Stretching across Canada from Cape Breton to Kamloops, twice the square kilometers of Ontario, and yet a population under 40,000 people, this only begins to describe the vast territory of Nunavut...
Last fall I landed a first Arctic work contract in Cambridge Bay. The hub of the Kitikmeot Region, this small town of less than 2000 residents is situated upon the massive Victoria Island well within a world of mostly snow, rock and ice upon the Dease Strait. A job there for six weeks, I was introduced to a new healthcare system, a short glimpse of Inuit life, and as well the full days of near darkness and the harsh tundra winter reality. It was an impressive initiation to say the least, and departing CamBay before Christmas, the Supervisor along with the Regional Co-ordinator both gave good feedback with regards to my efforts. So, I would be asked to return again in the New Year for another six weeks, to take a placement in the most small and remote community under their authority, Kugaaruk. (aka Pelly Bay)
Flying north beyond the treeline the land is an endless blanket of white. It is rather surreal. Anyone would expect the arctic tundra and frozen ocean to be just that, a place of total awe, although nowhere have I ever been or flown is it so completely desolate a planet when peering down and out from 27,000 feet. To witness it the first time seemed strange.
Ottawa to Calgary to Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay to Gjoa Haven to Kugaaruk, two days and over fourteen hours of plane hopping, I crossed west over Canada from Ontario, only to fish-hook back around again and find myself directly above Thunder Bay. (except that I was 2000 or so kilometers north) A weird thing, was that I would remain on Yellowknife time, a two hour difference from home.
The sun in Kugaaruk had been down since early December. I arrived January 7th and the first rise of 2016 was scheduled for next day. Because of high ridges to the south behind town, no one would see that big glowing orb anytime soon. Regardless, first sunlight was expected to shine on the 8th lasting 34 minutes and 38 seconds, and from there onward the days would grow long, fast. In fact, by a departure home on February 16th, daylight would span from zero to eight hours in just under six weeks. Oddly again, being on a western clock two hours behind eastern standard time, yet planted at a longitude equal to Ontario, high noon would be kinda around 10:00am.
Home in Kugaaruk would be a cozy 2-bedroom apartment above the Health Center. This made the 5 1/2 week, 240 work hours and 380 hours on-call a little more manageable. Decent cable TV and all five seasons of Game of Thrones on DVD, there would be enough hours remaining for my viewing pleasure. For northern work trips my employers have been good about booking "priority" flights as well, helping ensure the seats and luggage see me through to the destination. Baggage allowed is 144-pounds with AirCanada but otherwise 180-pounds with Canadian North. This trip like the last, a cooler was stocked full of meat, cheese, butter and frozen veggies to the total of 70 pounds. Hidden within checked-baggage clothes and the carry-on were other foods like rice, pasta, sugar, coffee and more. It is pretty much down to a science, packing much of what will be needed for the duration of the stay. Store prices are outrageous in much of the north although, I appreciate how Nunavut approaches the off-setting of air freight costs in their creative food prices; in contrast to how remote Ontario towns go about it. Junk food prices are the highest, necessities a little less, but still, a 2L milk is $8.99, small box of cereal $8.99, dozen eggs $6.99, small jar of mayonnaise $8.99... and yet a lighter junk food item like the first bag of out-dated Mrs.Vickies chips I bought, was $10.49.
Work is busy enough through the eight hour days Monday to Friday and I'm also on-call two nights then off one, and repeat. Basically the assignment this time was all urgent/emergent (call or walk-in) acute care patient loads, while the other nurses ran programs such as well baby and immunizations, well woman and man, prenatal, sexually transmitted diseases and, following high risk and/or chronic care patients in the community.
The first weekend in town the weather was a little warmer than usual. Stretching the legs I walked the Kugaaruk River and a little ways up into the hills. The twilight hours very short and the skies rather grey, the world seemed bleak and eerie albeit in a fascinating kind of way. Along the river I spotted some crows gathered. Stumbling over their direction, in the snow either wolves, foxes or dogs had tried digging up a frozen seal buried in the pack snow. The following day I chose another direction, heading out south towards the highest peaks around. Not realizing how far I had followed along this one road, the skies were growing dark and winds building up when I began to slow some. Thinking to cut across the tundra towards town instead of back-tracking semi-circular by which way I had come, the boots lead off the road. The hard pack of the tundra is always and everywhere akin to the hardest snow pack and drifts one would find upon a wind-swept lake or field. Nineteen out of twenty steps you walk atop the snow, until that one surprises and trips you up. Peaking a first ridge hoping to spot town on the other side, there ahead was just another short fjord and frozen pond to cross. It was around then I came to think of how the distances appear far on land but are often quite short. I had learned already that on the flat frozen ocean it is the opposite. But, when surrounded by the greyness, in the hilly yet otherwise relatively featureless land, it can get you turned around pretty quick. I could only imagine what total darkness would be like. For a lost and weary traveler out on the tundra, a one and only symbol of hope to keep going might simply be a pile of cleverly stacked rocks. For even knowing I was quite close to town but just could not see it, the odd Inukshuk placed here or there felt rather comforting.
