Cambridge Bay family’s Nunavut Day feast to return after 1-year hiatus

William Palvialok and his wife Annie Agligoetok have begun preparing for their Nunavut Day feast, which will return this year in Cambridge Bay after the couple stepped back from hosting in 2025.

Palvialok said the family was thawing caribou meat for a stew, while Agligoetok was preparing bannock.

“It brings the community together,” Palvialok said. “My spouse and I love to see people smiling and to see all the happy faces.”

Nunavut Day marks Parliament’s passage of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the Nunavut Act on July 9, 1993.

The family’s feast is scheduled to take place Thursday at 5 p.m. outside their home, across from the Anglican church. The event follows the hamlet’s celebration at the ball field behind Kiilinik High School, which is planned for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Palvialok’s country food gathering is a separate, family-led event that he and Agligoetok have hosted for more than 20 years.

The menu this year will include caribou, seal, maktaaq, goose, muskox, as well as filleted and fried pissi, all of which Palvialok harvested in the past year, he said.

Residents help themselves to country food during the Palvialok family’s 2024 Nunavut Day gathering outside their Cambridge Bay home. (Photo courtesy of William Palvialok)

“I’m 68 years old now and becoming an elder, and it’s getting harder every year for me to travel these long distances [to hunt],” he said, adding that he sometimes travels up to 18 hours and has gone as far as Baker Lake to harvest caribou.

“But I’m still acting like I’m 20 years old because I love to do it.”

The cost and work that goes into hosting the feast have become a challenge, and the family had to cancel the event last year.

Palvialok estimates it costs between $3,000 and $5,000 each year for ingredients, fuel and supplies.

“We’ve been doing this out of our own pockets,” he said.

This year was the first time the family asked for donations. Palvialok approached B2Gold for support but was told the company was already contributing to the hamlet’s event.

However, the local Co-op, Northern store, childcare society and community justice office donated ingredients like flour, soup mix and potatoes.

Palvialok said hunters from Ontario and British Columbia and as far as Wisconsin in the United States have sent the family large pots, after seeing photos of previous gatherings on Facebook.

Members from the nearby Canadian High Arctic Research Station are also volunteering at the feast. 

Palvialok said that the family served about 700 plates in 2024 and that this year they have prepared enough for about 1,000.

“People thank us every year and are glad we’re serving our elders country food,” he said. “That’s why we try to do it every year.”