Times-Advocate, 1988-01-06, Page 3Times -Advocate, January 6, 1988
Arctic teachers home for. *arrnthof.Exeter
By Adrian-parte_ _ , ------.--
We may think our landscape cold
and lifeless this time of year, but,
twoteachers who were home for
Christmas find this much warmer
and almostpastoral compared to
what they must return to for the rest
of the school -year.
Liz Scott and Rich Fletcher are a
wife and husband teaching team
who work in Canada's arctic at Co-
ral Harbour. This village of about
450 people, mostly Inuit, is on
Southampton Island at the northern-
most part of Hudson's Bay.
Coral -Harbour was created by the
government in the 1940's in their
efforts to settle and organize the
Northwest Territories. It lies just
south of the arctic circle, which
means that when Scott and Fletcher
left a few days before Christmas,
only about four hours of daylight
remained in each day. The sun
would rise around 10:30 a.m. and
set again at 2:30 p.m., following an
arc below the height of f the build-
ings.
It is not easy to get to Coral Har-
bour. Scott and Fletcher fly from
Toronto to Winnipeg to Churchill,
and then from Churchill to Rankin
Inlet before they can get a flight
into Coral Harbour. The round trip
costs about $1,300 each.
Coral Harbour, as Fletcher points
out, is a 'dry' town where alcohol is_
net`�t ter sohfnor brought in.
"That solves a lot of problems
some of the norihern communities
have had;" says Fletcher.
The modern Atausiunasuarniq
School in which Scott and Fletcher
teach offers instruction from kinder-
garten to grade nine. Scott teaches
grades one and two, and Fletcher
teaches grades three to five. A total
of six teachers, one principal and
three classroom assistants handle
the 140 students.
- The native language of the chil-
dren is Inuktitut, but all education
is conducted .in -English; however,
the parents don't seem to mind.
"The parents are reallysupportive
of the teachers," says Fletcher, who
goes on to say that the parents want
to see their children educated and eli-
gible for alt future opportunities.
Both Scott and Fletchercomment
on the differences between their stu-
dents and the average southerner.
The Inuit children are allowed more
freedom and responsibility than
most Canadian children, but this
can makes them a little more unruly
in the classroom.
"The parents don't give them any
kind of discipline," says Scott and
she says it takes some time to ad-
just the students to the restrictive
classroom experience, but she finds
she really likes her students and ap-
preciates their unique character.
"They're so full of life," she says.
Coral Harbour and its people are
isolated and must rely on the four
flights to its airport each week. for
supplies. A barge for largeritems
arrives only once a year, which ex-
plains why the town has only about
three cars and about 20 trucks.
Most travel is accomplished by
snowmobile or ATV.
Dog sled teams are regaining pop-
ularity as wealthy hunters are lured
to the area by the handful of polar
bear licences issued to white people.
Only Inuit are allowed to hunt -po-
lar bear from motorized vehicles:
Scott and Fletcher naturally as-
sumed their students would be fa-
miliar with the sight of polar bears,
but when one wandered into their.
village all the children rushed to see
it.
"Some of our kids were really
scared," said Scott of the visit of the
live bear, even though polar bear
skins are a familiar sight around the
village.
Scott and Fletcher live in a com-
fortable, modern house. All materi-
als to build in the community are
brought in by barge because Coral
Harbour lies beyond the tree line.
All houses have water tanks
which are filled every day from
tanker trucks. Sewage is stored and
pumped out in a similar manner.
The couple have a six month sup-
ply of dry goods in their house and
perishable groceries can be bought
at the Co-op store, but a litre of :
milk costs' $3.25. Scott recently
bought a cucumber for $5.
A Hudson's Bay store makes up
•
•
•
out the average summer temperature
is 10 celsius and drops t� an aver-
age of -30° celsitts in the wiz.:^r.
.Scott recalls her first glimpse of
Page 3
teaching -positions. Seven openings
at one school brought around 500
applicants. If not.attracted by the
experience, other applicants are at-
tracted by the -isolation pay.
Fiye television stations are
brought in on the village's satellite
dish and the community Operates its
own radio'station- in Inuktitut, but
Scott and Fletcher spend their spar.
,time as most of the villagers do:
visiting friends or participuu1g in
•recreational hoc key. Tournaments
require_ !lights to other northern.
communities.
Nevertheless, Scott and Fletcher
do miss their families and friends -
down south. • .
."That's the hardest part," says
Scott of their isolation. "That's
why 1 don't think we could d� this
forever."
The Times -Advocate is delivered
/011` to them each week, albeit a few -
2 days late. This means the couple
• must be our northernmost readers.
NORTHERN STUDIES - Teacher Liz Scott helps grade one student Ali-
son Angootealuk with her studies at the Atausiunasuarniq School in Coral
Harbour..
the rest of the retail tctdc in Conll
Harbour, which means the residents
have few places to spend their mon-
ey, but mail order brings in many •
items not aiailahlc in town.
Coral Harbour, -as one might ex-
pect, is quite cold. Fletcher points
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS - Rich
eachers in Coral Harbour, a near -arctic
eturned home for Christmas to visit with
Fletcher and wife Liz Scott are
community in Hudson Bay. They
parents and friends in Exeter.
Thank You
for your continued
patronage
Wishing you all the
best in the coming
year.
Ron Rader
Huron Motor
Products Ltd.
Exeter 235-0363
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Coral
Harbour
Hay to recommend
subdivision zoning
their assessed arca of protection is
less than five percent of the board's
coverage.
A public meeting held at the De-
cember 21 regular Hay council
meeting has led council to recom-
mend to County Council that the
Bayview subdivision be rezoned ur-
ban from its present designation as
seasonal -residential.
Sixty percent of the subdivision's
population are permanent residents.
They are seeking urban status to al-
low year-round living and construc-
tion of new homes in the arca.
Previous concerns of council with
costs of maintenance of an urban
arca have been set aside. In order
for Hay township to provide snow
plow service to these areas the road
.allowances would have to be 20 me-
tres wide.
"Right now the roads arc not up
to standard," said councillor Donald
Weigand when asked about the situ-
ation. "They can still go urban and
we don't have to plow the roads."
The township will not take over
the maintenance of the subdivision
roads unless they arc brought up to
standard, the cost of which the resi-
dents are not willing to bear.
The township is prepared to re-
zone the subdivision, but only if
County Council approves the pro-
posal.
In other business, Hay council ac-
cepted the proposed 1988 Exeter and
Arca Fire Board budget in the
amount of $137,400. Under the
minimum five percent contribution
agreement, Hay township will be
required to nay $6,990, even though
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Coral Harbour trom the airplane as
"like landing -in a gravel pit." Her
husband compares it to .the surface
of the moon. .
However, the couple agree the
arca "has a beauty of its own."
They decided to apply for a teach-
ing position in the north, not be-
cause teaching jobs arc scarce here,
but.bec.ausc they "wanted to experi
once something different. Scott's
uncle -was a bush pilot and she al-
ways wanted to sec the Canadian
- north he described: -
Many people .do not realize there
is stiff competition for northern
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