Iqaluit (Jan 24/05) - Irene Tagoona can remember a time with no television but plenty to do.

"No television, no computers, (but) we were never lonely," she recalls.

Growing up with 10 brothers and sisters in the Kivalliq probably had something to do with that.

Tagoona, now in her 40s, grew up in Arviat, Rankin Inlet and Baker Lake.

Her father Armand Tagoona, ordained in 1960, was the first Inuk priest to serve in the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic.

"Wherever he went, the whole family went," said Irene fondly, sitting comfortably in the library at the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut last week.

She is now living in Iqaluit, working as the manager of financial services with the government. But she remembers her early religious upbringing, which she sometimes felt was too strict.

"I remember my sister said once: 'My father is a minister, I have to be good.'"

But Irene is thankful for her faith today.

Irene never considered a life in the church like her father. But she still calls herself religious and spiritual.

"I feel peaceful," she said. "It gives me peace in my heart."

Her faith in God also brings her closer to her father.

"This is what my father worked for his whole life. There is a reason my father did that. He wanted to give people hope."

Despite some reports of a religious "revival" in Nunavut, Irene thinks the number of people attending church is dwindling.

"There are so many distractions today," she said.

Armand passed away in 1991. His life has been documented over the years in various interviews and photographs. He was an artist, too, and wrote and illustrated a book called "Shadows."

Church still stands

The non-denominational church in Baker Lake that Armand helped create, the Christian Arctic Fellowship, still stands in Baker Lake today.

The Tear Drop youth group, headed by Irene's niece Grace Tagoona, uses the church for its regular meetings.

Irene's mother Mary lives in Baker Lake and because she is elderly, Irene likes to visit as often as possible.

Irene has lived in Iqaluit for seven years and has worked for the territorial government (NWT and now Nunavut) for 20 years. That surprises her. It doesn't feel that long, she said.

Irene lived in Ottawa and worked for Inuit Tapiriiksat of Canada for five years after she graduated from Sir John Franklin high school in Yellowknife.

She visited Toronto, Montreal, even Buffalo, NY, for a Rolling Stones concert.

"I wanted to see so many things after growing up in my small town life," she says with a smile.

But she got homesick and moved back to the North. Her 20-year-old son lives in Iqaluit now, as does one of her nieces.