UQSUQTUUQ/GJOA HAVEN - Nuliajuk – a figure in Inuit legend believed by many to have nourished people for generations with the sea's bounty – is the name of a new research vessel, thanks to an 11-year-old boy.

Rudy Alaaq Aaluk, shown a couple of years ago towing a boat to go fishing, won a boat-naming contest. Nunavut's Department of Environment's new 64-foot (19.5-metre) research vessel will be named Nuliajuk at his suggestion. - photo courtesy of Tommy Anguttitauruq

Rudy Alaaq Aaluk's winning entry was one of 21 Nunavut's Department of Environment received for its contest to name its new 64-foot (19.5-metre) research vessel to be launched next summer.

Aaluk, born in Yellowknife and raised in Gjoa Haven, is now a Grade 6 student at Quqshuun Ilihakvik. He said he learned about the Inuit legend through school and his grandfather.

“It was good. I was proud,” he said.

He added it was the first time he won something.

His grandfather, Tommy Anguttitauruq, said he was skeptical at first when he heard Aaluk had won.

“Skeptical – very – because in the past, I always get a phone call saying you win a TV and you have to spend this and that. I thought it was one of those other people who was calling,” he said. “I am proud of him because I take him to my cabin every chance I get.”

Aaluk loves fishing, said Anguttitauruq.

“Every spring time and in the summer time, he would go along the shore with a fishing rod and he would go fishing,” he said.

The fisheries and sealing division, along with the department's elders advisory committee, chose Aaluk's entry as it best reflects reflect Inuit culture, language and heritage while representing the territory's unique fishing and sealing traditions.

“This name is a fitting symbol of the mission of the new vessel, which is to build upon the Inuit tradition of knowledge and relationship with the sea to the benefit of present and future generations of Nunavummiut,” Dan Shewchuk, the territory's environment minister, said at the Legislative Assembly.

Aaluk won a fishing gear prize pack worth about $500, including fishing rods, lures and other accessories. He will also receive a plaque to hang at the school. And every Quqshuun Ilihakvik student will receive a Department of Environment gift bag.

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