INUVIK
These are the kind of people you want to be stuck out on the land with.

Shirley Elias from the Inuvik community wellness program showed off her expertise in outdoor cooking at a wilderness skills contest she's helping to run twice a month at the Aurora Campus traditional facilities April 16. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Shirley Elias of the Inuvik community wellness program is helping to organize a series of wilderness skills events and friendly competitions that will be held over the coming months.

On April 16, the group gathered for one of the first competitions, which featured some of Inuvik's best bannock makers squaring off with each other over the flames of an open fire.

The judges were a group of elders who performed their duties amid fine spring weather at Aurora Campus' outdoor facilities, and had a selection of traditional foods to nibble on.

There was a fine assortment to choose from, ranging from a reindeer roast to Arctic char to reindeer soup, Eskimo donuts and, of course, bannock.

Jean Storr was declared the winner of the contest after some deliberation. She's a veteran of bannock making, having been raised largely on the land. She also spent a fair amount of time living on the land – at least periodically – beyond childhood, she said.

"I've always baked, and people have always asked me to bake bannock," said Storr.

"I've lived in the bush a lot, out in the bush camps, and you have to (be able) to make bannock and bread."

She recalled how she once made bannock and bread while waiting along the river for the ice to go out so she could get to her camp. During the wait, she ate her baking, along with game including muskrats, prepared with nothing more elaborate than a campfire.

During the 1950s, Storr spent a fair amount of time out in the bush and on the land, she said.

Like many, she's not about to reveal her entire recipe nor tell all her secrets, but did say the key to bannock is having the proper amount of ingredients including baking powder and lard.

"I used to have the recipe written down, but now I just make it from memory because I've made it so much," she said.

While she's entirely comfortable cooking over an open fire – as proven during the competition – Storr admitted she prefers cooking on at least a wood-burning stove or oven.

"It cooks right through in the oven, and out there you have to take a long time cooking it," she said. "I really like my electric stove because it comes out crispy.

"I like teaching people and sharing. It's always nice to let the kids enjoy it."

Elias said the skills competitions she's been working on are part of an outreach program to the elders and youth in the region.

"Every month, I hold workshops, and most of them are on healthy choices," she said. "I've been encouraging a lot of the elders in the community to participate in my events."

Elias herself is another person raised with a strong knowledge of bush skills. She's originally from Holman, as she prefers to refer to Ulukhaktok.

"Long ago, our elders were a big part of our wellness, but times have been changing and over time, they've sort of disappeared, where they used to be vocal all the time," Elias said. "We wanted them to come back out and show their support. We also want to prevent elder abuse, and promote elder abuse awareness."

Elias said the most effective way of engaging the elders is to appeal to their extensive knowledge of traditional skills and to provide traditional foods that they hunger for.

"Because of all the changes, they don't often get to eat the way they used to," Elias said.

"So this is what they connect with, because this is their traditional food. You'll see their faces light up because this is the way it used to be for them, the way they were brought up."

Elias said she also likes to promote that culture and its values.

"This way, it empowers them to get stronger and more vocal – the way it used to be."