Kerry McCluskey, Maria Canton and Jonah Kelly
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 20/99) - This year has been officially recognized as the year of the older person.

It's a year to take the time to appreciate all that we have learned from the many elders who have graced our lives.

News/North would like to pay tribute to that wisdom and guidance. What follows are stories that were recorded during an afternoon spent at the elders' facility in Iqaluit.

Malaija Papatsi, 72, Cumberland Sound

Today I try to tell my grandchildren how it used to be. I tell them how I remember playing with my wooden dolls and my seal-flipper toys and I tell them I wonder why I had to grow old.

My mother was instrumental in my upbringing. Even when I was young I knew that she had a leading role and we seemed to have no real social problems in our family. Sometimes I think I would be wiser if my parents had allowed me to stay during the elders' healing sessions.

My family came to Iqaluit in 1968, and I remember how liquor played a big role in changing lifestyles. Alcohol also plays a big role in losing immediate family -- I lost a child to alcohol.

Our grandchildren don't seem to have visions for the future and I didn't and I couldn't foresee the changes of today happening.

My favourite season is the summer, but I used to enjoy being with the dog team as the days started getting longer.

Annie Taglik, 61, Cumberland Sound

The way I grew up was like any other person. I was active. That was a big role. I learned how to survive within the community. I learned how to sew and make my first kamiks and other clothes.

I would love to be a child forever because of the love. I would like to go back to that generation.

It's hard enough to think about how you're going to make ends meet once a month. The first thing I think about is my late husband. He used to help support the family. I always seem to worry about enough money to go around for necessities and food. The amount of money we used to pay for the rent was lower and if there is a daughter or son living with you and they don't make any income, that's very hard.

Sometimes I daydream, even out loud, that I wish there was more money coming in. I daydream there is more money coming in, but only the silence answers.

Akakaa Saataa, 82, Kimmirut area

Like any other young person through my teen years, I was active. I was going out with other children in my community until I was old enough to start thinking about helping support my parents. When I was a child I observed how they survived. That was my growing up.

Because of the culture, for a boy or a man, hunting skills were the most important to my life. Especially when I was starting out with small game hunting because our survival depended on it.

When I recall what I did in those days, I could only think of how it was to be a successful provider for the family. I know I will never redo what I did when I was a young person because of today's modern things. What I did back then, I cannot equal in modern day. I can only sit and think why should I be involved in modern history.

Because of today's modern world, I have to pay housing and receive old age pension and send my child or grandchildren to school. I would like to see my grandchildren have the same opportunities to do what I did as a provider.

I don't know what to believe or who to trust now. We know who are the elected officials. Sometimes I ask myself what do the bureaucrats do. I wonder sometimes if I should get more information on what the bureaucrats and the other government agencies do. The beneficiary money we receive, the $100 a month (from Nunavut Tunngavik) is not enough if we are not receiving any other subsidy except social assistance.

Ilisapi Ishullataq, 74, Cumberland Sound

I remember being active and able to play in all of the seasons. Mostly I remember when we would go to Nettilling Lake, which is the place where we would hunt in the summer for caribou and use the skins for clothing. I think the wisest person I knew was my mother because of the advice she would give. I used to think, if I ever grow to be old I'm going to be in the same situation as she is.

I noticed changes when was I younger and I knew the elders were always the model for people in the society. Today, changes are very visible and our children don't always behave or have future visions. It's part of changing to a modern society, but not just in a negative way, it's also positive.

Akulliq Naullaq, 64, Kimmirut area, outpost camp

I grew up in an outpost camp near Kimmirut. We didn't have very many other children living in our outpost camp. Because of that I had the opportunity to learn a lot more on a one-to-one basis with my mother for my upbringing.

I recall being loved within my family. I was more or less the baby of the family. My grandparents especially loved me more than everyone else because I was the youngest. I remember my parents going hunting and fishing. It was good times growing up.

It's a lot harder today than those days because we're dealing with housing. The house I live in, if the child becomes a certain age, we're going to have to pay the maximum housing prices. It's the elders who have the house in their name who end up paying for the children of the family. It is getting so expensive, right before your eyes.

The government says we should all be listening to the elders. If they are listening to us, they should help us. We currently receive beneficiary money from NTI. That's not enough for me to support myself.

Sailua Atagujuq, 72, Cumberland Sound

I grew up in Pannirtuuq and I remember we weren't going to school at all, even though there were others, like the RCMP and Hudson Bay Company already there.

I also remember when I was a little girl and we got together with the other community people for whaling.

My mother was the wisest because her directions were to be kind to others and to help elders as much as possible. Today's knowledge seems to only speak in a foreign tongue, with no thoughts about the parents being wiser -- no real sense of direction for the young people of today.

I arrived in 1969 and noticed that as the years went by, more and more people moved here. Alcohol started playing big roles in the changes of lifestyle. We were given the opportunity for elders to lecture us on how alcohol was not the way to go.

I grew up in a hut and my diet has changed from country food to more of a domestic diet. I am happy that people are able to look after me with all of the changes happening. I like to get up when the sun is high and I enjoy berry picking.

Inuapik Saagiaqtuq, 70, Iqaluit

I grew up like any other until I was a young adult. To be able to sew better than the others has always been my dream. I remember I had brand-new kamiks and I cut them and I made a hole in them so I could sew them and make them my own, to repair them, even though they were new. My mother was down at the beach clam-digging. I did not get scolded by my mother. Up to today, I have never worn rubber boots or shoes or whatever, only kamiks. I always recall having great parents and a great family. We did not misunderstand the importance of family as a group and my family was always kind to one another.

Many of us are widows or widowers. The biggest problem we are facing today is living without having a spouse's help to support each other. The majority of us don't get social assistance because we receive old age pensions from the government.

That only comes once a month and it's barely enough to go around when you have to pay your telephone, your light bills and other necessities. We cannot save any money and put it in the bank for a rainy day. That's very difficult.

In my younger days, it was hard for my parents to clothe us, but we had no problem eating country food. Today, young people are eating more conventional food as their day-to-day diet and it's very difficult to eat that. That is a problem.

Naqi Ekho, 85, Cumberland Sound

I grew up with no father and I always remember that my mom was my dad as well. I remember the advice that she gave me when we pitched water together, and when she saw elders pitching water she would go out and help them.

One time, I remember there being an elderly gentleman in the community who couldn't walk. When I saw him for the first time he was crawling outside.

I remember thinking he would be mauled by the dogs, but my mother said no, the dogs would also show love towards him -- she used that to show me to be kind to others.

Talking about the changes of today, I would love to have asked the questions then, when I was curious about the future.

Alcohol played a big role in the changes, but my family was able to say no to alcohol.

When we moved here the region was different and the sun would always shine and there would be no sunsets.