Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Nov 24/99) - Happenstance has played a key role in unlocking many mysteries.

So it was earlier this year when Rankin Inlet's Janet Onalik decided to attend her home-town reunion in Mitchell, Ont.

Onalik was walking around the town with family members when they decided to visit a quaint little woodcarving shop called Wood Wings.

"The shop was owned by Ted Schinbein and he turned out to be quite the talkative guy," says Onalik with a laugh.

"He started out telling us all about his shop and then started telling us about his life."

As Schinbein recalled the travel days of his youth throughout Europe and the Arctic, Onalik discovered he had lived in Rankin Inlet during the 1970s.

It turned out not only was Schinbein the former manager of the Rankin Inlet Co-op, he also had a deep, dark secret he was finally ready to let out of the bag.

"He told me he had something which belonged to Rankin and went upstairs to his apartment to get it.

"When he came back he produced this old flag."

Rankin's Jean Williamson knew the whole story when Onalik told her of the experience.

The flag had gone missing from the Arctic Research Training Centre sometime in the early '70s.

The centre, which no longer exists, was under the umbrella of the University of Saskatchewan's Institute of Northern Studies.

"It was a practical joke which remained a mystery. No one ever really owned up to it," says Williamson.

"The secret stayed among those who had taken the flag."

Williamson's husband ran the research centre at the time.

The flag bears a muskox, the official symbol for the Institute of Northern Studies, and Williamson remembers her husband being very upset when the flag went missing.

"That flag meant a lot to everyone who worked there. It was gone, but never forgotten."

Onalik says Schinbein admitted to doing a bit of "partying" the night he took the flag, but still maintains there was method behind his madness.

"His story is the flag was all tattered and torn.

"He thought they should have a new one and if he stole this one, they'd have to get a new one made.

"They did, in fact, get a new one, but the original is back with Jean now."