Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Coppermine (July 22/02) - Extrasensory perception, mother's intuition, old-fashioned instinct -- call it what you will, but Betty Ann Alonak knew something was wrong as soon as she awoke the morning of April 7.

Kugluktuk's Byron Alonak and the award he received from Nunavut Commissioner Peter Irniq. - photo courtesy of Margaret McKay

Her 12-year-old son, Byron, had left two days earlier on a hunting trip outside Kugluktuk with 91-year-old Buster Kailek, just in time for a blizzard.

The storm raged for most of that weekend, keeping Betty Ann worrying about her son. But her feelings of despair reached a new level that Sunday morning, several hours before the pair's scheduled return to the community.

"I had a funny feeling and I kept looking out the window every few minutes. I was scared and really cold. I never had that feeling before. I put on two sweaters, but I was still really cold," Alonak said last Thursday.

"As soon as I woke up, I prayed, 'Please make the weather nice for my boy and the old man to come back.'"

The sky cleared for a few hours, but by 3 p.m. the wind had picked up and the mercury dipped far below zero.

Weeping and shivering, Alonak called the local search and rescue committee three times that day.

By 10 p.m., searchers were braving the blizzard. They finally located the young boy and the old man in a cabin at about 4 a.m., April 8. Byron was in good condition, but Kailek was suffering from severe frostbite and was medevaced to Yellowknife.

Award for bravery

Kailek lost much of his left leg recently because of complications from the frostbite, but he only survived the ordeal because of his young companion's actions.

As the pair was trudging through the snow to the cabin, Byron turned around and saw Kailek lying in the snow.

"I wondered why he was taking so long. I looked back and he was lying there," said Byron. "I helped him. I grabbed his arm and I was helping him walk."

Together the two managed to reach the safety of the cabin.

Byron's valiant work attracted the media's attention earlier this year, but the act received official recognition in Kugluktuk Tuesday evening, July 16. Nunavut Commissioner Peter Irniq presented Byron with an Award for Bravery in front of a packed audience assembled at the hamlet's recreational complex.

Byron said he felt shy when so many of his friends and neighbours rose to their feet to give him an extended standing ovation.

"I was happy. I almost cried," said Byron, who began to think he wasn't going to get an award that evening.

Irniq left Byron until the end of the ceremony, first handing out 12 other awards to members of the search and rescue committee for their efforts over the last several years.

Byron's mother said she cried during the presentation out of pride and thankfulness.

"Everybody was clapping for such a long time. There were tears and a standing ovation. Some of my friends were there and they gave me big hugs and made tears along with me," she said.

"He is my boy and I love him."

Jack Himiak, president of the hamlet's search and rescue committee, said the respect and emotion in the room Tuesday night was overwhelming. Himiak was also part of the team that located the two hunters.

"You felt something deep inside and you had tears in your eyes," said Himiak, who also received an award that night for his role with the search and rescue committee.

"I know I had tears and everybody else did," he said. "For saving a life -- anybody deserves an award for what he did."