Eastern Arctic elders enjoy gathering in Cape Dorset

Ping and Lau Ottokie of Cape Dorset on the last night of the Eastern Arctic elders’ gathering held last week in their community, when elder’s dressed up in traditional clothes for a final goodbye. (PHOTO BY JUSTIN NOBEL)

A bounty of food from the land: elders enjoy a feast of country foods during their gathering last week in Cape Dorset. (PHOTO BY JUSTIN NOBEL)

The smallest clothes contest during last week’s elders’ gathering in Cape Dorset grew hoots of laughter/ (PHOTO BY JUSTIN NOBEL)

JUSTIN NOBEL

Elders from across Nunavik and Nunavut met in Cape Dorset last week for a gathering that included soccer, dress-up contests and a giant feast of stewed seal, caribou, Arctic char and bowhead maktak in the 17th time the elders’ gathering has been held.

More than 150 elders attended the event, from eight different communities in Nunavik and South Baffin, including Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Coral Harbor, Repulse Bay, Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Kuujjuaq and Kangirsuk.

Elders from Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq were unable to attend because of bad weather.

On the first night, there was a show in the gym of Sam Pudlat Elementary School that featured a group of four women parading across the floor in the world’s “smallest clothes.”

One woman wore Spiderman tights with a matching cap and top.

Another wore a pink parka about three sizes too small, zipped all the way up to the neck. Her feet were shoved into tiny slippers. The women stood in the center of the gym for nearly 10 minutes while the crowd laughed uproariously and snapped photos.

Afterwards, Nowdlak Oshuituk serenaded the audience with his guitar playing, then told a series of funny stories.

Thursday was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies. Elders gathered on the ball field and divided up between Nunavik and Nunavut for an intense game of soccer played with a small fuzzy ball made of sealskin.

Community members ringed the field, sitting in wood chairs or on the front steps of nearby homes and cheering loudly. Helpers rushed plastic cups of water out to the players.

Nunavik won 3-2.

“I love soccer, I’ll play any day,” said Lizzie Epoo York, 57, of Kuujjuaq.

Elders over 55 are eligible to attend the gathering and this was Epoo York’s second time there. Last year, she says the majority of the players were men. “I was happy to see more women this year,” she said.

After the soccer came baseball and Nunavut got even. They won 11-7.

On Thursday evening, a massive feast was held at a park just outside the community.

Laid out on flaps of cardboard spread out amongst the rocks were strips of dried char, piles of fresh char, neatly cut quarters of raw caribou, two freshly killed seals and even two large sections of bowhead maktak, flown in from the Iqaluit hunt.

Caribou stew with potatoes and carrots simmered in huge scorched pots.

Bad weather the week before the conference prevented many hunters from going out on the land and the gathering’s planning committee were unsure they were going to get meat.

“We thought there would be no food,” said Qapirrualuk Padluq, one of the event’s organizers.

But folks from Repulse Bay and Kuujjuaq brought in caribou and a break in the weather allowed Dorset hunters to go out for seal.

“Everyone had enough, we didn’t even finish all the food,” said Padluq. “I almost cried, we even had maktak.”

Non-elder residents of Cape Dorset attended the feast too, including RCMP officers and nurses. A few of those new in town wandered around wide-eyed, taking it all in.

“The caribou was very good, I had seal stew too,” said Gaétan Lauzon, a new construction inspector with the Nunavut Housing Corp., who recently moved to Cape Dorset.

“The seal was very tender, and the sauce was thick.” Lauzon even considered trying bowhead maktak. “At first I didn’t want to try it,” said Lauzon. “Then I changed my mind but by then the maktak was gone.”

For many elders, the event not only connected them with old friends and relatives but also made them realize just how youthful they still were. “I don’t feel like I’m an elder,” said 60-year-old Qalingo Tookalak of Puvirnituq.

“I love being with the elders,” added Epoo York. “It’s a chance to get away from the grandchildren and just relax.”

Next year’s conference will be held in the tiny Nunavik community of Aupaluk.

On the last night of the gathering members of the community filed into the gym and elders told stories and gave advice.

“You have to help the elders,” said an 82-year-old woman from Iqaluit. “You’ll all be old too. You have to help other people, share with them your small food.”

Outside, the youth had a gathering of their own.

As the setting sun turned the sky orange young children played on the swing set of the elementary school’s playground and teenagers chatted in groups. What did they think of the elder’s gathering?

“The elders are funny,” said Neevee Jaw, 16, of Cape Dorset. “And silly, and amazing.”