Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Feb 26/99) - Ishmael Alunik says his favourite story in his new book, Call Me Ishmael, could be the one about how Inuvialuit hunted polar bears before they had guns.

First, the hunter attaches a five-foot spear to a secure object such as a wall of ice and then stands so he can point the weapon.

Then, his dogs chase a polar bear until it becomes angry and aggressive. They lead the bear to the waiting hunter.

Death comes when the bear charges and the brave hunter points the spear at the lunging bear's neck.

"The spear goes right in and sometimes it hits the heart and the polar bear dies right away and sometimes he just bleeds all his blood out," Alunik says.

"I've never done that. This is a story I got from (the late) William Kuptana (from Sachs Harbour)."

Enthused about the finished product of his book and how well initial sales of the 1,000-copy first run are going, Alunik says he would like to put together a second book to include some of the stories he left out.

"It's mostly education, this one. We left quite a bit out because we didn't have enough money but we're going to try to get money and sell quite a few books."

Born in Old Crow Flats on Gwich'in land in the Yukon, Alunik learned how to trap muskrats early in life.

In his book, he writes, "I received my first education in a practical way -- learning to trap for a living and stay alive in the Arctic."

He remembers one spring when his parents went to Crow Flats for ratting season and he was left behind.

"It was really hard on me. In 1931 I went to school at Shingle Point in the Yukon territory. Later, in 1936, I attended school in Aklavik for one year. Later, I learned to trap for lynx, fox, mink, beaver and how to make a living off the land."

Alunik moved to Inuvik to do labour work as a rock crusher in the mid-1950s during initial excavation work.

"They had a cook tent down there (by the river). Old McLeod -- Buster McLeod's dad -- was a cook there. They had a big, round tent where we ate. Only the surveyors and the fellas that test the soil were here."

Later on in life, Alunik worked as a custodian for eight years and then as an Inupiaq language announcer/operator for CBC radio for 17 years until he retired in 1988.

He says he still continues to trap, hunt and fish but not like he used to when he was younger.

Originally, Alunik was planning to attend the workshop on the future of the Inuvialuktun language in Tuktoyaktuk that wraps up tomorrow, on his 76th birthday, but instead he decided to work on promoting his book. Television appearances are on the horizon as are book signings in Yellowknife.

What does he see as the future of the Inuvialuktun language?

"I think it's going to die off because it's been dying off since 1970s. At school with white kids and Gwich'in, Slavey and Eastern Arctic people, they speak straight English."

Alunik then stressed how much he wanted to thank everyone who helped him make the dream of a book a reality -- with his wife Ruth foremost among them.

He also thanks the GNWT Department of Education, Culture and Employment, the NWT Arts Council, Nellie Cournoyea and the IRC as well as Barry Zellen, Hiedi Wilkolmn, Bart Kreps, Sue Rose, Tom Hudson, Eddie D. Kolausok and many others.