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'A very backward experience' Jeanne Gagnon Northern News Services Published Monday, August 22, 2011
Inuit testifying to the Qikiqtani Truth Commission in 2008 said that in at least three cases - the dissolving of the settlements of Kivitoo and Padloping near Cumberland Sound and South Camp on the Belcher Islands - families felt urgent pressure from the federal government to relocate for its convenience in delivering schooling, health care and social assistance. QTC head James Igloliorte travelled to 13 communities in 2008 and 2009, from Sanikiluaq in Hudson Bay to Resolute and Grise Fiord in the High Arctic, collecting personal testimonies in order to compile a history of the Qikiqtani region during the settlement period. The commission's report, issued last fall, included individual histories of the 200 people who spoke to the commission and an additional 150 recorded interviews the Qikiqtani Inuit Association had in their repository. The following are excerpts from testimony given by elders at the commission's hearings. Leah Otak Iglulik Leah Otak recalled how her family lived in an outpost called Illuajuaq with none of today's commodities, nor elected leaders or nurses. Instead, she said they had a leader who was very knowledgeable and made decisions for her family on how to survive through the winter. "He guided the other hunters as to who should go hunting," said Otak. "They consulted the leader whenever the weather permitted them to hunt on a daily basis. They were our providers. They enjoyed providing for their families. They loved their children and families; likewise with the females. They enjoyed making garments and making clothing for their families back then." Otak also recalled they did not have weather forecasts or nurses and thought they did not exist. Recently, said Otak, she came to realize her parents were very knowledgeable and independent. "They were able to anticipate bad weather and storms from examining the clouds and skies. They were knowledgeable when it comes to the ice formation depending on the season. They knew from the ancestors." During the fall, men went inland as it was the traditional caribou hunting season while the women picked blueberries and blackberries, said Otak. She added there were rabbits and her mother looked after the skins after the animals were caught. Otak said she learned to clean sealskins before reaching the age of 10. They eventually moved to Iglulik in the spring of 1967, and families became less independent and had to rely on other sources, said Otak. She added customs and traditions started changing, such as exercising their right to vote for an elected council. "In the fall, we missed berry-picking times, caribou hunting times. We no longer exercised those," she said. "When all these groups settled here, they became confused and dishevelled. It seemed to be a very backward experience for our parents." Koonoo Oyukuluk Ikpiarjuk/Arctic Bay Koonoo Oyukuluk said his family was asked to move to Arctic Bay because children had to attend school. There they were living in a house, didn't have a dog team and hunted less. "A house would cost $5 a month. So it was cheap. But when we moved here the country food—like seal meat and caribou meat—was impossible to get. They were running short of country food. Only bannock was available," he said. "Qallunaaq food was very delicious but caribou meat and seal meat was even better." He added they would "crave" country food. Oyukuluk recalled as young men, they would go dog sledding and take dog team rides. His father had a full team as well, he added. "We would get supplies by using a dog team to go to the post," he said. "Coming back from the post to the camp, we listened for them, for the sound of the sleds with the supplies. That was the fun part; anxiously waiting for them to return. You smelled the qallunaaq smell. It was really good. It was happy times." Levi Illingayuk Kangiqtugaapik/Clyde River Levi Illingayuk relocated from the Kivitoo settlement to Qikiqtarjuaq in 1963 after his father, older brother and brother-in-law died while out getting supplies for the camp. He, his mother, younger brother and sister were the last people to leave. "We were going to go back to get our equipment and belongings. We went back in spring time but they had been burnt and bull-dozed," he said. Illingayuk said they were told they would be relocated as they needed more people in Qikiqtarjuaq. "They said that we would have proper housing; that is why they brought us to Qikiqtarjuaq by plane. Apparently there was no housing," he said. "We had to go into other people's places. We collected wood from the shore and the land to build a little shack." Oleepa Papatsie Panniqtuuq/Pangnirtung Oleepa Papatsie recalls when she was about age 15 they had a camp at Illutalik. She recounts seeing the plane come in and land on the ice and the next thing she heard, she said, was someone yelling to come on the plane. "We were told to get