During my time in Cape Dorset (Kinngait in Inuktitut), we had maybe two really nice days, where you could actually see blue sky, without strong winds, and with lots of sun.  One of those days I had a meeting scheduled, and so could not get out on the ice.  The other was the second last day, when I had interviews scheduled and was trying to wrap things up around Dorset.  It has snowed a lot, and is cloudy and windy almost every other day.  Every day I find beautiful here, but missed the endless vistas that I so enjoy in the Arctic.  It also limited our trips out of town to 2, but really only 1 full one.  

Luckily, that one trip was an amazing experience of both riding on a kamotik (dog sled) behind a team of 8 dogs, and riding/driving a skidoo.  I learned a bit about getting on the sled as they take off (hang on tight, and BE READY!!), getting on and off the sled to run beside it, pushing or pulling the kamotik to steer it, and a live experience of dogs avoiding a crack in the ice.  The snowmobile was also neat, as I got to drive one a little, which was a first for me and good to know up here.  It certainly shatters the natural sounds all around, but is another important perspective of sea ice travel.  Snowmobiles by far outweigh the use of dog teams in this community – as in most.  We stopped for tea, bannock, and other snacks right on the ice, and I got to try my hand at using the (very) long dog team whip.  After whipping myself several times, or having it land in a heap at my feet, I managed to be able to get it fully forwards and backwards in one “snap”.  On our way back we stopped at the floe edge (the close proximity of the ice edge is a unique reality for this community), and were able to walk within three feet of it – apparently still on three feet of ice thickness.

Around town I have met a lot of new people, and worked closely with Pootoogoo throughout the trip.   He has worked hard to identify key people to interview, and to arrange these interviews.  However, due to a variety of things going on around town, there were several reasons for people canceling interviews or a lack of people willing (or able) to participate in the research at this point.  This just highlighted some of the many realities of life in this community.  And despite many hardships, over the trip I received more and more smiles as I walked by people on the street, or met them in the store (at either one of the only two stores in town).  People were always friendly to me, and curious to know more about me and what I was doing in town.  

I attended the very happy affair of the Early Childhood Education Program (Nunavut Arctic College) graduation.  I was also able to do a short presentation on my research, and my northern experiences in general, to a grade 10 and 12 class at Peter Pitseolak High School.  It was great to get involved in the school a bit, and interesting to experience such a different classroom atmosphere compared to Ontario.  In addition, I was extremely fortunate to be invited to an elder’s gathering, where they were demonstrating numerous games, songs, clothing, toys, etc. of the older Inuit way of life.   Some of the people we had interviewed were at this gathering, and even though we can really only ask each other qanuippiit (how are you?) they smiled at me and shook my hand as I entered.  There was also a small group present from a First Nations group in the US (near Nebraska I believe), so I was part of a unique “cultural exchange” as both the Inuit and Native American groups demonstrated some of their singing, drumming, dancing, and games.  I felt very lucky to have been invited to this gathering, and caught most of it on video – I look forward to sending it back to the community.

No matter what the experience, there has been tremendous amount of learning involved, and I am very glad for it.  We did manage a total of 9 interviews overall, and 4 of those individuals were interviewed twice because they had so much they wanted to share.  I look forward to having time to dedicate to the review and reflection of these discussions, as well as the video and pictures I was able to capture on the sea ice trip.