'Those were the best days'
Jackie Napayok maintains traditional lifestyle at age 80
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Monday, June 19, 2017
TIKIRARJUAQ/WHALE COVE
Father's Day was celebrated on Sunday and the Napayok family was among those grateful for their dad, Jackie.
Still mobile at age 80, Jackie Napayok can be seen around Whale Cove on an all-terrain vehicle or out on the land. - photo courtesy of Suzie Napayok |
"His love never changes towards us. He's always welcoming, always loving, just gentle in his ways and his teachings," said Linda Paniuq, one of six of Jackie's children - five daughters and a son.
Paniuq added that her father always put emphasis on helping the homeless and widows, and to never give up on your goals in life.
Granddaughter Karlene Napayok stayed with Jackie and Annie, her grandmother, in Whale Cove while attending junior high.
"He's a very hard worker. He was always rebuilding machines or rebuilding a kamotik or (making) a dog whip out of seal skin, just a very good provider for a family," Karlene said. "He's always hunted and trapped."
She fondly recalls trips with her grandfather by dog team to go ice fishing on weekends.
"I have very good memories of that," she said, adding that some of her cousins were also partly raised by Annie and Jackie, who still goes fishing and hunting at age 80.
While generally easy-going, there were issues that brought out Jackie's serious side - education was one of them.
"My grandfather was very strict about school. He didn't want us to be late for school," Karlene said. "He was an early-bird kind of person and pushing us to be at school all day, every day. Don't be late and don't skip school."
Jackie, Annie and their family lived in many Nunavut communities. While in Clyde River, Jackie served as a member of the school board and fought for a local school to be built so the children wouldn't have to leave home.
His community involvement extended into housing, hunters and trappers organizations, helping to guide Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (traditional knowledge) and being elected to hamlet council.
He worked at various DEW line sites in the 1950s and '60s, and went to Leduc, Alberta for heavy equipment operator training.
He also served with the Inuit Circumpolar Council's Language Commission. Inuktitut started eroding around 1970, Jackie said in his mother tongue, through interpreter Patricia Enuapik.
"Today there's not proper Inuktitut (spoken). It's very mixed," Jackie said.
Jackie was born and raised in Coral Harbour. It was a different era, without all the regulations that exist these days under a territorial government, he said. He recounted playing with polar bear cubs in his youth, something that would be forbidden now.
"He said those were the best days," Enuapik communicated.
Jackie laughed warmly in the background as she interpreted that remark, and then he said he has many more stories to share.
