HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-02-06, Page 11 (2)Local girl works in lnuvik
Learns native crafts
Sights, sounds and people of the north, new experience
The land of the Midnight sun in
the Canadian Northland can be a
fascinating place to visit, to work
and even to live, according to a
local girl who has recently
returned from a six week stay in
Inuvik, 1300 miles northwest of
Winnipeg on the mouth of the
MacKenzie River.
Brenda Dinney, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dinney,
Senior St., Exeter spent six
weeks working as a Registered
Nurse in the little 100 bed hospital
in this far northern town of 3,500.
With another girl, also a nurse,
Brenda hitch -hiked to Whitehorse
from Vancouver and then flew to
Inuvik in October. For six weeks
she lived and worked among the
native (Indian and Eskimo)
population and the many oil
company and government em-
ployees who inhabit this small
northern settlement.
The hospital, in which she
worked, served a large area of
the northwest territories and the
outlying islands of the Arctic
ocean.
She said she "really enjoyed
the relaxed atmosphere, the
people and, of course, the
children. Most of our patients are
native people and you- just can't
help loving them all. They are so
simple, so happy and they care so
much."
She said that when she first
arrived in Inuvik they had only
three hours of sunlight during the
day. "December the 5th was the
last day she saw the sun, as it
never rose above the horizon .
It's light from about 12:30 until
3130 each day and there continues
to be about three hours of dusk
each day until January 7 when
the sun makes its first ap-
pearance of the New Year."
She said that sunrise and
sunsets in the far north were
beautiful because they lasted
about 2 hours.
The population of Inuvik is
3,500, she said, about the size of
Exeter. but "it doesn't seem the
same." Brenda said that there
are no roads leading out of the
town. because there is really
nowhere to go. One road does go
to the airport, however. about
nine miles outside of town.
"Pacific Western flies to most
of the settlements." she said.
NORTHERN CRAFTS — Brenda displays some of the Eskimo crafts and art objects that were given to her
as gifts while staying in Inuvik. The mukluks she is holding she made herself following instructions and
guidance from natives who have made these boots for years. T -A photo
"but many people also have
charter planes." The three oil
companies, Shell, Chevron and
Imperial all have their own
plan% and pilots. "Nurses and
doctors are always flying to and
from settlements with patients
and it is when you are flying that
you see the real north."
The population of Inuvik is 30
percent Eskimo, 12 percent
Indian and the rest white, Brenda
said. The white people work for
the Department of Northern
Affairs and for the oil companies
primarily, as well as the
missions, schools and hospital.
"We have a theatre, two ice
rinks<'three hotels, a fire hall, a
community hall, a post office,
hardware store, craft shop,
bakery and drug store, an A&W,
three churches, two missions, ski
shops and. chalet, 18 man RCMP
detachment, C.F.B. and others.
Unlike the towns in the south,
she said. the houses aren't large
and many of the native people
live in construction shacks. The
town is basically divided in half,
with the white men living on the
west side of town and the native
people living in the east in the
unserviced area, without water
or electricity, for the most part.
All homes are built above the
ground on stilts because of the
permafrost, no foundations can
be dug. All the services also run
above the ground in a "utilador."
This is "a huge steel pipe
carrying three separate pipes for
water, heat (steam) and waste.
All the roads are built over the
utiladors and every so often there
are stairs to climb over it.
Inuvik is about 20 miles south of
the tree line so, as Brenda says,
"they're tall, spindly and sparse,
but they are trees."
North of the tree line there is
nothing to see except snow and
ice. Very few homes in the town
have any grass at all because it
won't grow in the permafrost.
One Catholic priest has had some
topsoil brought in and has
managed to produce some giant
vegetables in the midnight sun.
Most of the native people live
on caribou and some small game.
"They all hunt and trap their own
food which saves them a great
deal of money," Brenda said.
Food in the north is VERY ex-
pensive with milk selling at $1.25
a quart; a loaf of bread is 65
cents; beef is almost $3.00 a
pound, cigarettes are $1.00 a
package. "Nothing is cheap."
The people in Sachs Harbour on
Banks Island have to have all
their food sent by barge up the
MacKenzie Riverand Brenda said
they order their dry goods and
canned foods for a whole year.
She said that this year the barge
was late. It usually arrives in
July but this year it didn't come
until September and the village
was without any sugar at all for a
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long period of time.
Brenda has tried many of the
native dishes and finds some of
them not bad at all. The main fish
that is caught and eaten is Arctic
Char, which Brenda describes as
being like salmon only with a
stronger flavour. Caribou steaks,
roasts and ribs she says are quite
good and taste as tender and nice
as beef without a wild flavour.
Brenda has also tried muktuk,
a dried fish with a strong flavour
which, she says is "good exer-
cising for your jaws."
