Monthly Archives: May 2007

Last night, a fire alarm resounded throughout the apartment building.

By coincidence, (maybe they are related, I don’t know) a power outage had also shorted all my clocks to flash 12:00.

I exited the building — wearing slippers, standing in 24-hour sunlight — and realized: “I have no idea what time it is.”

Was it 2am? Was I late for work, had I slept in because of the alarm? I could hear birds. What did that mean? How long had I slept?

I later listened to the radio and discovered it was 6:50am.

If you want extra pulp orange juice in this town, it’ll cost you.

From Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir of Canada. “Will these vast refrigerated stones one day hold modern cities and societies? Corner malls with a Lenscrafters and a Baskin Robbins?”"

As you can see, not everyone in Inuvik likes 24-hour sunlight…or the light of the flash!

(Okay, I admit the link to Inuvik is tenuous. I am just putting my friends’ pictures online.)

Here are some views from Paulatuk on May 26. The community is far above the treeline, and while these photos were taken it was possible to hear muted shotgun blasts in the distance.

Nearly everyone is hunting geese this time of year.

I asked a resident why the town was founded there. Why have 300 people living a plane ride away from the nearest town? “We’re close to everything, there’s fish, goose and caribou,” he said.

This year’s high-school graduation ceremony saw three students earn their grade 12.

The town has existed in it’s “official” (ie: government recognized) form since the 1960s.

Note: the dog is not deceased. It was just resting.

I have returned from a day trip to Paulatuk (pop.300) which is a remote community in the Beaufort Delta.

I was walking around at 2am (24/hour sunlight will do that to you) and took this picture. It’s not very interesting per se, but it’s prety cool to see the sky at that hour. You’d think it was 2pm.

This flyer is also from the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre. Can you imagine? Worldwide, only 450 fluent speakers of Inuvialuktun?

We might not have a movie theatre, but we have this place…

These antler and bone fishing tools are displayed in Inuvik’s Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre.

It’s a mini museum and library which preserves traditional culture, and should definitely be visited by anyone coming through Inuvik.

Look at the ages listed on the bone hooks! It’s uncanny!

Also interesting is the inclusion of a “labret piercing,” to be worn through a man’s cheek.

Spring is here, which means the snow is melting!

Unfortunately, it appears to be forming giant puddles. It’s a good thing homes are on stilts., which prevent the permafrost from melting during the winter.

Here’s the Google Earth picture of Inuvik. The airport is down at the lower right, and the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik is the river, driving upper left.

These metal undulations belong to Inuvik’s utilidor system; a pretty ubiquitous presence.

Living in a small town means everything is close!

This is the inside of Inuvik’s famous Our Lady of Victory Church, built in 1959 by Francophone masons.

Rev.Matthew Ihuoma allowed me to climb the stairs and photograph the city from above, which was a really unique experience.

The master of ceremonies adds wood to a stove in Tuktoyaktuk, during the recent Beluga Whale jamboree.

Pretty smart use of scrap metal, if you ask me!

Here are some views from late (very late, 2am) Saturday. It’s still winter here!

Here’s a photo taken in Fort McPherson during Peel River Jamboree.

Fun fact: Inuvik’s bylaw officer has a shed without about 40 confiscated bikes, which are waiting to be claimed.

Safe to say, bikes are stolen frequently.

Baby in McPherson with sunglasses, wearing fur trim.

Here’s a pretty common shirt around town: University of Tuktoyaktuk.

These little white birds are everywhere. They travel by the hundreds, and pick through the freshly exposed ground, since the snow is melting.

“I get no respect — no esteem, either. I went to the doctor, he told me I was in excellent shape for a beluga whale.”

Oh, exaggerated rims. They are everywhere now, including Inuvik.

You know it’s springtime when kids appear on bikes.

This is apparently a functional eatery in town. Kind of mysterious looking..

With the snow receding, we can once again see the town Utilidors.

What a sad display! Caribou is so threatened right now, it’s illegal to sell it at jamborees and community feasts, yet someone threw out the entire animal.

Did they just want the antlers?

This fabric installation is quite successful in evoking the northern lights. It was seen at the Aurora College graduation ceremony which happened last week.

The Aurora Research institute in Inuvik has a wind turbine, which is pretty cool.
Plans are underway to install turbines elsewhere in the north: Use what you have, right?