We Are Not A Number
by Jordan Konek
January 1st, 2012
We are becoming people that we aren’t today, we’re people that are relying on stores and money today. Nothing we can do about that today, because we are already used to it now. But to be honest, I think the Government can do a lot better than what it’s doing right now. Why is it that we disagree with so many things? Like me wanting the Government to do a lot better? That’s what makes us human I guess, but that depends on who you are and what you’re taught.
Reason why I think the Government can do a lot better is because there are a lot of Elders that have their Birthdays set to January one, these are people that were all born in one day? Or did the Government just decide to give a Birthday to 100 Inuit Elders because they didn’t do enough research on Inuit? Did they just decide to spend their money on a mining research when they can do a research on Inuit Birthdays? Or is that too lame for them? How lame is it to do fake research on Climate Change and ignore the people that are experiencing it and are trying to tell the truth? I mean this is something that’s serious and the Government will spend “their money” on saving lives in the future because permafrost melted or something. Did I forget to tell you that my Canadian Government is stupid or am I stupid? I’m not going to keep my mouth shut to the people that are telling me to get a certificate to make money and and spend money to print my certificate at a university or a college. I’m not the one knowing that aboriginal people are having housing issues because they’re not funded by the Government and their money is being spent on some kind of research for a mining corporation. I mean, it doesn’t make sense to me, they’re already making the animals look stupid, yet they’re the stupid ones. Accusing people that are spending the time with Mother Nature more often while they sit down in their offices thinking “what’s next?”. I want to sit in their offices and be as stupid as I can be to help my people. How much do I know about American History? Probably a little more than I know my culture. I am being expected to know a culture and history of all the Canadians to get a certificate. I don’t really care anymore about reading Canadian history. I’m lost, I don’t know where I’m going. It’s because this world I’m trying to create is lost yet I’m trying to keep what I can of my history. I’m doing what I can because we are not a number.
The Beginning of “OUR ELDERS” Picture Series
Elder Timothy Taleriktok
We enjoyed interviewing Timothy on his experiences working at the Rankin Inlet Nickel Mine. To read the blog on the interview with Timothy, click here.
Mutna to our Elders!
Mutna to our Arviat coordinator, Tamar Mukyunik, for the idea of the Elder picture series :)
Mutna to Curtis Konek for taking the pics!
We used to be Scared
by Jordan Konek
September 26, 2011
There’s a lot of things that start to change in our personal lives as we get older. It’s the human nature that is what’s controlling it, being afraid of something. Curtis and I went out hunting for caribou. As we went out hunting, we reminiscent a lot of good memories. On our first stop for lunch 30km away from Arviat in Mukyuniknaaq, we started chatting about how we remember going out hunting with our uncles and sometimes my grandpa.
I remember when my uncle took me out hunting so that I can get my first catch of caribou, we had to cross a river with our ATV. I was so scared to get through the river. Curtis and I laughed how we used to be very scared, because now were the ones that go out hunting for the family. We’re the ones that cross these strong rivers as long as they’re not too deep, we’re now the ones that are pulling the ATVs off the mud.
It’s a great feeling to know that we can do it now. We can do what we thought we would never do, and we learned it through the experiences we had. I laughed so hard when Curtis was telling me a story of how he would be so scared that he’d do something to make himself feel better. But I understood him also, because being young and being afraid that we’re going to get stuck on a mud was scary.
One of the things we also talked about was how my grandpa is so tough. He’s on his wheelchairs and can hardly do anything. It’s not that we think he’s disabled but because we’re worried about his safety, but he does all these things we think he’ll never do. One time he told us to put him on our snowmobile. He can hardly move his leg, so we were afraid that he would fall off, so we tried convincing him to sit with us on the sled. He said NO! put me on the snowmobile and go on the sled. So, we did what he asked us to. He drove the snowmobile out on the land, and on our way he had an accident and feel off. We ran to him and put him on the snowmobile. But he just laughed and wanted to continue.
My grandpa impresses us a lot because he does so many things that we don’t expect. And I started to think about why he does all these things that we don’t even think he would do. He does these new things, to see if he can succeed and he always does. Inuit had to do so many things so that they can survive the land and the cold. They had to risk their lives for food or survival and I’m impressed and very proud of these elders that have given their lives so that they and we can live. We younger Inuit have a lot to owe them, and the way I think we would give back is to keep our culture and language alive. Because they had to starve, freeze and so many other things to make sure their future is alive.
