Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Jan 20/99) - Canadian Airways' Dorothy Tootoo has carried a little piece of the Keewatin with her during most of her travels around the globe as a flight attendant.

Tootoo will be celebrating more than the official birth of Nunavut on April 1, as that date also marks her 20th anniversary of flying the friendly skies.

"I was living in Rankin Inlet for a period of time in the late '70s and I heard there was a job available with Trans Air, which was looking for an Inuktitut- speaking flight attendant," says Tootoo. "In the late '70s, there weren't a lot of jobs for local people and I thought being a flight attendant was a great chance to get out and explore.

"I was hired originally to fly Keewatin flights and did all the DEW Line sites, but now I've travelled across most of North America and recently transferred to Vancouver so I could fly internationally, especially Asia, because I'd never been there and wanted to experience that."

Tootoo's husband, Luc Paquet, works cargo for the same company and was able to transfer to Vancouver with her. Although she has seen a good part of the world, Tootoo has never forgotten her roots and takes every opportunity to show off Canada's North to people from around the globe.

"I always carry a little photo album of the North, and even though I don't always have a lot of time, I make a point of trying to pick one or two people and show them my pictures. I show them where it's at on a map and they always go wow, you must freeze there.

"The most commonly-asked question is if we still live in igloos, although they usually say ice house or snow home. They also go 'eww' when I show them the animals we eat."

For years Tootoo was the only full-time Inuktitut- speaking flight attendant, an honour she has shared with Iqaluit's Eva Onalik for the past 13 years. Tootoo says there were many challenges to venturing out into the world, but quickly adds once you get there, you find out it's not such a big place after all.

"I used to think there was this huge, huge world out there, but this makes you realize how small the world really is. You can be anywhere in 16 hours. I also realized how important tourism is, something I never really thought about while I was up here."

The vast majority of Tootoo's family are now back in the Keewatin and she says although you learn many things out in the world and have many different experiences, you never really lose your roots -- just ask her mom, Jenny, who was born and raised in Cambridge Bay.

"We took mom on vacation with us to Honolulu and we could hear her giggling because she had never worn a bathing suit and was laughing at herself in it. We told her she had to come out because she was going to sit on the beach. And there she was, sitting on the beach in Honolulu knitting seal-skin kamiks. She thought it was just wonderful."