Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 7, 2008

GRISE FIORD - After nearly a lifetime of fighting for what he believes in, Larry Audlaluk has just received one of the country's highest honours - the Order of Canada.

The Grise Fiord resident will be sworn in by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean sometime in 2008.

Grise Fiord's Larry Audlaluk, a well-known and outspoken community leader, was appointed to the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean last month. - Karen Mackenzie/NNSL photo

"I just do things from the heart, I just do things I believe in," he said.

Audlaluk, 57, was just a toddler in 1953 when his parents were relocated from northern Quebec to Ellesmere Island.

The Canadian government, which orchestrated the move in an early bid for Arctic sovereignty, promised the families bountiful hunting and a guaranteed return to their home.

Audlaluk's kin and a handful of others fought for their survival in the cold, unfamiliar landscape, holding on to the hope that they would be returned at the end of two years.

His father died not long after their arrival, along with most of the government's promises.

For the past 40 years, Audlaluk has worked to bring his family's story to the attention of the world.

"I've always wanted people to recognize what my parents contributed for this country, giving up their personal lives to agree to what the government wanted them to do," Audlaluk said.

"Unfortunately, the government was not truthful all the time. Some of the information that my parents were given was not totally honest, so I've always felt that speaking on their behalf, on our behalf because I was just a little kid then, was an important issue for me. I like to correct things when I know they're not right," he said.

In the early 1990s, the government began taking some steps towards remediation. Hearings were conducted, some families were finally returned and a relocation trust fund was established. Audlaluk was involved in all these matters.

"Luckily, over time, people started recognizing our story," he said.

But his work did not end there. Audlaluk has continued to focus his energy on ensuring Grise Fiord is granted the same level of infrastructure as other communities in Canada, such as telephone, medical and Internet service.

"For the last 40 years, I've always felt that being an equal Canadian ... there should be quality in terms of conditions in the North," he said. "You hear people say, 'wilderness Arctic, untamed wild frontier.'" "I like to see it become more favourable, more civilized, a place to live for everyone if they want to without having to pay five times as much as someone from Toronto."

It hasn't always been easy, and there were some hard years in between, he said.

"I've travelled all over the country and it's a big challenge. It's tiring. It's hard work (to live) out of suitcase, that's not a joke," said Audlaluk, who criss-crossed Canada as well as travelling to the Middle East and Japan.

Sometimes the biggest challenge was simply facing the fear "of being totally shut off and not recognized for what happened in 1953 up to 1955 and later, and the fact that what they did to my parents, the fear, that what they did would be put on the shelf, so to speak," he said.

Throughout it all, his family has been there to support him, he said.

"My wife, number one. If it hadn't been for my wife I would not have been able to do this," he said.

"I'm really proud of my dad, and I've heard lots of stories from him and about him over the years," said his daughter Arna Audlaluk. "I was in Iglulik one time for sports, and people kept asking me, 'Are you Larry's daughter, are you Larry's daughter?' I was in Pond one time visiting my sister, and people were asking, 'Are you Larry's daughter?' It's really good to know people know my father."

If his children follow his footsteps, he hopes it will be in his willingness to tackle anything, he said.

"I hope they learn that if you have something strong enough in your heart that needs to come out, do it," he said. "I've been a hunter, I'm always a hunter, and then I've been involved in other stuff. I've guided sports hunters, I've done airport work, I was involved with movies and my wife and I make gospel music."

And Audlaluk shows no sign of slowing down, nor does he have any plans to.

"I'm an Inuk and a Northerner and a Canadian, those three in that order, and I've always felt those are so important," Audlaluk said. "We live in a great country, because this country has so much potential ... we're still a young country, we're still developing, and I want to be part of that process of developing."