Photo: This kind of harvesting doesn’t require bullets

Brian Zawadski, foreground, with son Derek harvest lake ice about 10 kilometres west of Rankin Inlet Jan. 2 to start the year off with freshwater ice for tea. Zawadski tells Nunatsiaq News that local residents often get water from the Meliadine River in summer and lake ice for water in winter, preferring it to the municipal water supply which is chlorinated. Zawadski says he’ll go out three or four times during winter to harvest lake ice. Some lucky Nunavummiut are able to harvest ice from icebergs when they are frozen into sea ice near communities or when they are out travelling by snow machine. (PHOTO BY PUTULIK PHOTOGRAPHY)