Early Inuit Interpreters in the Kivalliq

In the 200 years prior to the Hudson Bay Co.'s establishment of its trading post at Churchill, Inuit did not live on the Kivalliq coast south of Chesterfield Inlet. That coast was inhabited, at least seasonally, by Chipewyan Indians.

But the building of the post in 1717 changed all that. Almost immediately, Inuit were drawn south, warily at first because of their long-standing enmity with the Indians, to trade with the HBC.

Only two years after the post was established, the chief factor, Henry Kelsey, was on a trading voyage north of the post. He encountered a number of Inuit at Knapp's Bay, a little to the south of Whale Cove, and traded successfully with them.

Kelsey suggested to the Inuit that they send two young men to Churchill to spend the winter at the post. They would return the next year, he promised. He offered to leave two Indian boys who happened to be aboard the sloop, perhaps as crew members, with the Inuit as hostages.

The historical record doesn't specify whether they were Chipewyan or Cree, both of which traded into Churchill. HBC records refer to them only as "slaves," and all we know of them is that their names were Andrew and Daniel. The Inuit took Kelsey up on his offer, took custody of Andrew and Daniel, and turned over two teenaged boys to Kelsey. Their real names went unrecorded. Kelsey called them Jerry and Sharper.

Kelsey hoped the boys would learn English over the winter, along with an understanding of what the Europeans required as items of trade. The Inuit leaders' reasons for agreeing to send the boys may have been much the same. Both sides apparently wanted to use Jerry and Sharper to forge a positive relationship on which to build future trade.

Kelsey was true to his word. The next year, the two teenagers were returned by ship safely to their people. They were reported to have learned English quickly and to have been "very agreeable." Andrew and Daniel did not fare so well. They died sometime during the winter at Knapp's Bay – the cause was not recorded.

It was many years before other young Inuit spent a winter at Churchill. In 1755 a group of Chipewyan massacred a number of Inuit at Knapp's Bay. The next year, the Inuit of Knapp's Bay decided to send two young men to Churchill, again to learn the customs of the white men, perhaps hoping also to earn the protection of the traders against the Chipewyan.

Their names are unknown, but in succeeding years, young Inuit often wintered at Churchill. Almost all were boys, but there was at least one woman who served as an interpreter for the company in those years. The Englishmen gave her the name of Doll; she sailed on company trading ships in 1765 and 1766.

From 1765 until 1771 two or three young Inuit men wintered at Churchill every year, recruited on the company's vessel's visits to Knapp's Bay, Whale Cove and Marble Island. Only one name has survived, a "lad about 14 years of age" named Petee Gunn. He spent two years at the post and learned Cree as well as English.

The Hudson's Bay Company had hoped that their young Inuit recruits would learn English and that the company's traders would learn Inuktitut. But while it was true that most of the young men picked up English quickly because they were surrounded by English speakers, the traders learned little Inuktitut because there were no other Inuktitut speakers at the post other than the boys.

In 1774, Andrew Graham, then chief factor at Churchill, gave instructions to the master of the trading sloop which was about to embark on a trading voyage north, taking with him two young men who had wintered with him. He wrote:

"I have sent two Esquimaux boys with you, Alarick and Hoebuck, as interpreters and to see their friends. Permit them to distribute amongst them the small presents I have given them for that purpose, and if they are agreeable to return, to bring them back with you… "

The instructions continued:

You are to… cause the Esquimaux boys, your interpreters, to acquaint their countrymen to be ready at the sea-side with what commodities of trade they can procure against the arrival of a vessel next summer; also for them to inform others whom they may meet with."

Alarick and Hoebuck did not return with the vessel to Churchill. But four other young Inuit passed the next winter there. The practice of Inuit young men spending a winter or two at Churchill to learn English and become facilitators for trade with their own communities continued for many years.

Thus we see that, well over two hundred years ago, certain Inuit families and camp leaders saw the advantage of having bilingual youth in their midst. One can easily imagine that there was considerable competition to have a son chosen to spend a winter in Churchill.

Taissumani recounts a specific event of historic interest. Kenn Harper is a historian, writer and linguist who lives in Iqaluit. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.