about that. Deep down we were always artists, we just didn’t realize at such a young age that it was our passion. I see it now. The drive was always there. Whatever pieces of paper we had…I remember drawing on