Day: 108

Great People of Kugaaruk

Temperature: -10F

Location: Kugaaruk - Pelly Bay

We are in Pelly Bay. A lot of the Inuit villages changed their names in the last five or six years, especially now that Nunavut has been established. So Pelly Bay is now called Kugaaruk, and is named after the river. It is the original name of the settlement that has been here for a very long time. The settlement was based around the river that is here, and then Pelly Bay was a western, white establishment that started here later.

Most of the maps will still show this as Pelly Bay. It is a small town of 600. Very friendly people here, we’ve just been overwhelmed with the reception we have had. Today we talked at the school with the kids, and gave demonstration with the sleeping bags, tents, etc. We were on the radio station, which normally what we do in a village like this. And a lot of the elders, especially, listen to the radio in the evening. So we were flooded with questions. Everything here is translated from Inukutuk. English is spoken by the younger people here, but the elders speak predominately in their native tongue. We usually have their kids or nephews or nieces translate for us. But on the radio station and at the school it was just like using a foreign language, and we would have translators go back and forth between English and Inukutuk.

The area here is very traditional. Pelly is a large bay on the Gulf of Boothia, and very rich in wildlife. There are polar bears and seals. Many rivers flow into this large bay, which is about 50 miles long. These rivers are rich in Arctic char. There is lots of char in town, and the people keep their nets under the ice all winter. The plentiful wild game is why there was a settlement here so early on.

It is semi-mountainous here, there are two sort of ridges on either side of the town, and the town is sort of nestled in. They are sort of in a corner of the Canadian Arctic, and often feel like they are forgotten in Pelly Bay, but probably for the better. Although there is a network of villages within about a 300 mile radius from Pelly.

We’ve been having just a great time here, socializing. Hugh and I are with a family. There are five people in the family, and it is a big house. The parents and brother and sisters and extended family are here all the time, and it is almost like my home growing up. There are lots of babies and nieces and nephews around, and we are usually flooded here in the big living room.

So it is a very typical gathering here. You help yourself to food whenever you want. The saying here is, “Don’t ask.” You just help yourself. It is a really friendly atmosphere.