"Bread is one of the staples of
the native people," she said, and
many of them make Bannocks
bread which can be made in a
frying pan while on a hunting or
fishing expedition."
During the winter months the
temperatures drop so low .that it
gets too cold to snow. "Instead,"
Brenda says, "everything is
covered with a thick, white frost.
This can be so heavy on very cold
days that you are unable to see
six feet in front of you." She said
that although it may sound
horrible to those of us who
complain about our southern
winters it can really be a
beautiful sight.
She said that there is three feet
of snow but you can't make
snowmen or snowballs because
the snow is so dry it won't pack.
"It'sa kind of cold that you easily
Y
become accustomed to," she
said."Thecoldest it's been since I
arrived was 44 degrees below
zero without accounting for the
wind factor. Inuvikhas been
"known to reach -55 to -60 degrees.
When this happens you can watch
the water freeze as you pour it
from a glass."
Brenda said that although
there is.alot of discrimination in
the town between the whites and
the natives and between the
Indians and Eskimos, she was
fascinated by the stories that
some of the older natives could
tell and disturbed by the forces of
the white men in destroying the
true spirit of the north.
Brenda said that there was a
problem with alcohol in the town
among the segments of the
population and was sorry to think
that the white men had brought
this problem north with them:
She says that it is sad to watch
the old people, who often com-
plain that they can no longer talk
to their grandchildren.
The children of the settlements
are sent to Inuvik and other
centers in the North for their
education and are away from
their families from September
until May.
One woman from Sachs Har-
bour, on Banks Island, north of
Inuvik told Brenda that she was
glad to see her children could get
an education but, lamented that
she did miss them.
Many of the children no longer
speak their native dialects and
many don't want to learn the
native crafts and skills.
"Development is killing the
north," Brenda said.
Brenda said she flew with a
doctor to Banks Island, on time to
pick up two children who had
pneumonia. Before they got there
one of the children had already
died and Brenda said that the
mother (who came from a family
of 16) told her that before the
white man came to their land
they never had such a thing as the
common cold. Brenda said that
some of 'the illnesses they en-
counter in their hospital, which
caters mainly to the native
population of Inuvik and the
many settlements in the north
are infections of all sorts in both
children and adults, TB (even in
the very young) croup,
pneumonia. bronchitis and
meningitis. "For these and many
other illnesses. they have the
white man to thank." Brenda
sa id.
But, she said, she would love to
return to the north because there
is so much that you can teach
these people. especially the
children.
She said that many of the
natives find it very hard to adjust
to eating habits at the hospital.
"They are accustomed to diets of
raw and smoked meats and are
suddenly subjected to things like
hamburgers, fish and chips.
vegetables, pies, cakes and
-jellas- etc.'
Brenda said that in some ways
the cold has its advantages.
"People don't need (or have)
deep freezers. Most of the native
Elimville 4-H girls
hold first meeting
The first meeting of the Elim-
ville 111 4-H club girls was held
on February 3. The meeting was
held at the home of Mrs. Kathy
Simpson with nine girls answer-
ing the roll call.
The assistant leader, Mrs.
Colleen Clayburn was also pre-
sent to help with the measuring
of soine of the girls. The election
of officers was held and are:
president: Denise Fletcher.
rotating secretary: Carol Allen.
and press 'reporter: Pam
Coward.
The girls discussed a name for
their club "What shall 1 Wear."
The next meeting will be on
February 10 at the home of Mrs.
Colleen Clayburn.
1
people keep their food on the top
of their houses or their sheds. I've
seen asmanyas six caribou tied to
a roof where they are kept frozen
(heads, antlers and everything
attached) until needed. "Most
white people have cages with
locks on them that they place on
stilts so the dogs can't get at it."
The ways of the North are
changing. There are only two dog
teams in Inuvik now and they
charge Prior a ride. Most of the
natives have snowmobiles that
they use now, although Brenda
was heartened to hear that in
some of the settlements they are
going back to the dog teams.
"Snowmobiles can break down or
runout of gas and then they have.
to be left until spring. They can
always eat their dogs if they get
stranded," she said.
Igloos are also becoming a
thing of the past. They are used
for emergency shelters on a
hunting trip but the native
Eskimo people no longer use
them for their regular shelter.
While Brenda feels she would
like to return someday because
there is so much to teach the
young children who are eager to -
learn she has also learned some
valuable things from the
Eskimos.
The northern crafts are time
consuming and painstaking but
Brenda has learned a little bit
about the art of making a good
warm and dec.prative Parka, in-
cluding the beading and
has made herself a pair of
Mukluks, beaded in the design of
polar bears and trimmed with
rabbit fur.
"It's an exciting experience,"
Brenda said "It's hard to
describe the beauty and the way
of life." She urges everyone to go
north and see for their selves, as
she did.
Times -Advocate, February 6, 1975
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