Inuit Knowledge
by Amy Owingayak
August 31, 2011
Inuit have lived in the Arctic for many, many years. Before moving into a settlement, Inuit were living on the land using only animals for shelter, food and clothing. Therefore, my ancestors knew the animals’ routines and the importance of taking care of animals well. Inuit respect their land because it is their home and their hunting ground. Without the knowledge of the animals’ routines, the land or surviving in the arctic Inuit would have not make it through the harsh weather conditions.
Inuit knew that the animals followed the weather and also predicted the weather with their experience living on the land. To give example, Mitch Campbell, a wildlife biologist came to our meetings one night and told us about a story where he had a meeting with another biologist to talk about why the caribou were more inland. He could not find out the answer. Two of local elders walked in and were able to answer his question without any problems. This is one example about Inuit knowing their land and the animals because they have lived on the land for many years. Inuit have lived in the Arctic long enough to know the land well.
Looking Closer to Rankin Inlet Nickel Mine (1957-1963)
by Jordan Konek
August 15, 2011
For this past week I was in Rankin Inlet to look a little closer on Rankin Inlet Nickel Mine with the Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Dr. Arn Keeling who is a geography researcher, a student Patricia Boulter and a resident film maker Pallulaaq Freisen. I enjoyed the time here in Rankin with the crew and was happy to meet all the people here that I met in Rankin Inlet, I will say that Rankin has a lot of dogs and I think that’s cool, it feels to me that I should have a dog at home in Arviat. But to get back to the research project, I learned some interesting things.
It was nice to learn that we Inuit are very adaptable like Peter Irniq said “we Inuit are very adaptable, we did not know a single word of English and now look at us”. Peter Irniq and Inuit Elders impress me a lot because they say these simple little things that we can think about and use them everyday. It’s part of their normal life, because working twenty four hours a day seven days a week was their way of survival.
I am building a shack at home and my grandmother wanted to see where I’m going to put the shack. She came and said “you should move it on the other side because during winter, the snow will be covering your steps”. Inuit think ahead and prepare for the worst to come in their traditional way and they are some impressive things.
I am now more into this Nanisiniq project more than I was in the beginning. In the beginning I joined because I wanted to travel, now it’s all about getting to know a little bit more of Inuit history, and a little more and more.
I would like to thank Dr. Arn Keeling or “Arn” (like Inuit would say it, there’s no Dr.Mr.Mrs in Inuit language) who was nice enough to get me here to film for Nanisiniq and to interview Elders who have a lot of Inuit history. Also, like to thank Trish (Patricia) who helped prepare the workshop here in Rankin and also did some interviews. Pallulaaq who is a very nice person, very welcoming and hard working person who did so much for us during the week here in Rankin Inlet. Last but almost least the two entertainment guys here at the lodge Anthony and Luke who were also nice, but they are mechanics here in Rankin for a mining project going on in Rankin. And also Phillipe from the CBC who interview me and Amy Owingayak in Arviat for the project.
Inuit traditional food diet
by Curtis Konek
Aug, 19, 2011
Inuit have been eating traditional food for a very long time and have been hunting them for centuries. When inuit were nomadic inuit survived by eating traditional food and by following the herds of caribou and by hunting any small animals such as pitarmegin, rabbit, fish, beluga whale, seal, warlus and any other animal. Inuit from up north above the arctic circle ate the same animals we eat but they also eat musk-ox and narwhales. Fox were use to buy food from the hudson bay company, from the late 1920’s or later. The HBC provide food for the inuit to trade food for fox furs, one fox fur cost about $60.00 the HBC provided white flour, pilot biscuits, magic baking powder, lard, and a few more items. When inuit where nomadic inuit were much stronger and healthier. They would eat traditional food daily and be active daily during the winter. Inuit who were born on the land are healthy and have a lot of traditional knowledge. What we are doing in this project is important because we are learning from our elders about IQ, Inuit Qauyimayatukagit ”Inuit traditional knowledge”. We are also learning from our youth about how arviat is and what they think about living in arviat and how it has changed in arviat in the past few years.
Inuit have experienced a lot of change in their diet. Our elders are the only ones who actually eat traditional food every day, our young people still eat the traditional food today, but only once in a while. Younger inuit are more into store bought food and more likely to eat it. That is why the younger generation is slowly developing poorer health conditions. That means most young inuit are more in to sugar not poutine. Most inuit love to eat junk food now days, and less real food.
Inuit today are still strong in hunting and survival skills, but slowly are losing their culture and traditional knowledge. We still love to eat our traditional diet and we want to keep out traditional diet the way it is for a very long time. And we want to learn more about inuit traditional diet and knowledge. We need to interview more elders and get a better information from them.
