Karine Masse
Northern News Services
Hall Beach (Jun 25/01) - "Stand by me" is playing on the radio and the minute Junior Canadian Ranger instructor Chuck Bachmanek steps out of the truck, children gather around.
"Hey, it's Chuck. Chuuuuck," screams Semi Allianaq. He remembers the serious-looking man who came to town to take him and the other Junior Canadian Rangers out on the land.
Springs ends and Bachmanek is going to Hall Beach to sink his feet into the melting snow. Turn right, and the floe edge is just two or three kilometres from shore. Turn left, and the tundra unfolds to the horizon. In the middle of the community stands the school.
"We asked them what they want their children to learn," says Bachmanek. "There was one common denominator: The all said 'Go out on the land.'"
A committee of elders, Rangers and parents choose among a wide variety of activities, from fishing for char to building floe-edge boats (umiaga) to hunting seals. Across all three territories, there are 23 patrols of Junior Rangers and a corresponding committee for each of them.
According to Bachmanek, program expectations differ among committees. Regardless, most programs involve combining old techniques with the new.
"Roughly 60 per cent of the committees are interested in teaching traditional life skills and knowledge, while the other 40 per cent want their children to learn about Ranger skills," says Bachmanek.
"It's a flexible program that respects the needs of the communities," explains the officer in charge, Capt. Christian Bergeron.
"How much kids get out of it is directly proportional to what kids put into it," adds Bachmanek. The emphasis is on hands-on learning from the Rangers and the elders.
The only obstacle that might come in the way of training are weekend dances. "We come second best when there is a dance," whispers Bachmanek to Solomon Tagornak, the newly promoted corporal in charge of the Hall Beach patrol.
Both nights, the youths lined up to take their turns on the dance floor. Yet they were back the next morning, lined up again for a different sort of rumba: drilling, nailing and assembling the umiaga they would use for seal hunting.
With a few tools, a lot of ingenuity and a little direction from the elders, the squad gave a helping hand while learning to repair a kamuttit and build a floe-edge boat.
"I like to be a Junior Ranger because I am learning something like making a kamuttit," says 15-year-old Robert Innuksuk. "We can spend some time with our friends too," adds Daisy Kukkik.
As for Corp. Tagornak, he expressed surprise in his new role. " I didn't expect to be a corporal. I am not used to it. "
Tagornak says he gets experience, and so do the children. "They are learning about traditional skills and they go out on the land."
"We don't bend anybody's arms to join," says Bachmanek. However, he bends the strings of his purse every time he visits a community to pick up the costs of fuel, food, rentals and labour of some Rangers involved in all the various activities they do.
"Three times a year, in each of the 23 participant communities, we pick up the costs. In the end, it benefits the children", says Bachmanek.
