Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 31, 2007

SPENCE BAY - Talurjuarmiut Junior Rangers shared culture and skills during a bison hunt with their Fort Providence counterparts last month.

A group of five young people from Taloyoak travelled to the Northwest Territories community Nov. 8 to 13.

Taloyoak Junior Rangers Adam Tootalik, standing, Ross Panigayak and Phoebe Neeveacheak, along with Ryan Tulurialik, kneeling, and Joseph Nanook, pose in front of a freshly killed bison outside of Fort Providence in November. - photo courtesy of Abel Aqqaq

While hunting, fishing and keeping camp, they learned a different way of living on the land and grew to appreciate another culture, according to Taloyoak Senior Ranger Sgt. Abel Aqqaq, who accompanied the youth on their trip.

"They were taught how to survive on the treeline and they know how to survive in the Arctic. You combine those two together and you get an awful lot," he said.

This was the second installment of the exchange - the Fort Providence group visited Taloyoak earlier in the fall to take part in a seal and caribou hunt.

"The weather was really terrible so no seals, but we did catch a couple caribou with them," Aqqaq said of the fall hunt.

In return, the Nunavut group was invited to spend a week on the land outside of Fort Providence. With fellow Rangers and local guides, they travelled by snowmobile to a group of cabins about 35 kilometres away.

As well as netting fish and tending camp, the hunting parties bagged two bison during the trip.

Although none of the Nunavummiut crew brought down one of the large beasts, which can way more than 2,000 pounds, the experience alone was pretty impressive, according to Junior Ranger Ross Panigayak.

"It was pretty good. First time I saw a bison," he said.

He and the rest of the Taloyoak group - Adam Tootalik, Phoebe Neeveacheak, Ryan Tulurialik and Joseph Nanook - also got to watch how the bison meat gets butchered.

"We learned how to cut the head and legs off the body," Panigayak said.

The group returned to their hamlet with about 45 kilograms of bison meat, which they planned to serve up at the Christmas feast.

"We could have brought more, they wanted to give us more, but we would have had to pay for the excess baggage," Aqqaq said.

The Ranger sergeant said he hopes more exchanges will occur in the future.

"It's a very, very important thing, learning about each others region's cultures. It's bringing people together, relationships and especially survival skills," Aqqaq said.