Book review: Salluit HBC trader recounts an extraordinary life

Donald and Keatainak Cameron, shown here in an early photo, have been married for 43 years. (PHOTO COURTESY OF D. CAMERON)

“An Extraordinary Journey for an Ordinary Cameron Man” details Donald Cameron’s first 19 years in the North.

Most people in Nunavik know Donald Cameron well and many people around Nunavut may remember him too.

Cameron, who’s lived in Salluit for more than 30 years, spent his first 17 years, from 1966 onward, as a fur trader with the Hudson’s Bay Co., living in communities across Canada’s North.

Even if you know Cameron, you’ll learn much more about him from his new self-published book, An Extraordinary Journey for an Ordinary Cameron Man.

Cameron told Nunatsiaq News he wrote the 108-page book for his large family in Nunavik, which now includes children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“I wrote it simply, for the family,” said Cameron, now 66, of the book, which is based on his early years in the North.

Cameron said he didn’t keep a journal, but his memories, particularly of the various jobs which were involved in running the trading posts, such as carefully folding fox furs for shipping — remain clear and often humorous.

Cameron’s “extraordinary journey” started in Scotland when he was just 17 and decided to apply for a job with the HBC.

In those days, heading north was no easy task. First, he had to undergo many medical exams in southern Canada to make sure he would stay healthy for his two-year stint in the Arctic.

Then, Cameron flew to Toronto, then to Timmins, and in Timmins he had to wait for a flight with Austin Airways, which would take him on to Povungnituk (now Puvirnituq).

Sitting in Timmins, Cameron had no money left to buy a drink at the bar, as he relates in his book.

A man asked Cameron why he wasn’t having a beer.

“When I told him I was broke, he gave me a $20 bill and told me to enjoy myself before I went north, as there were no bars and little luxuries in the North. His name was Stan Deluce, the late owner of Austin Airways.”

Cameron ended up in Cape Dorset for his first posting — where he learned the ropes, mainly from Tommy Manning, the local HBC worker. He even earned an Inuktitut nickname: Oopartumik — the blusher.

“On the steps in front of the store, old ladies with traditional clothing would smoke their pipes, while inside younger mothers would sit on the store floor and breastfeed their new babies,” Cameron writes.

“Being young and from a society that frowned on breastfeeding in public, I would blush and try to ignore the breastfeeding. It did not take long for the Inuit people to come up with a nickname for me: Oopartumik, the one with the red (aupartuq) face or blusher.”

Throughout Cameron’s book, you’ll find the names of people who still make the news today — such as the now-retired Anglican minister Mike Gardener, who then lived in Cape Dorset and would “visit his parishioners on a regular basis, enjoy a cup of tea or some bannock or even raw fish or caribou.”

Cameron spent one dark winter in Cambridge Bay in the late 1960s, where, he noted, beer was sold on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and on those days, a long line of customers stretched around the store.

Cameron also worked in Coral Harbour, Qikiqtarjuaq, Rigolet, Labrador, and in Nunavik’s Kangirsuk, Deception Bay and Salluit.

Along the way Cameron met his future wife, Keatainak, of Salluit. They married on June 28, 1971.

Right after the marriage ceremony, the couple said goodbye to her parents and “with no time to celebrate the reception, we left Salluit for Deception bay before all the snow melted and open water would make it impossible to get back to the store. All this in one day, with only parka and hipwaders as wedding dress as it was difficult to purchase a suit or wedding dress on short notice.”

“We’ve been married now 43 years,” Cameron added in a recent interview.

You can still hear traces of the Scottish burr in Cameron’s accent — and his book also contains much about Scotland and his home town of Fort William.

After leaving the HBC, Cameron went on to work in Salluit as the municipal secretary-treasurer for 17 years. For the past five years, Cameron has worked as a general manager for Nuvumiut Developments, helping Nunavimmiut take advantage of opportunities in the mining industry

If you’re lucky enough to cross paths with Cameron, you can buy a book directly from him for $12 (because he usually carries a few copies).

You can order an ebook version for your Kindle or purchase a print version through Amazon or directly from Dorrance Publishing Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Cameron said he’s planning a book-signing in Salluit and hopes his book will be available as well in Nunavik’s Northern and co-op stores.

An Extraordinary Journey for an Ordinary Cameron Man
108 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4809-1088-1