Blog

August 19, 2017

We sometimes end our days on the ship with a sharing circle; this is a loose version of a First Nations talking circle, where each member of the journey gets to express their reflection on what we have experienced.  Tonight this lasted for an hour and half; it was an incredibly rich way to build our understanding of our adventures, and of each other.  One of the reasons tonight’s circle was so valuable was to help process our visit to the town of Resolute Bay.  This Inuit community is the second most northernly community in Canada, with a population of about 250 (more if you count the steady stream of scientists and fossil fuel explorers who travel through).  Its history is well-documented (including in a Globe & Mail feature article today by Margaret Wente, who is on this journey with us.)  In brief, Inuit families from Northern Quebec were forced by the Canadian government to relocate there in the 1950s to support a sense of Canadian sovereignty in the North; they were left on a rocky shore with no food, shelter, or means of survival. We heard this story from Allie Salluviniq today, one of the last living survivors of this relocation, right at the spot where his family landed. It says so much about the resilience of this Inuit community to not only have survived this harrowing experience, but to also have made this place home.  Allie’s family greeted us warmly, introducing us to their children and welcoming us into their homes. We were fortunate to be able to return this hospitality as they joined us for dinner on the Polar Prince; having the children on board with us was a special treat!

The warmth with which we are being greeted by the Inuit we are meeting is becoming a central theme for me on this journey.  We are having experiences in the water and on the land that leave us filled with joy and awe – the North is such a beautiful part of Canada that so few get to see.  But what is proving to be most meaningful are the people I am meeting – on the ship and from the local communities, from all walks of life, and from areas of Canada I haven’t been to before. What I am learning from them is sometimes difficult to hear – as a Canadian from the south, I am shocked to learn about the neglect and atrocities that have been inflicted on Canadians in the North over the last 150 years.  I am working through my complicity in this as a person of British ancestry; my forefathers were the ones who brought this pain and suffering to the ancestors of the people I have been meeting and travelling with over the last week.  The Inuit’s warmth, hospitality, and acceptance of all of us, despite this challenging history, is a rich life lesson about diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation – one that I will take with me long after this journey is finished.

August 17, 2017

We have some remarkable people on board leg 9 of the C3 journey; with time on board as we travel from one incredible place to the next, there is lots of time for deep conversations as we eat, participate in programming, or hang out in the ‘Knot’, the ship’s lounge. We were lucky to hear from our three youth ambassadors today – Aviaq Johnston, Marta Thorpe, and Ann Makosinski. Each is impressive in her accomplishments – Aviaq is a published author, Marta is an experienced undergrad researcher (who has milked a squirrel!), and Ann already has a few inventions under her belt at 19. (Read more about each of them here.) As one of our themes is youth engagement, I’ve been interested to learn more from these young women what has led them to be fully engaged learners? Each has spoken about the power of having dedicated and skilled teachers – for Ann, it was her parents, for Aviag, a high school teacher, and for Marta, a few of her university professors on the research site near Yellowknife.  It’s a good reminder that education can take place is many settings – you don’t need a formal classroom for engaged learning to happen.

This was only reinforced by our visit to Beechey Island tonight.  This is one of the documented landing sites of the Franklin Expedition in 1845; the graves of three of the members of their expedition are buried here. With the help of David Grey (an accomplished Arctic researcher and historian), and Tom Zagon (a member of the team that has been searching for the ships of the Franklin Expedition), we got an excellent introduction, in situ, to the early British explorers of the North West Passage.  The island is a bleak yet starkly beautiful place, and we were moved by knowing we were treading in the footsteps of these courageous men (some of whom were the age of my sons now.)  On the return to our ship (and after a wonderful reception on the Coast Guard’s ship the Henry Larsen), we were reminded of the legacy of the colonial explorers on the Inuit by Jaypooti and Jena, two of the Inuit on this journey.  Their honest sharing of the negative effects of these explorations – violence, degradation, domination, and colonialism – was a thoughtful counterbalance to the British perspective that has pervaded the history many of us have been taught about the Arctic.  Jaypooti, Jena, and Aviaq are proving to be knowledgeable, generous, and respectful teachers for us all, and we are lucky to have them on this journey with us.

Aug. 16, 2017

Each day on the Canada C3 journey brings another set of remarkable adventures, and our third day was no exception! We continued our trip through Lancaster Sound to Dundas Harbour on Devon Island.  A former RCMP and Hudson’s Bay trading post, we heard a touching story from Jena Merkosak of Pond Inlet, about her grandmother’s birth in this area.  As part of the programming on board, I was honoured to give a presentation on my own research in the area of environmental art activism, connecting to the C3 themes of Environment and Youth Engagement.  Charlene followed this with a moving presentation on residential schools and Project Heart, a community arts project that honours residential school survivors.  As someone of European ancestry, coming to terms with the intergenerational trauma caused by colonialism is difficult but necessary part of the process of reconciliation.  I appreciate Charlene’s perspective in this: there is “nothing helpful in guilting white people, or in re-traumautizing indigenous people” in this process, but “we all have to take the responsibility to teach the truth; we are all teachers.”  Figuring out who the right teachers are for different parts of this process is an ongoing conversation in our group.

The afternoon found us arriving in the spectacular beauty of Croker Bay on Devon Island.  It contains a huge glacial valley, reaching down to the sea at the Bay.  I found myself in a zodiac with experienced guide Jean Castonguay, sea ice expert Tom Zagon, and new Canadian Valerii Dombrovskyi.  With Jean doing the driving, we had the ice walls of the Devon Island Ice Cap to ourselves for an hour while the others hiked on top of it. The glacier is a stunning sight, with nature proving itself to be a skilled sculptor of ice, snow, and water; shades of white, grey and blue can be found on its multiple faces, crevices and gullies.  As we cruised along its length, we passed by many bergie bits and growlers (different sizes of sea ice), reaching out to touch their smooth surfaces as they floated by.  I got a chance to try painting with pieces of teh glacier on the beach next – one of the ways I’m trying to capture the journey artistically.  A hike on the top of the glacier followed, with my first taste of the purity of glacial water.  During this visit we were captivated by the beauty of the glacier, yet we struggled with the knowledge that it is melting quickly due to human-induced climate change, along with other parts of the polar ice cap.  I worry deeply about the effects of this, and it forms in part the impetus for my own work in Environmental & Sustainability Education.

As if the day couldn’t get any better, in the evening we found ourselves on the hangar for a special dinner prepared by chef Matt Krizan from Mahone Bay, NS.  With a view of the glacier out the back, and Matt’s broad grin presenting us a fabulous meal (how did he do this in a ship’s galley?!), we toasted how lucky we are to see these beautiful parts of Canada that few get to see.  If more could see them, would everyone work towards better addressing climate change? How will I change to do this in my own life?

Note:  Not surprisingly, wifi is proving to be elusive at times.  I am writing posts daily but sometimes having a hard time getting internet access to post them – please be patient as I get caught up.