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PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG - Students at Alookie elementary and Attagoyuk secondary schools in Pangnirtung had their 18th annual spring camp on the land and at the floe edge from April 27 to May 15.

The three-week camp was held at Nasauya, on the northern shore of Cumberland Sound, a 45-minute snowmobile trip down the Pangnirtung Fiord.

Keith Arnaquq "Samo" hooks a narwhal carcass as students watch, from left, Joshua Kanayuk, Jimmy Maniapik, Joey Nauyuk, and Clara Akpalialuk. - photo courtesy of David Gledhill

Each April, teachers spend a day readying the cabins and putting up canvas wall tents in preparation for the arrival of the first group of campers.

This year, Grades 10 to 12 stayed for three nights, Grades 8 to 9 for two nights and Grades 4 to 7 for one night each. The lower grades at Alookie, kindergarten to Grade 3, came out for the day - driven by their parents, teachers or guides.

The elders, Mary Battye and Leah Akpalialuk and the other adults at the camp, provided a supportive atmosphere making it possible for the students to learn land skills, food and skin preparation and other skills they might have otherwise missed out on in their modern lives.

The children explored, travelling around in groups both out on the land and at camp and to and from the kitchen and the cabins and tents, catching up on gossip and anything they might have missed out on during the day.

This year the floe edge was a bone-rattling two hours away but that didn't stop guides, teachers and students from going out each day to view wildlife and harvest seals and narwhal. The highlight for some was having their picture taken a few feet away from a large sleeping bowhead, while for others it was getting as close as you would ever want to be to a polar bear.

Those who didn't go to the floe edge had the option of hunting caribou, found four to five hours away, or ice fishing at Avataktuu, a mere hour away by snowmobile. For some boys it was their first caribou and for some girls it was a chance to increase their reputations as great fishers of char.

Camp manager Meeka Alivaktuk and her husband, Roposie, have worked with the students since its beginning 18 years ago.

"When I saw Pauloosie Maniapik's face, I noticed right away that he was a proud man having caught his first caribou," said Alivaktuk. "I said to him 'Ualii,' which means 'Congratulations, I am happy and proud of you on this day when you have caught your first caribou.' He couldn't help smiling."

The aches and pains that the boys experienced from caribou skinning and butchering and the long qamutik rides were a small price to pay for providing fresh meat for the camp kitchen. There, pots were filled with boiling caribou, rafters hung with drying meat and char and tubs were full with narwhal maktaaq to have with fresh fried bannock.

For Maniapik, a Grade 9 student, killing his first caribou was an important occasion which was also noted at the community feast held on Friday evening in the Attagoyuk gym to celebrate the 2009 spring camp. There the names of all the successful hunters were announced along with thanks to all the community members who participated.