on the plane. I didn't bring anything. All I had was what I was wearing. I realized later that my parents brought some blankets with them when they got on the plane," said Papatsie. "We (the kids) were excited. We were already on the plane but my parents were still at their qarmaq. When the plane came in, they were eating. They washed quickly, grabbed a few things and came down to the plane. "They were not informed that they were to go on the plane so they were not prepared. " She added they were told they had to move and if they did, they would not starve. When they arrived in Pangnirtung, Papatsie said they were told they would be taken back to their camp during the summer. "We left everything at our camp. When we returned everything was gone. There was nothing left for us in our camp," she said. "I learned later that the renewable resource officer had burned all the qarmaqs and all the frames. Rocks were the only things left." In Pangnirtung, Papatsie said they became "very poor" and were "hungry." The only clothes she had were the ones on her back, clothes that eventually became too small. "We were not hungry when we were in the camp. There was no shortage of food. We were better off in the camp," she said. Jaypeetee Kudlualik Qikiqtarjuaq/Broughton Island Jaypeetee Kudlualik said his family lived in a camp around Cumberland Sound near Pangnirtung. When he was 13, he recalled, his family was told to relocate to Pangnirtung but they didn't want to go on the plane to move. So he said they attempted to reach Pangnirtung by dog team only to be met up by the RCMP halfway to the community. The RCMP officers were travelling by snowmachine to get them but as the engine broke down, the Mounties hitched a ride back with her parents' dog team. "They said that we had to go to school, those of us who were children. Our parents had to go into the community and we had to move. We had no choice but to move with our parents although we resisted moving to Pangnirtung," he said. "We didn't want to be relocated but our parents had no choice but to go along with it." He added six months later, the dog team was slaughtered. Kudlualik said after moving to Pangnirtung, he changed "drastically." "Those were my impressionable years and I remembered everything. We had no more dog teams, no mode of travel to hunt. We had to stay within Pangnirtung boundaries before we were able to go out again," he said. Kudlualik said he didn't stay in Pangnirtung very long and moved to Qikiqtarjuaq. Annie Appaqaq Arragutainaq Sanikiluaq Annie Appaqaq Arragutainaq and her family were one of the first to be relocated from the Belcher Islands South Camp to the North Camp (now Sanikiluaq). She relocated with her husband and parents in November 1969. "It was very inconvenient to move here to be relocated here and have no place to go but to stay with other people. That has always been in my mind," she said. "The hardest part was to move in with other people because all the houses were not built yet. I regretted having left our home and leaving all our belongings. That was the hardest part for me." A year later, she added everyone in South Camp was relocated to the north one. Arragutainaq said the people arrived by boat, received no assistance and were hungry. "They were surrounded by ice so they ended up walking here. I remember that, it was in 1970. They have gone through great hardship; children were hungry and had no more energy," she said. "We travelled by boat and we were supported. For them it was different. The outside of the boat was iced up because it was in the fall and it was scary. " Johnassie Arragutainaq Sanikiluaq Johnassie Arragutainaq recalled people from North Camp trying to persuade those living in the south one to relocate. People in South Camp started giving in and relocated north, he said, and when that happened, others followed. He added he eventually relocated to North Camp, travelling to and from the camps by canoe several times. "It was my decision to go back and get the elders out of South Camp and provided for our own gasoline because nobody came to us and said they would help us move," said Arragutainaq. "It seemed like we were told to relocate but provided us with no means of doing so." People left all their belongings, hunting gear and dogs because there was nobody to help them move. Just one small boat made only one trip, he added. With not enough snow on the ground and bad ice conditions, Arragutainaq said they couldn't use dogs to travel. "I came to the community of Sanikiluaq with nothing to my name but I kept planning to get back for my belonging but I really got tied up with the construction of houses and I couldn't get back. So I never went back for my belongings and winter came," he said. He added they were not promised anything but when his friends and relatives started moving, he said he had no choice to follow the relocation movement "even when I knew in my heart that this was the wrong thing to do."
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