Longtime resident missed by citizens of Grise Fiord
Community held going-away event
before Peter Flaherty left community
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, November 30, 2015
AUSUITTUQ/GRISE FIORD
If you see someone at community events in Iqaluit who has an ability to make everyone around him smile, you might have bumped into Peter Flaherty, a longtime Grise Fiord resident who made an impact on many people before he moved to the capital city.
Peter Flaherty is a friendly face who left his home of Grise Fiord and moved to Iqaluit with family. - photo courtesy of the Hamlet of Grise Fiord |
Flaherty was part of the second wave of relocatees to Grise Fiord in 1955, when he was just an infant. He's spent his life in Grise Fiord, save for a few years in Iqaluit in the early 2000s.
"Peter has always been very much part of Grise Fiord life," said Larry Audlaluk, his uncle.
Flaherty is a bit hard of hearing and not much of a speaker, but he was very much a part of the Northern community and a friendly face to everyone in town.
"Even though he's not going to say much, he's always got a cheerful smile and he will talk to you in his own way, and you understand him," said Audlaluk.
Flaherty knew everyone in Grise Fiord on a first-name basis. Community members would often bring him along hunting in the summer, which he very much appreciated.
"He'll come to the office when we're working in the hamlet. He'll come in and have coffee and say hello to everyone. He always makes everyone in the room smile," said Audlaluk. "He was very much an important part of our community. In any event, Peter's there. Church service on Sunday, Peter's there. Anything that's happening, you'll see Peter among the crowd."
Flaherty has a learning disability, but that didn't stop him from being active in town and always looking to help people out.
"Peter has his own way of communicating with you, even if he doesn't talk like me," said Audlaluk, calling him uniquely intelligent in his own way, often more so than the regular person. "You learn how to have a conversation with him."
He left town earlier this month, and as tradition goes, the hamlet held a going-away event to thank him for his time and let him know he will be missed.
"It's only been three weeks but we're already saying it's strange how we don't see Peter coming down the street, or going over there, or he's not in the store or at community events," said Audlaluk.
Flaherty, now in his 60s, has moved to Iqaluit with his family and to be closer to medical services.
Audlaluk said he will be missed greatly.
