BACK ON THE MAP

Revitalizing Reindeer Station, Renewing a People

By Jamie Bastedo

While paddling down the Mackenzie River, all the way from Fort Providence to East Whitefish Station on the beloved Beaufort coast, I packed along the standard navigation charts that any first-time traveler down the river should carry. Even though these charts were published just a few decades ago, they still showed little clusters of long-gone buildings that were once thriving trading posts, sawmills, or traditional gathering places supporting an active land-based economy. For instance, not far downstream from Fort Good Hope, we encountered some American kayakers looking forward to a hot shower and maybe some ice cream at Little Chicago. Their map – same as mine –suggested a bustling village. What they eventually discovered was a humble plywood shack and an overgrown graveyard.

Then there’s Reindeer Station. On my map it too looked like a busy place. Between the Delta’s Oniak Channel and Reindeer Station, we paddled down a saber-straight stretch of river that skirts the base of the beautiful Caribou Hills. While keeping an eye out for Reindeer Station – or what was left of it – I thought about the Inuvialuit reindeer herders who, for decades, roamed with the reindeer as they grazed the bald tundra just above those hills.

It all started in the early 1900s, when wild caribou, a crucial food source for the Inuvialuit, became scarce. The federal government transplanted a herd of domestic reindeer from Alaska to this region and encouraged Inuvialuit to become herders. Reindeer Station was built as a base for the new reindeer industry. Called Qun'ngilaat by most Inuvialuit, this station was indeed like a small town with houses, a school, a trading post, workshops and warehouses.

“We had happy times here,” remembers Ellen Binder who lived at Reindeer Station in its heyday,

“because everyone was treated the same. We were all issued a tent and a stove and ration every month and reindeer to eat. Everyone was happy.”

Former reindeer herder, David Roland, recalls the day he was first hired. “I had to ski out to the herd – fifteen miles. I'd never skied in my life before. Boy! When I got to the herd I stayed in the tent for two days because my legs were so tired.”

Somewhere deep in the halls of Ottawa’s federal bureaucracy, someone in the late 1960s decided to move the base of reindeer operations to Inuvik. That brought an end to the way of life enjoyed by Ellen and David and hundreds of other local people who had worked and lived at Reindeer Station over the years. The station was abandoned and basically left to rot.

When we landed our canoes there a few summers back, the only prominent structure left standing was the station manager’s two-storey house, built in the 1930s, which once resounded to the music of all-night square dancing and fiddling among local herders. We also found a few cabins that looked like they were » still maintained for trapping, hunting, fishing or plain old relaxing on the land.

That was about it. This traditional hub of Inuvialuit culture, soaked in history but cherished in living memory by only a few, seemed like a pretty overgrown and forgotten place.

Not anymore.

The Inuvik Community Corporation is breathing new life into Reindeer Station. Leading the charge is the Corporation’s chair, Duane Smith who has a special attachment to the place. “We used to live out there. I spent my first year and a half there. There are quite a few people that were born there including a couple of my older siblings. My grandfather used to be the manager of the Inuvialuit workers. I still have his old notebook describing all the activities out there.”

Duane’s original vision was to revitalize the site to provide a consistent, easily accessible, land-based location for Inuvialuit culture and language programs. He worked hard at the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) level to find funding for a project that has since gained a lot of momentum and public support. “For many years, it has been the wish of a lot of beneficiaries, especially elders,” Duane told Tusaayaksat, “to see this place restored.

With the funds freed up, Duane helped organize multiple work parties and spent many hours on site leading hands-on activities that have transformed Reindeer Station from a decaying remnant of Inuvialuit history to a vibrant and welcoming facility. He gets a lot of satisfaction describing features of the new improved site. “The main building will be 24 by 48 feet with a large deck. We hope to build a large platform for outside functions in front of the main facility. We also have four 16 by 16-insulated cabins plus four tent frames. There are some older buildings on site but our intent is to just leave those alone to help preserve them. Roughly three hundred square metres have been cleared of brush.”

Now that most of the on-the-ground work is over, the Inuvik Community Corporation is focusing on the kinds of programs that could be offered at Reindeer

Station. Duane stresses these are still very much a work in progress. “Once we assess what programs are needed and how they match up with existing facilities in the community or region, we would look at the calendar and see how and when we would potentially use this facility.”

Duane envisions elders and youth coming out to the site, sharing some quality time and hands-on experiences together. “Kids could hear directly from our elders about our people, our culture, our history, and learn things about day-to-day activities around here as well. It’s such a nice place for them to be using and it gets you away from that classroom atmosphere.”

The intent is to complement, not replace, existing Inuvialuit culture programs, whether in Inuvik or other communities. “We felt that some of our community programs might be enhanced by delivering them out on the land to get people away from any distractions.”

Duane does his best to dispel the idea that Reindeer Station is a hard place to get to. “From an Inuvialuit perspective it isn’t really that far away. It’s very close when you look at how the Inuvialuit travel around. For instance going to the coast to do their whaling is not considered a long trip at all. That’s roughly four times farther away from Inuvik than Reindeer Station. When the Station was still being used and Inuvik was being constructed, people used to regularly ski back and forth between the two places. It’s really how you look at distance. It’s less than an hour by boat depending on how fast you go.”

Once programming plans take shape, Duane hopes to arrange a convenient and economical system for both winter and summer transportation. “Safety, he adds, “will always be our primary concern whatever the season.”

No one knows yet whether the facility will operate all year. It will depend on the kinds of programs offered, the level of demand, and of course, funding. “We may shut it down for the winter and have it periodically checked on. Or we may have a manager on site. We’d have to put a budget together to accommodate that person. Or it could be a couple or a family » that stays out there.

Besides formal language and cultural programs, Reindeer Station will likely be made available for regular folks to just get out and enjoy the land. “We also want to keep periodic windows open for Inuvialuit families to go out there and use the facility for short term purposes. It’s a nice place, not that far away, and a lot of families really don’t have the opportunity to get out on the land. We still have to develop some policies and guidelines that we would expect our beneficiaries to follow out of respect for the site.”

While most of the on-site work is over, there’s still much to be done. “It’s happening as quickly as they can pound the hammers and shred the willows. There’s a huge pile of brush and metal debris that has to be disposed of. We also need to develop a water and sewage plan for the facility.”

Securing long-term funding support is another item on Duane’s to-do list. “That’s the next step that the community corporation will take. Hopefully all the beneficiaries will help us out in that respect. We have to recognize that we can’t fully depend on government funding in the long term. We will have to try to find a variety of funding sources; government is just one option. We’re also looking at foundations or private donors to help with the upkeep of this place because of its history.”

These days, there’s a lot more meat on the bones of Duane Smith’s original vision for Reindeer Station. He, and the Inuvik Community Corporation he represents, has helped put this cultural hub back on the map. “Once Reindeer Station is completely the way we see it, we hope people will respect and use this site. We hope to see it continuously used, kept up by the people themselves, that they’ll bring their families, their kids, everybody. We hope that our school programs will bring kids out here to get a real good experience out on the land, to learn about the history of this place, about the Inuvialuit in the region. Just to see a bunch of people using this site, especially kids, because it’s such a nice relaxing place, it’s not that far to get to – that’s what we hope to see in the future.”∞