“For a long time, I had wondered about the top of the world and those who managed to
survive in the harsh Arctic climate. In 1974, the opportunity came up and I found myself in an 8-seater plane landing in the small remote settlement of Pangnirtung on the east coast of Baffin Islands above the Arctic Circle. It was July, the peak of summer with a temperature just below freezing. I had a tent, a sleeping bag, layers of clothes, 2 cameras and enough food supplies to last 2 weeks (a flight requirement). After three freezing nights spent in my tent, I was invited into the red trimmed prefab home of Paulusee and Malaya Nowyook and their 2 children. The family slept in one room, while I had a room to myself, shared only with a snow bunting (a small Arctic bird thought to bring good fortune).
Due to illness, Paulusee and Malaya had recently moved into the settlement from Kepishaw, one of the few remaining camps where Inuit lifestyle remained untouched by “white man”. With no common language, our conversations comprised of gestures, laughter and the limited Inuit vocabulary they managed to teach me with the aid of illustrated catalogues and a bible translated into Inuktitut syllabics.
On my arrival, I was seated at the table in front of a plate with 3 fish heads. As I hesitated, I was quickly presented with a fork. I soon realised that the fish heads were a delicacy
especially with the eyes left in. The boiling of the fish and the fork were special for me, as the Inuit ate the fish raw with their hands. I quickly adjusted to my new home and enjoyed the diet of raw fish, seal meat and eider duck eggs. Meal-time did not exist. It was light for 24 hours a day. We ate when the food was caught and slept when tired. “Tomorrow” refered to the future. Everything was shared.
In the settlement, visiting was a main past time. At first, everyone came to see the
“Kabloona” (white person). After looking hard at my foreign features, they would smile and soon the room filled with laughter and chatter. White people were considered inferior and childlike and incapable of survival in the north. Some of the older children, who spoke some English, said that when they were younger, they were frightened of white people as traditionally they were thought to be half man half dog: human outside, but inside vicious and cruel.
Having expressed my interest in travelling to the traditional, distant camps where the family had come from, the opportunity finally came with the annual visit of Paulousy’s father, who came to collect a year’s supply of flour and other basics before returning for the winter. I was invited to travel with him but warned I might not be able to return for several months depending on weather and tides. We agreed he would drop me off at a closer family camp. I grabbed my tent, put on 3 layers of long underwear, four layers of sweaters, a down vest, a down parka and topped it off with a waterproof windbreaker. We took off in an outboard motor-propelled canoe, weaving through vast ice floats and icebergs. Numb with cold we finally arrived. I was dropped off to a welcoming group of 11 members of a family who were living in tents in a rocky inlet. On the first day of gale force winds, my tent disintegrated and I moved into one with a gasoline-filled heater. I was well taken care of.”
Janine Wiedel
