Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Sanikiluaq, NU (Sep 23/02) - This hamlet has become home for Cpl. Wills Thomas.

He has been stationed as the RCMP detachment commander in Nunavut's most southern hamlet for about four years now. He and his wife, a teacher, decided to move to Sanikiluaq after she received a job offer there.

Cpl. Wills Thomas has made Sanikiluaq his home. - Christine Kay/NNSL photo

"We just wanted to do a Northern posting and experience the culture up here," said Thomas. After four years, he said he "loves Sanikiluaq." He believes it is likely the "most traditional community" in the North.

"People here are very close to their culture and the land. There are people here that still have no regular job and they only sustain their families through hunting and fishing."

Thomas has become accustomed to traditional Inuit country foods and frequently feasts on raw and cooked caribou, seal, and his favourite, arctic char.

He doesn't hunt in the North, however. He chooses not to hunt with a gun, believing that it doesn't involve any talent.

When he travels home to Quebec he often heads out to bowhunt, but said it's too cold on the hands to do that in the North.

"I think that it makes hunting a bigger challenge with a bow because you have to get close to the animal. Hunting with gun, just anybody can do it.

"You've got a gun, you've got a scope and from 300 yards you can basically hit anything that's there.

"I think (bowhunting) puts both hunter and the game at a more even level. It requires more skills and it requires you to be more patient," he said.

Thomas does hike out on the land when local hunters head out in search of game, but instead takes along his camera to capture the beauty of the land and its wildlife.