A New Perspective

Jennifer Thrasher moved from Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik last February to study at the Aurora College Adult Learning Center. She wanted to make a change that will impact the next generation.

“ I wanted to do this for my daughter. I want to be the best role model I can be for her. I want to get my education so she’ll know she can get an education, and that she deserves more. I feel that I deserve more than just working at the store, or just working odd jobs here and there.

“When my daughter came into my life, I quit drinking and smoking. My boyfriend and daughter both believe in me and look up to me, when they say I love you to me, I feel that I am needed and am somebody. They both helped me open my eyes to my weaknesses and strengths. I am also improving on my weaknesses at the Inuvik Adult Learning Center. I draw my strength from my instructors, my family, and my classmates from both Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik.”

“I met my teacher Zara at the Adult Education Center in Tuktoyaktuk, one day when I finally felt ready to go back to school. She had me do a pre-test, and from September to January I studied there, and by February I moved here and started my program with Joel McAlister. We had a completion ceremony in June and I couldn’t believe I made it in half a term.”

“Last summer I worked for Parks Canada for over a month in Paulatuk. I got to job shadow Carleton Jordan, a Park Warden, and Marlene Wolki the receptionist. I really enjoyed it.”

“I am now upgrading my marks from Grade 12 at Aurora College. I completed high school biology and now I am focusing more on English and Math, which I need for management studies and the Natural Resource Technician Program (NRTP). I am trying to decide between the two. My instructors wrote me some references to get on-the-job experience with environmental work.”

“If I like it, I’ll stick to it. I feel confident. I feel like I’ve found a sense of direction. Now I know where I want to go. Our teacher taught us to visualize success. If you put NRTP on your door, and you look at it everyday when you get up, you’d have the urge to go do it.”

“Before this, I was not aware that I could do any of this. My sister and I had to come to Inuvik to attend Grollier Hall, because there was no high school in Tuktoyaktuk then (1991). An incident happened when my sister and I had to help a girl who was having a miscarriage, and the supervisor there was not being supportive. I couldn’t concentrate in school after that. I went home and missed one year of school. I worked and stayed with my parents instead.”

“When we pushed for a high school in Tuktoyaktuk, Nellie Pokiak interviewed each student that dropped out from Inuvik’s education system, and we all had different reasons. I went back to school once the high school in Tuktoyaktuk opened in 1993, and I graduated from there.”

“It was tough. I was a single parent. I wanted to go back to college, but I waited until my daughter was older. I took care of her with the help of my parents, brothers and sister.”

“My family is very musical. When I am homesick, I sing. I have played guitar for almost two years now. I am not going to give up on music or my education, no matter how long it takes. It was hard in the beginning; but now I find it easier and have higher marks. I don’t expect to live in Inuvik forever, I want to see how far I can go. I’ve learnt not to just sit there and talk. you’ve got to move. I feel that I’ve grown stronger as a mother, girlfriend, sister, and friend. I feel that other single mothers and fathers can do it. If I can do it, they can do it too.”

The hamlet of Sachs Harbour has a population of 120 people. About a fifth of this population was engaged at the Muskox Harvest from this February to March. Temperatures were in the grueling minus thirties before factoring in wind chill, and much of the work had to be done in the cold, but there is a cheer in the air as the muskox harvest team carried on their respective duties.

Catherine Kuptana, a 22-year-old resident of Sachs Harbour, describes people working at the harvest as “happy and busy.” Catherine’s work includes feeding the muskoxen and collecting qiviuk. Qiviuk is the Inuvialuktun word for down from birds, and the inner down of the muskoxen.

“We work at least ten hours a day. We start at around nine and get everything ready.”

“When I first heard about the harvest as a child, I couldn’t wait to start work,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of jobs in town.” Catherine plans to save her wages for further schooling in Whitehorse. She enjoyed learning how to shear qiviuk from specially brought in experts.

She has also overcome her fear of the wild animals after her daily contact with the herd. The community is proud that she is one of the first females to be part of the herding team.

Her father, Roger Kuptana and her brother Jeff were also key members of the herding team. They braved blizzards to bring the muskox home. “We went thirty-one miles north of Sachs Harbour,” Roger said. “We found a good area for muskox. We gathered them in and each day they were fed hay, which we brought up on sleds. Throughout the trip we had a lot of bad weather. It took us four

Muskox Harves T

Creates Jobs in Sachs Harbour

days to travel back, at a pace of about 8 miles a day. We camped at each stop.” The arrival of the muskoxen is quite an event in Sachs Harbour. Many people in the community went to the corral grounds to await their appearance.

In recent decades, qiviuk has been worn by heads of state and celebrities, such as the Queen of England and Canada, Francis Ford Coppola, and Sarah Jessica Parker. The yarn spun from qiviuk is softer and lighter than cashmere, and eight times warmer than wool. The Inuvialuit have traditionally harvested the muskoxen for survival needs. In 1995, organized muskox harvesting was recommended to Sachs Harbour by wildlife management bodies, to facilitate the recovery of the endangered Peary caribou population. The commercial demand for qiviuk was seen a key economic opportunity for the people of Sachs Harbour, who wanted to engage in sustainable business development, based on translating traditional activities to the modern economy.

In 1997, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation formed an agreement with Jacques Cartier Clothier Inc. in Banff, Canada. The latter company would purchase, process and market this precious fiber. Qiviuk from Sachs Harbour travels as far as Peru to be processed professionally.

These qiviuk garments are supplied to Canada, USA, Japan and Europe. With the support of the Inuvialuit Community Economic Development Organization, ITI and INAC, the fruits of labour by the people of Sachs Harbour are now extended to a global level. Christina Oxenberg, daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, will soon open a qiviuk fashion store in New York.

Closer to home: Lena Wolki, elder of Sachs Harbour and accomplished seamstress, works with qiviuk to create items such as sweaters, toques, socks, scarves and mitts. She buys the qiviuk at cost from the processing plant and sells her items to the IRC craft shop as well to private buyers. “I like working with qiviuk,” she said. “It’s a good income. Many years ago, I learnt from an instructor in Whitehorse to spin the qiviuk and to knit.”

“In the summertime, I collect lichen of all colours, purple, pink, yellow…and I use that to dye the qiviuk.” Lena said her sewing keeps her busy “every day” as she works to fill her orders. She has three qiviuk knitting machines.

Lena also worked at the meat processing section of the harvest. She said the harvest was an efficient way of harvesting an important food source for the locals. Any resident of Sachs Harbour who needs to supplement their protein diet can take home as much as they need at no charge.

Lena, like other residents of Sachs Harbour, hopes the harvest can continue to happen every year. The muskox herds are monitored by the Wildlife Management Advisory Council, the Inuvialuit Game Council and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, and managed such that tradition and sustainability are combined.

“Right now, I am enjoying working at the harvest,” Lena said, “It’s fun to work with people, we laugh and sometimes, we dance. It’s a nice break from sewing for me.”

Mayor Bob Eldridge looks at plans for proposed facilities to be built in Sachs Harbour, including this artist’s rendition of the new complex.

N e W C o MPL ex For Youth, e lders and o ffices

b ob e ldridge, mayor of s achs Harbour has lots on his hands in his third term. t he hamlet is preparing for the tentative arrival of two rC m P officers in a pril. t he community’s capacity building fund has also been allocated for the building of a new complex. t his complex is modern in design, and will provide space for the hamlet, community corporation, hunters and trapper’s committee, and a recreation center.

“ r ight now, youth don’t have a youth center. t hey use the gym. With the new complex, there will be room for tv, a pool table, an excercise room. It will be a full facility,” he said.