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ULUKHAKTOK/HOLMAN
Ulukhaktok's Robert Kuptana had no idea he was about to receive the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal during Christmas festivities in the community.

"The only time I found out was when I got it," said Kuptana.

Kuptana was awarded the medal to recognize his contribution to the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. He was one of the first negotiators of the agreement, a role he took on at the request of the area's elders.

"The elders asked me to do it, so I honoured their wish," he said.

It took nearly 20 years before the agreement was finalized in 1984. Kuptana said he had to spend a lot of time away from home. His wife, Agnes, stepped in to help raise their family and keep their household running.

"At that time, too, my wife practically raised up our children," he said.

Kuptana is no stranger to responsibility. By the time he was nine years old, he was hunting caribou and helping to provide for his parents.

"We were nomadic people at that time anyway, so we lived out on the ice during the winter," he said. "This time of year we lived out on the ice hunting seals and using igloos."

Kuptana's mother and father both suffered from tuberculosis and his mother had to stay in the hospital in Aklavik when Kuptana was very young.

When they got better, the family moved to the Jesse Bay area on Banks Island. That's when Kuptana began hunting on his own, using an old single-shot .22 rifle given to him by his father.

"That's what I used for hunting geese and birds and ducks, whatever I could get," he said. "I had to learn really fast to look after my parents."

Kuptana said he remembered a particular day when he was about nine or 10 years old and had gone out hunting caribou with the rifle.

Kuptana found a caribou, but his rifle was so old, he had to get very close to the animal.

"When I went to see that caribou at that time I saw it, I crawled to it," he said.

"When it got really close, maybe 50 yards away, when I got that far from it I aimed at it" and shot at it, but my rifle was so old it didn't shoot.

Kuptana reloaded and tried again, keeping in mind what his parents told him about where to aim.

"Don't shoot in the middle, shoot it just behind the arms where the heart is," he said. "That's where I aimed."

Kuptana took the shot and the caribou took off running.

"I thought I missed it," he said. "It must have run 100 yards and put its head up and then fell down, just dropped there. So that's how I got that caribou."

The family moved to Sachs Harbour where Kuptana learned to trap. He and his wife moved to Ulukhaktok in 1967.

Kuptana said though life was sometimes hard, including the time he spent away from his family while negotiating the IFA, he is pleased with the work that has been done.

"It gave me a feeling of satisfaction today after we have our land claim," he said.

Kuptana said he received both a medal and a plaque during the ceremony.

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