Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 17, 2007

IQALUIT - Thirty-seven years after the vessel C.D. Howe made its final medical patrol to the North, Inuit gathered in Apex to remember those who died far from home in the tuberculosis epidemic, and celebrate those who returned home healthy.

Iqaluit city councillor Simon Nattaq relates his memories of the C.D. Howe at the Abe Okpik Hall in Apex on Sept. 11. Rebekah Williams, left, looks on during the commemoration ceremony, which was hosted by the Qanuippitali? Inuit Health Survey. - Karen Mackenzie/NNSL photo

Staff involved with the Nunavut Inuit Health Survey, or Qanuippitali? in Inuktitut, hosted a ceremony on Sept. 11 at the Abe Okpik Hall in remembrance those affected by TB, and to dedicate a new memorial beside the nearby old nurses' residence.

The C.D. Howe made routine trips to the North to conduct medical and dental examinations throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

The affliction was a serious concern, and those diagnosed with the mainly respiratory illness were sent immediately to treatment centres down south. Many were not even permitted time to say goodbye to their families or collect their belongings.

Tommy Takpanie Sr., an elder originally from Cape Dorset, is contributing his carving skills to the memorial plaque. He said his own memories started coming back as he listened to others relate their stories of the C.D. Howe.

Speaking through an interpreter, Takpanie recalled "his older and younger brother hopping into one of the little towboats that used to anchor in Kimmirut to be delivered to the C.D. Howe."

Luckily, both returned healthy to the community, but only after spending three and five years down south, he said. It was a long time for a young boy, who missed hunting with his brothers, he added.

Inside the Apex hall, laughter and tears greeted a handful of speakers as they shared their own anecdotes of the ship.

"It is good for the families, for the fact that they are able to return to remember those who didn't," Takpanie said.

Rebekah Williams recounted times as a child in Arctic Bay, when families would receive letters in packages dropped from an airplane.

"However, not everyone, every family, would hear from their loved ones," she said.

Those who died were buried in unmarked paupers' graves in the south, and many of those born far from their home during that period were never properly registered, she said.

Andrew Tagak Sr. later recalled his experience as a child near Pond Inlet, moving from room to room on the ship - "the place where you removed your outer parka" - while doctors poked and prodded him with various tests.

Outside the hall last week, a very different vessel was visible floating on the bay.

The Canadian Coast Guard ship Amundsen was anchored outside of Iqaluit from Sept. 8 to 12, while a team of health researchers conducted research for the Qanuippitali? Inuit Health Survey.

Throughout planning for the project, which will survey volunteers in all 25 Nunavut communities, the C.D. Howe often came up in conversation, according to Dr. Grace Egeland, principal researcher for the study.

The ceremony was conceived as a way to help channel the painful memories.