On Thursday, we visited Gjoa Haven, a small Inuit village of about 1000 on King William Island. The locals put on a show of dancing and drumming in native costumes. Some of the dances were "traditional," but they are also into square dancing. Go figure. More interesting was the conversation we had with Raymond II, a local man who was holding his two week old grandson when we sat near him. Shortly after we arrived, Raymond III, the baby’s father, put the baby in the hood of the mother and she left with him. Raymond II has six children ranging from 19 (Raymond III) to 3, and he was holding his adopted son who is 1. The adopted boy is the sixth child of Raymond II’s brother. It was not clear why it made more sense for Raymond II to have seven children than his brother to have six. We did find out, however, that “adoption” is pretty informal and common in Inuit communities, particularly if a parent has died.
After the show, we walked around Gjoa Haven and had the chance to speak to (and play with) several of the children. That is easy now that we are in Canada, and everyone speaks English. Needless to say, the children were delightful but two things puzzled me. I asked several of the children what their favorite food was - what they would most like to eat. Independently they each answered, “carrot.” Did they really mean caribou? Their English was excellent, and there apparently are carrots here, but really? The stores are stocked with candy and the kids love to drink soda. Carrots are really their favorite food?
Soda leads to the second puzzling thing. All of the adults over the age of 40 are toothless, and the children all had metal caps on at least some of their teeth. When I asked them why, they said they had “robot teeth.” I asked the oldest boy who was nine if he knew why they all had robot teeth and he said it was to make their teeth grow strong. Hmmm. Clearly dental health is not a strong point here and they do drink a lot of soda. But I still don’t get it. Also, some of the kids with caps still had baby teeth while others had adult teeth.
Another thing I cannot understand is the economics of living in an Inuit Village. Gjoa Haven is fairly large - too large to walk everywhere - so almost everyone has an ATV. They also all seem to have skimobiles for the winter, and a lot have boats. Raymond II told us that they get their food hunting and fishing, and he made a point of saying that they share their catch with everyone, making sure that the old people are fed. But he was somewhat evasive when I asked what people did to earn money to buy groceries and other things that you cannot catch or kill. Also, how do they afford ATV’s and snowmobiles? He acknowledged that they are expensive and you have to save up to buy them. Save up from what income? When asked directly, he also acknowledged that “some people” receive money from the government. Clearly there are some jobs in town - teachers, grocery clerks, and maintenance workers. But how does outside money come into the village?
After a day at sea and a not very interesting landing on Edinburgh Island, we were scheduled to visit another Inuit village for a show and meeting local people. The village of Holman (Ulukhaktok in Inuit) was described as a friendly community. Unfortunately, half an hour before we were to board the zodiacs for the transfer to shore, the captain announced that a passenger has been isolated with covid and the village no longer wanted any of us to visit. That was the first anyone told us about covid on board, and we still have no idea how many or how long. But it was disappointing to miss our last chance to visit a native village.
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| Sea ice looks like crystals, not snow |
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