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MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
A normal day for Lamech Pewatooalook, Pond Inlet's mechanic, may seem pretty mundane.

After 33 years, Pond Inlet's hamlet mechanic Lamech Pewatooalook is set to retire. - photo courtesy of Marjorie Dobson

"Most of the work consists of fixing flat tires," he said through interpreter Enookie Killiktee. "Fixing tires and little things that pop up, like a broken door handle."

However, Pewatooalook's work has kept the hamlet's fleet of vehicles on the road since November 1978. After 33 years, he is now considering retiring.

"I have worked a very long time because I like working with engines," he said. "If it's a big engine, like the heavy equipment engines, it's a lot of fun fixing them. It's more fun to work with them and they are less computerized. The small trucks are starting to get computers and I don't know how to fix those things, so I like working with big engines."

Pewatooalook started his career working with the Department of Public Works before becoming the hamlet's mechanic assistant.

"When I first started working, I didn't know anything about fixing engines," he recalled. "When I was a helper for the mechanics, I was learning from them. I watched and learned. I'd just go in there and figure it out. I didn't have a formal education about it. Just go in there and figure out what's broken and how to fix it is what I do."

Despite the wealth of experience gained over the years, he says the modern world has made it difficult for him to do anything else.

"I'm unilingual and can't speak English, and I haven't looked for another job because of that," he said. "It's a lot harder working now being unilingual and I don't have knowledge about computers, so it's getting harder."

Living in a remote community also presents a challenge on a daily basis.

"Ordering parts for broken vehicles," is the hardest part of his job, he said. "The parts take too long to come here. If I could speak English, I could enquire as to what's going on with the shipment on that."

As he has not set a date for retirement, he is also not sure if his assistant will take over as the hamlet's main mechanic.

A recent widower, Pewatooalook is pretty sure he knows what his own future looks like.

"I'm planning on hunting a lot if my hunting equipment stays good," he said. "When I'm retired and I see the trucks I've worked on before, I'll have fond memories."

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