An Intimate Wilderness
Inuksuliriji, I respect you highly, my friend Norman. You are a wise man, knowledgeable, and a man of honour. I am proud to be your friend! You are a friend to all Inuit. We thank you.
Piita Irniq Commissioner of Nunavut 2000–2005.
Osuitok and I at Kinngait (Cape Dorset), 1998.
A PROMISE KEPT
to
Issuhungituk Qiatsuq Pootoogook, Oshutsiak Pudlat, Pudlo Pudlat, Quvianaqtuliak (Kov) Parr, Ikkuma Parr, Pauta Saila, Pitaloosie Saila, Eegyvudluk Pootoogook, Kananginak Pootoogook, Pudlat Pootoogook, Paulassie Pootoogook, Joanassie Salamonie, Kiawak Ashoona, Pitseolak Ashoona, Qaqqaq Ashoona, Majuriaq Ashoona, Kenojuak Ashevak, Pingwartuk, Ottochie Ottochie, Itidlouie Itidlouie, Kingmeata Itidlouie, Lukta Qiatsuq, Mannumi Davidee, Munamee Sarko, Kingwatsiuk, Simeonie Quppapik, and Osuitok Ipeelie
“I’m telling you these things so that they are written. Write carefully, you are carrying the remains of our thoughts.”
isumagijaujut kinguvaariinnuuqattaqtut Osuitok, 1998
CONTENTS
The early years and a time of discovery.
Growing up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in Toronto and attending the Annual Prospectors’ Convention, a raucous gathering of prospectors and miners that inspired the author’s northern travels.
The Arctic, its vastness, beauty and a love of the land.
Arriving in Cape Dorset in 1958, when the Inuit are moving from traditional camps to settlements created by the Federal Government. Kananginak Pootoogook, son of powerful camp boss, talks about how living in a settlement affected him.
Pingwartuk who was the first to take “the Inquisitive One” out on the land offers the formula for staying alive. The author travels at sea with Lukta Qiatsuq, who gets them out of a very serious situation by using the aluminum foil from a package of cigarettes.
Simeonie Quppapik, who was photographed in 1923 by the legendary American filmmaker Robert Flaherty, talks about his lineage and offers sharp insights on the importance of words.
BY THE LIGHT OF A SEAL OIL LAMP
Kananginak Pootoogook relates his life story. He was born in a hut lit by a seal oil lamp in a camp reached by dogsled in winter and kayak in summer, at a time when it was believed that shamans could fly to the moon. Later in life, he watched men landing on the moon from the comfort of his home in Cape Dorset, which was heated by oil from Venezuela.
The author learns the rules of proper behaviour and the proper way to ask questions of the elders.
How to separate myth and legend from reality.
The author gives a panoramic view of the remarkable locations all around him: the Foxe Channel, Southampton Island, Igloolik, the ancient camps of Nurrata and Nuvudjuak, Cape Dorset, and the Great Plain of the Koukdjuak.
The author and Itulu Itidlouie set off for the small island of Sarko, and barely return alive.
What it’s like dining out on walrus, whale skin, eider duck eggs, ptarmigan, and caribou, while avoiding, fermented meat or fish, the eyes of animals, and fully formed chicks still in their eggs.
NUNANNGUAIT, “IMITATIONS OF THE EARTH”
The Inuit view of memory, maps and map making.
An elder talks about traditional techniques for hunting whales.
Understanding the complex meanings of inuksuit, the human made stone figures and markers placed on the Arctic landscape.
A meditation on the cycle of life growing in the shadow of a single inuksuk.
MORE REAL THAN YOU COULD IMAGINE
An illusion of reality.
Osutsiak Pudlat talks about how inuksuit were used as hunters’ aids.
The author travels with Ohito Ashoona and his son to Inuksugalait where at least 100 inuksuit stand within an area of three hectares. In this place, one is overcome with a sense of spirituality and awe.
Travelling by helicopter, Paulassie Pootoogook leads the author to an ancient site rivaling Inuksugalait. With careful observation of the entire site and its relation to the caribou migration, the author unravels its mystery.
Memorable encounters with polar bears and ravens.
WHERE NORTHERN LIGHTS ARE BORN
One Inuit legend about how the Northern Lights came to be.