Baker Lake (Feb 04/04) - Henry Thomas Ford, also known as Uqalujujuq ("the one who can speak"), was running the Hudson's Bay Post in the 1930s in the Baker Lake area when he heard a family was starving to death.

He quickly delivered food and supplies to them, an act of compassion Lucy Iyago of Baker Lake never forgot.

Amos Maluk and Rachel Arnamatak, Iyago's parents, were the people Uqalujujuq saved that day.

Iyago recently nominated Ford for a bravery award from the commissioner's office.

"This happened long before she was born," said Sheila Mariq, who translated for Iyago, her mother who is 74 and speaks only Inuktitut. "It's a starting point for healing. It was a heavy burden. If it weren't for Uqalujujuq she would not have been born."

In a ceremony held Jan. 20 in Baker Lake, Uqalujujuq's grandson, David Ford, accepted the award for his grandfather who died in 1966.

"I didn't know much about this until the ceremony," said David. "It was really overwhelming. It was an honour to receive it for my family."

Moved by the event, Iyago and her brother, Norman Attungala, sang a song that has been in their family for generations -- a song inspired by that very day Uqalujujuq saved them.

Henry Thomas Ford, called "Uqalujujuq" by Inuit in the region who knew him, was born in Labrador and travelled to the Arctic first as a 16-year-old in 1868 with a Canadian crew from Ottawa.

The crew was on a mission for the Canadian government to lay claim to the Northwest Territories for Canada before any other country moved in.

Ford stayed in the Arctic, opening the first Hudson's Bay Company post in Nunalla (Arviat area). Along with his brother and cousins, who also spoke Inuktitut fluently, Ford opened many more Hudson's Bay posts.

Another rescue

The young Ford, who was also a Special Constable in the police force for years, distinguished himself early. Out boating Hudson's Bay in the summer, Ford saved a fellow officer's life after their boat was attacked by a walrus.

Today, Henry Ford Jr., 79, still marvels at the gold pocketwatch given to his father as a reward following that dramatic rescue.

The inscription reads: "Presented by the Royal Northwest Territories Mounted Police. Presented to Constable H.T. Ford in recognition of his services in aiding Corporal Reeves on 14th August, 1908, Hudson's Bay."

"My dad never wore it," said Henry Jr., speaking by phone from his home in Thorold, Ontario. "And I've always kept it in a safety deposit box."

Henry Jr. was born in Baker Lake in 1925 and has always been proud of his father, but was pleasantly surprised to learn of the family he rescued from starvation.

"He never talked about it," said Henry Jr.