Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

SANIKILUAQ - Johnny Appaqaq was born on the east side of the Belcher Islands, about 60 kilometres from his present home in Sanikiluaq.

Only a few rocks indicate where the tents of his first home used to sit.

By the early 1970s, most people from the area had moved to the North Camp, and his family was no exception.

Like the other youth in the community, he was sent away to school in Kuujjuaq, and later Inukjuaq. This was followed by trades training in Churchill, Ottawa and Winnipeg.

Upon completing his courses, the young man began bouncing between the Northwest Territories, Yukon and British Columbia for construction work.

But home was calling, so Appaqaq returned to Sanikiluaq in 1975, taking up a post doing office work for the settlement council.

"It was a big change, it was different," he said.

Besides clerical duties like bookkeeping and payroll, as the hamlet's office worker he was also responsible for helping to direct the pilots flying into the area.

"At that time we had the radio where you could talk to the aircraft coming in," he remembered with a laugh. "You would look out the window, tell them how the weather was or the wind, then get back to typing."

Although he's seen quite a few different communities in his life, Sanikiluaq is where he wants stay, Appaqaq said.

Two years ago at the age of 50, he got married to his wife, Lizzie.

Most recently, he has been working as the local community liaison officer for the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.

"There are so many different things you get to do, and different people you get to talk to," he said.

When not on the job, Appaqaq spends his time doing the art he loves: carving walrus out of soapstone harvested from the nearby Tukarak Island.

Like his first home, Appaqaq said he can still find the remains there of the old camps.

"No pieces of wood, just rock," he said.