Inukjuaq

Journal Entry- Monday August 6, 2007.

I am here in the airport at kuujjuaraapik. It is raining, our Air Inuit plane is being refueled for the trip to Inukjuaq (Inujjuak). The atmosphere in the cabin was jovial, like a party. I spoke in French with a young female police officer who has been stationed in Nunavik for two years, then with a health worker, and then I tried my hand at Inuttitut with several Inuk who were watching a movie in front of me. That got a lot of attention, right away three of her friends started laughing at my attempts, but it was a lot of fun. I experimented with some verb endings (tutit), and that brought gales of laughter, as I was told that there was a second meaning to this word and that they would not explain it to me ☺ their meaning was clear though and I blushed furiously, they didn’t seem bothered in the least. I think that I am in for a real education in Inuttitut, I am looking forward to meeting the Avataq members in Inukjuaq and seeing the library that Donat Savoie told me about.
I can see the coast of the Hudson Bay behind me, it’s cold out. I am glad that I brought heavy jackets.


It’s morning on Tuesday, 6:21am. I woke up early this morning, exhausted last night but amazed at yesterday’s events. I’ll sum up what happened after we took off from kuujjuaraapik yesterday. Once the place was refueled we were told to make our way back to the aircraft. As we were walking to the DC-8 a qimmiq sled dog mounted a female right on the tarmac and began furiously copulating. This caused everyone to erupt into gales of laughter. As we began climbing the stairs, the dogs stood end to end but were stuck together. The Air Inuit staff tried to get them away from the plane but they yelped and ran under the landing gear. After I boarded and sat down we could hear their yelps of discontent as the technicians tried unsuccessfully to catch them, we were watching the pair of painfully connected dogs crashing against the wheels, all the while the Inuit onboard were announcing comments in Inuttitut that caused the whole cabin to shake with the laughter and back slapping … It took about 10 minutes to get the dogs off the runway (there were many). After the plane took off (Anne-Marie*) and I spoke again about her police duties in Povungnituq. Often calls involve domestic quarrels, but a main concern of northern officers is weaponry, hunting culture leads to easily available high-powered rifles with scopes. She said that bulletproof vests are not regularly worn, while they would stop a shotgun blast, rifles still penetrate. She was just beginning a 4 month contract, she told me about the philosophy of Canadian police forces in the north, I was impressed with her community spirit and positive attitude. She will be away from her family the whole time, the only way to return south is for a prisoner transfer. I enjoyed our conversation and said goodbye after we landed at Inukjuaq.
(Just an aside- at the airport, I saw a man with an OMS technical diving shirt at the airport in Montréal. I spoke with him and his friend asking them about scuba in the north. Turns out that they were the directors of Nunavik Arctic Adventures and just getting their new cold water technical scuba program underway. They are based in Povungnituk and invited me to dive with them. An unexpected opportunity).
---------