22 Apr 2007 - My name
is Simon Oleekatalik. I am 72 years old
and I live in a town called Taloyoak, in
the Eastern Kitikmeot region on the Boothia
Peninsula in Nunavut. Nunavut is the land
of the Inuit people in north eastern Canada,
formed in 1999 following a land claims agreement.
The territory takes up some two million
square kilometers and stretches all the
way to the North Pole.
Around 1,000 people live in Taloyoak. We
hunt and fish on the Gulf of Boothia, and
the west side of the peninsula. We mainly
hunt seals for subsidence and we can take
one or two polar bears each year – the number
is regulated by the government.
We have strong connections to the people
in communities around the gulf, in Gjoa
Haven and Kugaaruk too.
In May 2006 I helped two researchers from
WWF on a trip through the communities of
Eastern Kitikmeot region to record the elders’
knowledge about the environment, the climate
and the polar bears in the region. On the
research trip Jerry Arqviq translated conversations
between the scientist, Darren Keith and
the elders who speak our native language
of Inuktitut.
Many of us agreed that the weather conditions
have changed from a long time ago. In the
winter there are more clear sky days more
often now. When days get longer it seems
to always be cloudier. In the old days in
the wintertime, in short daylight, there
was more snow accumulation on the ground.
Now it is not like that anymore.
Even around Taloyoak area seems to have
changed. It is cold then next day warm and
then warm the other day. In March and April
when it is supposed to be warming up it
seems to be really cold. It feels like the
time of year with more daylight is colder
than wintertime.
In winter, we have always known which way
to go by looking at the snow drifts.
The snow conditions of the snow drifts
on the snow are called qimugjuk. They used
to be even in the older days. But now it
is hard to tell how the qimugjuk is. They
are not even on the snow anymore. They would
be little spots of snow drifts hear and
there. That is unusual nowadays.
Sudden wind and weather changes, and the
old ice is melting
I know about the wind too in the summer
time. The wind has changed from a long time
ago. The summer season is too windy now.
It is different now. In the old days it
used to be calm in the summer right up until
the fall. Right now in the summertime I
can see the difference, it is always windy
now. Sometimes it will be calm but most
of the time it is windy.
They weren’t really piqalujat [icebergs]
around here just the flat hiqutuqait [pans
of multiyear ice]. The big icebergs couldn’t
make it up here. It is too shallow. Last
summer most of the old ice was gone. And
it has been very smooth this winter. You
would expect to have big pieces of old ice
around in the summer.
I noticed also that the ice breaks up faster
than a long time ago. I feel that maybe
it is because of the warm weather that is
coming up that is making the ice go faster
in the lakes in spring time. In fishing
lakes it used to be really thick. Even the
fishing holes made by an auger nowadays.
They seem to get smaller just in a day.
That never used to happen.
It’s hard to build an iglu
On long journeys we still build an iglu
from snow for shelter. When I was younger
travelling with my parents by dog team my
parents used to know just by looking at
the snow conditions they would know where
the good snow is to build an iglu. Now they
are trying to do the same because of our
parents. We used to watch our parents how
they read the snow to build an iglu. It
is almost difficult to understand the snow
nowadays, because even when you are trying
to work with your snow knife you can’t even
cut through some of the snow. And the layers
are not the same. Some of it is too soft
and some of it is too hard.
The snow conditions are different from
a long time ago to today. A long time ago
when we built an iglu the first blocks used
to have a good place to sit on. The blocks
used to sit really good on the snow. Now
when you put the first blocks on the snow
don’t want to sit right because of the snow
conditions.
Polar bears are going hungry
Long ago when we finally caught a bear they
used to have healthy meat, healthy fat and
healthy skin. But nowadays some bears that
have been caught their fat seems kind of
loose. It is not the usual fat on the polarbears.
We must continually be worried because
the polar bears are always coming into town.
Last fall two polar bears went to town.
Because they are hungry they come close
to town, and when they are hungry they are
not scared of people or dogs. And they don’t
care if there are people’s things around.
Adapting and learning for the future
Recently we have used secure cages for storing
our food in wintertime. The bears don’t
get at our things that way. We cached some
right out of the cage and everything cached
outside the cage are taken by the bear and
the ones inside the bear were never touched.
They have been saved.
I feel that a lot of young people don’t
know Inuit stuff such as hunting or taking
care of their own people. I am hoping in
a way that these young guys are learning.
They should learn Inuktitut ways of living
too to do what we are able to do in the
north. Maybe in the beginning they should
learning one thing first such as Inuit culture
and Inuit stuff. Once they get to learn
more then they can start to learn English.
I am hoping in the future to see that.
