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North has hold on couple
Longtime Northmart employees retiring from careers spanning more than three decades

Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, June 27, 2016

IQALUIT
Once upon a time, you could look out from the Northmart store in Iqaluit and see caribou on the plateau.

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Jerry and Joanne Fraser are leaving Iqaluit on vacation, then officially retiring from Northmart July 15. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo

"I always used to joke around and say Happy Valley was sad because there were only two houses there at the time," recalls Jerry Fraser, who came to Iqaluit in 1983 to work for the Hudson's Bay Company and ends his career as retail department manager at Northmart.

"We used to see caribou up on top of the plateau - you could look out the store door and see caribou up on top there."

He only wanted to stay for five years and figured he could transfer back south after that.

His wife, Joanne, came to the city in 1984. Most vehicles were snowmobiles back then, she recalls.

Joanne came up in September 1984 to work as a nanny. Next year, she got a full-time position at the grocery store, then known as the Bay.

Jerry was in charge of the front end and Joanne was a cashier. They met, had a child in 1994 and got married in 1996.

Now, they're going on a holiday but have officially filed for retirement effective July 18.

The city has grown and changed a lot, they both said.

"It got too big too fast when we became the capital," said Jerry. "It took a while for people to adjust to it. My honest opinion is I don't think we were ready for it to grow that fast."

Life up here is what you make of it, he said.

"If you don't like it, you shouldn't be here," said Jerry. "There's no use sitting and ragging about it. Deal with it and go on with life. That's how we lasted 33 years. Take one day at a time and just go with it."

Joanne said the North grabbed them both.

"It's a completely different way of life," said Jerry. "You're not rushed into doing anything, just work at your own pace, do your own

thing."

The scenery and people are a big part, too.

"You've got to have your outside life," said Jerry. "You can't just go to work and come home and go to work and come home. You've got to get out and mix with a bunch of people."

He got involved in the Royal Canadian Legion and with the cadet corps.

One of Joanne's favourite parts about Iqaluit is the generosity in fundraising by community members, either to send children on a flight south, help with funeral costs or otherwise. If only all the fundraising tickets came with tax receipts, she joked.

"There's a lot of freedom up here," said Joanne, who will finish her career at Northmart as point-of-sale co-ordinator. "Down south you're kind of boxed in. It's pretty open up here."

Both working at Northmart, the two have got to see pretty much everyone who's lived in Iqaluit at one time or another.

They love the regulars and their old friends but they're also thankful for the opportunity to get so close to a few celebrities.

Joanne remembers the Queen's visit in 2002 as a highlight, as well as a visit by Prince Edward in 2012.

"The celebrities that we've seen and the royalty that we've seen up here and the big names ... if we were down south we probably would have never seen the Queen or never seen Prince Edward, not that close anyway," said Joanne.

Jerry fondly remembers the 2002 Arctic Winter Games and what a display the city put on.

The city has grown a lot for the pair. They miss the days when they knew almost everyone in town. They just hope the city's infrastructure can keep up with the rapid population growth.

"It's got to slow down," said Jerry. "I think its growing too big too fast. I just want to see everything come together."

One thing is for sure, though. Anyone who comes North needs to shed their preconceptions from the south.

"You just can't ignore the Northern values," said Joanne.

"If you try to run a place like this on southern values, you just can't do it. You've got to keep the land in mind, the people in mind, their culture. (The people) have to have input. If you don't have input, forget it, because it's not going to work."

There's been a lot of hoo-hah made about the aquatic centre, she said, but she thinks it will be a great thing for the community.

Jerry looks forward to further infrastructure improvements as small as sidewalks to as large as the promised port.

"I just want to say thank you to all the people in Iqaluit who open-arms received us back in the '80s," said Joanne.

Jerry thanked everybody at the store and in Iqaluit.

"It's been an experience and it's one that I'll never forget," he said.

Their son now works for the Government of Nunavut, and the pair aren't counting out the possibility the North's hold on them will linger.

"We're not saying goodbye, see you later, because, with the North, you never know," said Joanne.

"I've seen too many people say they'll never come back and five years later they're back," added Jerry.

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