Life in Inuvik, Northwest Territories

Firefighters were called to this house on Saturday after it caught fire.

No one was injured, but the building suffered a lot of damage.

The dry climate here means that fires are a real danger, even in winter.

This is Tuktoyaktuk’s ”St.Vincent de Paul” community store, which allows people to donate and salvage items. It’s also a cozy place for people to take shelter from the cold.

The churches in Tuktoyaktuk and especially the Catholic Church with resident sister Faye Trombley are very active in Tuktoyaktuk.

Here is Sister Faye (left) plucking geese with a girl from the community, on the front steps of the Catholic building called Father’s House.

Here’s the bay in Tuktoyaktuk which is the beginning of the ice road. In the distane are a pingo and the beginnings of a tee-pee shape.

Tuktoyaktuk is a community of about 900 people which can be reached by ice road a few months of the year.

As you can see from the last picture, someone there has a St.Bernard.

Many of the buildings are getting quite old.

Driving to Tuktyaktuk, the sun is diffused by ”ice fog.”

A pingo can be seen in the first picture.

Here’s a truck maintaining the ice road on the way to Tuktoyaktuk.

The Arctic Winter Games are coming up and they include arctic sports. Games like the one-foot high kick, two-foot high kick, Alaskan high-kick, the airplane, etc.

These photos were taken at the recent tryouts held in Inuvik at Sie Alexandre Mackenzie School.

A blanket of snow covers the trees and trails (and even half of one unused building.)

This time of year is very nice as the sunlight returns.

Inuvik has a television channel which is nothing but a Powerpoint presentation. It loops 24 hours a day and allows for advertising of town events, jobs, notices, happy birthday messages, etc.

It’s an extremely useful service, which people call ”the rolling channel.”

Inuvik, at night, is a small illuminated patch surrounded by darkness.

A Monday night walk under the northern lights, in early February.

A raven enjoys the sunset around 5:30 in the afternoon, before flying away.

The days are now getting longer.

The day after the house fire, the house was covered in icicles: This is the water pumped by firefighters.

No heat left here.

A house caught fire this week. It was -35 degrees and the firefighters had to struggle with frozen pipes for a few minutes.

Thankfully there was no wind, the fire was contained to one building.

Inuvik has volunteer firefighters. They keep cell-phones or radios on them during their day jobs, and can rush out in case of emergency.

The dry climate makes buildings prone to fires.

These two flags at the Inuvik Regional Hospital whipped so fast they tore.

One hundred kilometre-an-hour wind causes damage!

Visibility gets very poor when the temperature gets cold. The ice fog tends to stay low to the ground at minus 40 celcius or colder.

Front rack and bungee cords allow for the carrying of groceries. Frozen foods arrive still frozen, of course…

Here’s a shot of workers shoveling snow after the blizzard.

Strong winds continue today, with gusts about 50km/hour.

This shot also gives you an idea of the darkness in the morning just before 9am.

Here is the keyhole at the office. Cold temperatures outside.

Inuvik is one of many communities hit by a blizzard today.

Winds were gusting to more than 90 kilometres an hour. Many people who tried to drive were getting stuck on the roads, and both the schools and government offices shut down.

These photos were taken today around 6pm

The sun is back!

It had been about 30 days since people in town had last seen it.

Now the days will continue to get longer by a few minutes a day.

Last night around 11:30, Inuvik’s electricity went out for about a half-hour. This is the second outage this week; the other one happened earlier this week and lasted about an hour.

Most of the power currently comes from turbines burning natural gas; however there is a diesel backup system. (It might be used more in the future, as Inuvik is looking for a new source of natural gas.)

The Inuvik Regional Hospital and other places have backup generators in case this happens.

Here’s a section of the town’s utilidors, which looks like a big red bolt.

The utilidors need a lot of repair in some parts, they are getting old…

Parks Canada recently set up a videoconference between Grade 4 students in Inuvik and Vancouver.

The BC class was on a field trip at the Vancouver Aquarium. They were learning about the arctic and got to ask a few questions from the young people in Inuvik, and vice-versa.

The Vancouver children were impressed to learn about the lack of sunlight this time of year, how cold it was, etc.

A neat little exchange.

Here’s the sun-glow starting to appear on a lazy Christmas weekend…just before noon.

Stanton’s is one of Inuvik’s three grocery stores. They carry produce, dry foods, cans and bread which they sell frozen.

It’s an excellent store which is geared a little more towards large orders. Most people bring their cars and stock up on boxes of food.

The ice crossings which intercut the Dempster Highway recently opened, which means we have more fresh food coming in.

A small group of people take Inuvialuit-language courses at the recreation centre every week.

Here are some signs, with colourful reminders of words and phrases.

During the winter it’s always a good idea to get active. Inuvik has great gym facilities which are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The passes are only about $40 a month and you get a magnetic swipe card. You can stop by any time. There are treadmills, weights, rowing machines, presses, stair machines and more.

It’s always nice to see a dog with a well-built and roomy doghouse. Often here you see dogs tied to posts and exposed to the elements.

This one even has a name tag and lucky horseshoe. To whoever did this: well done!

Northern lights were swirling above Inuvik recently. The mosque (now installed a year ago and counting!) has a bright spire with a crescent moon.

Making an ice road sometimes means flooding with water. You add a few inches. wait for it to freeze, and then repeat later.

Here, a crew outside Tsiigehtchic uses a water sprayer across the frozen Mackenzie and Arctic Red rivers, to solidify the ice crossing for the winter season.

The short sunlight hours — we’re almost the darkest time of the year now — mean a lot of driving with headlights on. This photo was taken around 4pm, but it was as dark as the late night.

There isn’t much noise as you walk around Tsiigehtchic, pop. 120

The little town has an amazing view of the Arctic Red and Mackenzie Rivers, and it’s also known as a fishing village in the summer. There is a post office, a school, a skating rink, a local Gwich’in Band (with Chief) and a small store. Also new this year is an Aurora College centre for adult education.

This time of year there is a beautiful pink hue to the sky during long sunrises. Some friends and I took a car to Tsiigehtchic on the weekend for some sightseeing.

The sun was still very orange around 1:30pm…and it was dark by 4:30.

“Enjoy the freedom before they notice we’re gone…..”

Spotted on the way to Tsiigehtchic: Looks like a motorist lost control for unknown reasons and skidded off the raised Dempster Highway. (The highway is on a raised platform made of gravel, so the traffic will not disturb the permafrost underneath.)

Here’s a quiet view of Inuvik in the November snow. We’re now hitting tmeperatures of minus 30 celcius.