Lucky to work with incredibly intelligent and dedicated people, life in the Kugaaruk Health Center is good. A steady stream of patients day in and day out, time passes quickly until the weekends allow for a little rest and exploration. There was this one day come the second weekend there which was really quite enjoyed the most. A morning when I walked out onto the ocean a good ways in order to get past the land, and see a first bit of sun and photograph it setting at noon. I later that day posted this to my Facebook...
"Hiked out on the sea ice again today, to get out from under the land’s shadows where a lower horizon and the sun could be found. A sharp north wind kept at my back. I took a place to sit atop a mountain peninsula, and there was able to watch the noon sunset. Out over the ocean, little snownadoes blew up, quite a show. Kugaaruk was off in the distance. It may seem silly for some but today was a rather spiritual day, the outdoors has been the only church for many years. Walking the ice, hiking up the mountains, scaring a hare out from under the drift, facing home thousands of miles away, and simply having the suns rays shine on me, I felt a fortunate man, and thankful within those moments. While returning to town snowmobilers rode over to ensure I was okay. Three strangers on the streets having seen me crossing out on the sea ice asked the same. A man offered me a lift to go see a dead polar bear, and I accepted. Invited into a home I "chewed the fat" for over an hour with a family never met, all the while watching as several skinned the fat off the fresh pelt, there on the living room floor. The whale blubber offered could not be stomached, the smell of the bears flesh and blood in the small hot room was quite easy to digest. Later I bought a walrus tusk and that polar bear’s fang but, the five foot long, magical unicorn narwhal horn was just a little out of reach. A sweet eighty year old lady whom I had helped at the hospital told me some of the towns people were talking, they are happy, and she thinks I am the "perfect nurse." She wants me to come back in the summer to go Arctic char fishing and caribou hunting, says she’ll drive me on her new Honda 4-wheeler to the good spots. Incredible day and for that and much more, here and everywhere, I feel a fortunate man."
Walrus tusk.
Narwhal horn.
A kind of day worth years, are days lived like this.
The largest of all bears is the Polar Bear. Some might argue Alaskan Kodiaks are bigger but they would be mistaken. In Nunavut the Polar Bear is named Nanook, the freaky Latin name is Ursus Maritimus. Adult males standing upright reach 8 to 10 feet tall and weigh 770 - 1550 pounds, while females tend to be half that of a male bear’s weight. The largest Polar Bear taken from the wild is 2209 pounds, 11-foot, 1-inch tall. Similarly, the male Alaskan Kodiak Grizzly Bear averages 800 - 1500 pounds, stands 8 to 10 feet as well but, the largest bear on record was a captive bear fed to an enormous 2132 pounds. No wild Grizzly killed has been close to that.
Polar Bears live up to 25 years with a few reaching thirty. On land their moving average is 5.6 km/hr and they have a max speed of 40 km/hr. They can swim for days into weeks and up to 400 miles continuously without rest. They have human-like vision and hearing but a heightened sense of smell. It is said they can sniff out a seal from miles away, and humans too. Hunted Polar Bears are edible. The Inuit eat all but the liver, which can be poisonous, and care must be taken with the meat as well due to risk of trichinosis. A bear's pelt can be sold for several thousand dollars and legal hunts can bring in huge revenue for Inuit families. Hunting aside, it was a local elder's near fatal misfortune which lead to my first up-close encounter with a killed bear.
Dom had been on the land hunting. His snowmobile rolled injuring his knee, and once upright the machine wouldn’t start again. At the time this happened, there would only be four to five hours of twilight in the day. A long and cold darkness setting in, Dom prepared to hunker down. Nanook must have caught a scent for sometime during the night Dom or his machine had been hunted. A bear showed up, and after tearing off a chunk from the back rest of his snowmachines seat, alone and possibly being the next bite, Dom took the 9 ½ foot Nanook down. The family was very happy for the kill and to find Dom okay the following day... Later, I somehow found myself sharing in some of this with all of them, and taking a special keepsake from the time as well.
"Evidenced in legend, ritual, ceremony and art, the Polar Bear is the most worshiped animal of the Arctic. For the Inuit, it characterizes endurance, power, courage and acceptance. Historically, to some northern Shaman, a Polar Bear's canine tooth was a highly valued talisman, as it was believed it could help summon the bears spirit and also give protection... Just stoked to have this treasure."
