Overnight, we sailed along the north coast of Devon Island and across the straits to Grise Fiord; this is the most northerly habitation in Canada. The government displaced a community from further south in 1953 in order to establish a territorial claim. Aaron described it as “a shameful page in Canadian history.” In the morning, we went 3½ miles in the Zodiacs to see a P.B. trap – a larger version of the fox version we saw on Saturday. We were met by three local men, including one of the eight councillors who manage the community. It later emerged that there is a better preserved trap only one mile from town. Shucks. We had a good cobweb-blowing trudge over the tundra, happening upon pretty sedges, lichens and other little stuff, littered with bones and teeth, including a bear front leg and paw.
After lunch, we visited the hamlet – a community of 150 souls, one of them only 10 days old. We visited the Co-Op and were treated to a fashion show of a selection of amauti. These are garments worn by women that have a large hood for carrying babies. The whole is fur-lined, or padded or made of seal-skin or occasionally modern fabrics with fox-fur hood trim. In the store, there was a vast array in the fabric section of quilted, fleecy, padded faux-fur and tanned skins for the manufacture of said items. I sneaked over to one of the women councillors and asked if it would be possible to see the school. As it happened, she was the teacher i/c Kindergarten and Inuktitut and possessed a key. How lucky was that! The school’s name is Umimmak, ‘Muskox’ in the local language, and though it looked ‘traditional’ in style, was very well-equipped, with 17 computers in a suite plus one per classroom – for four classes of 15. Science was not very well-served but there was a gymnasium. The people were very friendly (despite the ugliness of the streets and many of the buildings!) They are stoical about the Dark Days, and many (the Mountie, who welcomed us, resplendent i his traditional Mountie uniform, and Principal – on three year placements, the girl who ran the hotel café, the shopkeeper and postmaster) were all incomers. And the population is rising, with more children than adults. We found two hacked up narwhals with 6’ horns (which I mistook for a volley-ball net on the beach) and tons of rubbish. Very thought-provoking and challenging to one’s cultural assumptions.
It is customary to offer gifts to the community: they requested cans of pop. As alcohol is not permitted in these communities, each individual consumes 70 cans per week.