Life in Inuvik, Northwest Territories

There are millions of dollars’ worth of construction work happening in Inuvik right now.

There’s a structure replacing the old Aurora College building on Veteran’s Way, and a new school (below) is being built beside the Samuel Hearne secondary school.

Here’s a recording of Anna Pingo singing O Canada in the Ummarmiut dialect, which is the type of Inuvialuktun spoken by people in the Mackenzie Delta.

The National Anthem

(The crowd is singing along, but people were following along to handout sheets.)

I asked Roy Goose, who is a translator, to translate the lyrics back into English. Here is the rough translation:

O Canada
Our Home Country

Our strength

With the light that resides in our hearts
You have manifested yourself

It’s very powerful

This strong land.
Let it be in me.

O Canada, we live in this country,
Keep this country through our goodness
by God

O Canada, you are our country and we live in you

Related post from June 2007: Click here to see the anthem written out

A fundraiser for Haiti earthquake relief was held at the Samuel Hearne high school on Thursday night.

Anyone who wanted to participate could play music. It was a big success, with styles as different as the Community Jazz Band, country music, heavy metal guitar and my own electronic stuff.

The last two photos are of the East Coast Boys, who play Newfoundland music.

A familiar voice, Dorothy Arey, is going off the airwaves after more than 20 years.

Dorothy read the news in Inuvialuktun on CBC North. She is here shown with Wanda McLeod, (host of Northwind) and Roy Goose as well as Trail’s End’s Norbert Poitras and Patty-Kay Hamilton, plus CBC management’s Renee Pellerin who travelled from Yellowknife.

Here’s the latest soundslide: A talk between CBC’s Patty Kay Hamilton and Liz Wright, snowshoe racing coach in Fort McPherson.

McPherson is quickly becoming the NWT’s capital of the snowshoe race, and it’s nice to see people so excited about sport.

Taken just before 5pm on Saturday, on Boot Lake trails.

Another soundslide has been posted on CBC North; it brings you voices and images from the recent cadet skills competition in Inuvik.

Click here to launch:
http://www.cbc.ca/northwind/cadets.html

If you look closely, there are two ptarmigan in this picture!

One is in the background.

Here are a few dogs getting their workout on the ice road, down by Inuvik’s boat launch.

It’s common for dog owners to let their pooches run there; the dogs seem to love the open space.

Here is a close look at traditional snowshoe and mulkuk bindings used in Fort McPherson’s snowshoe race.

As you can see, people use different styles of bindings!