The people in Kugaaruk are of the friendliest I have ever met anywhere. Always a hello on the street, and never out on the land would a person go by without stopping to see if you're doing okay. Very quickly everyone knows your name, and when people like the grocery store clerk, airport attendant or some patient you have never met, call you by your name then make friendly conversation, you feel so far removed from your life elsewhere. Being invited into a home, offered a lift, or having others go out of their way to accommodate, you find yourself really wanting to treat people in essence that same kind way.
The tastiness of the Arctic char in this town is said to be the best of anywhere in Nunavut. Come mid July to September, from the river in view of the apartment here, char enter the Kugaaruk to head upstream and spawn. A good couple hours fishing can be two dozen fish, but it's all in the timing. A road stretching out of town follows the river for miles, providing plenty access points. Eventually after forty minutes it reaches Barrow Lake, a fifteen kilometer long water body holding lake trout exceeding thirty pounds. ( have seen pictures ) Two other similarly sized lakes can be found a little more remote and further across the tundra. Out on Pelly Bay in less than hour, two other char rivers can be reached by boat. Those are the real gems for nearby char fishing, where it is said it can be a fish every cast. There will hopefully come a day when finding out if this is all true.
For now it is winter. There is no ice fishing to be had until April. The town is busy all night long buzzing around on snowmobiles while school-age children play in the streets often ti’ll 4:00am in -30C to -50C weather. The guy across the road from the hospital revs his skidoo and rides in and out from his place all night long too. I actually thought up a little poem about that...
My Sleepy Time Poem.
Every night across the street,
lives a man who does not sleep.
Eleven, twelve, one or two,
standing out in the cold he revs his skidoo.
I know things are different in Nunavut
but hey there noisy neighbor...
Arrrrrggghhh!!! F&#% YOU!!!
During the day some of the locals take off onto the land and sea in search of caribou or anything else that could provide food or income. Many disliking the taste of the drinkable town water, people from most households also ride the half hour to a nearby river to fill their buckets with the best gin clear, fresh water available.
Myself, I have been worshiping the sky a lot. While out hiking on the sea and in the hills I often look south to the low light on the horizon and marvel at how incredibly beautiful the glowing orange arctic sun is. I am actually energized by it. The necessary breakfast dose of 3000ug vitamin D surely helps the mood, but it can't quite provide the same purpose, spectacle and vitality as the real life source. Over hills and across the land and sea ice, a couple of free days from work I was able to trek out alone, and one day with a friend. The winter sun is truly a sight to behold and little opportunity was wasted under it's short daylight.
As time drew to a close in Kugaaruk I took a couple last hikes out onto the sea ice heading across to some nearby islands. Frostbitten cheeks and earlobes during the second outing, and that squeaky crunch of each step on the snow, the warmest choice was to actively keep the heart rate up. On that walk I thought about what was enjoyed most on this first work trip to Kugaaruk... The answer is the people. From my co-workers to the community this is an amazingly friendly place.
Being out on the land and sea comes once or twice a week for a couple hours, the rest of the time is spent in the Health Center keeping busy. In less than six weeks a personal census showed 265 patients were treated, most of those children and infants. On top of that, while on-call Monday to Friday days and sometimes nights, and including the odd weekend, I gave advice over the phone to many dozens more. In the north it is Nurses who provide the access to all facets of healthcare and, it is a team approach which wins each day. I was fortunate to meet and work alongside a number of good people, everyone making the job a pleasure to take part in.
Finally on the last day off before my departure, after humming and hawing about hiking at -40C with a -48C windchill having nabbed a little frostbite day before, I set off upriver to get away from a smoke hazed town. On the return later the horizon cleared, and walking back on the ice the setting sun was one intense sight to behold. A lingering haze magnified its glow, even more-so in the camera lens, while the colored land and sky became other-worldly. Snapping pictures of Kugaaruk’s historic church, I nearly shot a raven and hare in the same photo before returning gaze to the sunset. Out off shore on Pelly Bay a man and his two children were playing aside an igloo they had just finished building. With only minutes before the sun would fall, huffing, puffing, bundled and stumbling, I ran my arse off out to them knowing that an incredible photo opportunity was slipping away. In the nick of time, approaching with the Nikon, the telescopic lens shot what I considered to be magic. Sunset pictures that truly say so much. The entire hike, in fact the entire stay in Kugaaruk... chasing the sun in the hills, up and down the river and over the ocean ice, I could not have imagined a greater Nunavut arctic experience than this one and, I cannot wait to return.
Continued...
