Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

BAKER LAKE
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...

The famous beginning of A Tale of Two Cities is nearly perfect in describing the memories of a traditional lifestyle on the land for many Inuit.

Elders Peggy and Silas Aittauq of Baker Lake were flown to their homeland at Qikiqtaqyualik this past month. - photo courtesy of Lena Tapatai

William Noah, 69, has been organizing homeland trips for Baker Lake elders for more than a decade.

His employer, Areva Resources, has been flying the people to their former homelands since 2005.

The trips are almost always emotional and Noah himself felt that emotion this summer when he visited the place where he almost starved to death as a child.

It was the first time he'd returned to the site in almost 60 years.

Noah said he managed to arrange five trips this summer, which made him happy because last year's short summer prevented him from running the program.

He said Areva flies the elders to the homeland sites, mostly by helicopter, giving them four hours to tour the area on a short trip and a full day on longer trips.

Among the trips this year was a return to Qikiqtaqyualik, north of Shultz Lake, for Elizabeth Paungiat, Silas Aittauq and Peggy Aittauq, who called the area home from 1950 to 1954.

"Most people want to go to their homeland," said Noah.

"They mainly want to visit grave sites left from the hardships that took place when the great starvation hit throughout the region back in 1955-56.

"At that time, people moved to the settlement and a lot of them were never able to go back to their campsite to visit deceased relatives and the land itself.

"People were devoted to living on the land until they moved to Baker Lake and, for many of them, it was not because they wanted to move to the settlement, but because they were given no choice and forced to live in Baker."

Noah said people appreciate getting the chance to visit their homeland and, over the years, he's seen many emotions spill out during the trips.

He said some Inuit who got the chance to go hadn't been back to where they used to live for more than 50 or 60 years.

Noah joined those ranks when his plane touched down at Qikiqtaqyualik, a place he'd never been able to bring himself to return to.

And, like many before him, the memories, both wonderful and terrifying, came flooding back.

Noah's family had lived at Back River until he was about 11 years old.

But, after his father died in 1953, they decided to move to where his step-grandparents were at Qikiqtaqyualik.

Noah said life was much harder with his step-grandparents than it had been at Back River.

He said there were no fish, and following game to hunt was very difficult.

"One particular spot was where my sister, Nancy, and I waited to die from starvation many years ago, with only a blanket as our tent.

"The rest of the family were doing OK because they were able to walk far away to catch one or two fish at night.

"But we were just children, and we had no choice but to walk around looking for old dried-up caribou bones or sinew to fill our stomachs.

"I never expected, after all these years, to go back to Qikiqtaqyualik where we almost starved to death."

The fates intervened for those children so many years ago when, just as things looked their worst, an RCMP plane arrived.

The police returned with half a side of beef to feed the family and a canvas tent for Noah's mother.

Then, as it often did on the land, life changed almost in the blink of an eye.

Just a few days after the RCMP saved the children, a huge herd of caribou passed through their camp.

Noah remembers the herd being so big, it took three-and-a-half days to pass through the camp.

"Suddenly we were living like kings," said Noah.

"We were able to have dried meat, caribou fat and marrow, and even caribou tongues, which were such a delicacy for Inuit in those days.

"We didn't have any gasoline or naphtha gas in those days, so we were only able to cook by fire.

"It was the greatest joy in our lives when those caribou suddenly came by."

Noah chuckles as he says he's lived a long time, but he's got a ways to go yet.

He said he was supposed to retire about four years ago, but he still enjoys working too much for that.

"I enjoy taking elders to their homeland and there's a great demand from the community for these trips now.

"I'll keep organizing them as long as the choppers are available and my health is OK. I like seeing people return to their homeland, and they're always so happy to have been given the chance."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.