Taissumani: Sept. 3, 1925 — Nuqallaq Returns to Pond Inlet

KENN HARPER

Last week I wrote of the trial of Nuqallaq at Pond Inlet in 1923, and his conviction for manslaughter in the death of Robert Janes. Nuqallaq was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba.

Imprisonment was hard on Nuqallaq. His half-sister, Agatha Tongak, summed it up succinctly, “He worked so hard that he got tuberculosis.” He found solace in his Bible, written in Inuktitut syllabics. He spoke only a little English. He was very much alone.

Less than six months after Nuqallaq’s imprisonment began in Stony Mountain, he received a surprise visitor. It was none other than Captain Munn, a trader who had operated a post near Pond Inlet, in competition to Robert Janes, and whom Nuqallaq knew well. Munn found Nuqallaq much thinner than when he had last seen him in 1922, and he complained that his food was “no good.” Nuqallaq sweated through the whole interview and Munn thought that the heat of the jail was too much for him to bear.

Munn began immediately to press Ottawa to release Nuqallaq early under a Ticket of Leave, and send him back to Pond Inlet to work for the police there. Munn thought Nuqallaq had lost the will to live and was not likely to survive a second year in jail.

This put another series of bureaucratic procedures in place. Munn’s claims had to be investigated and the old trader’s veracity considered. The opinion of the RCMP was solicited, and they were very much against Nuqallaq’s early release, as were most of the bureaucrats at the Department of the Interior.

Then in March of 1924, Nuqallaq’s health suddenly took a turn for the worse. He was admitted to hospital with influenza, and an examination showed tuberculosis bacilli present. His weight had dropped to 146 pounds. The prison doctor thought that “…he will continue to fail very rapidly if still confined in the Penitentiary. Were he living in the open air night and day, he would have a better chance of recovery.”

Finally, in the late spring of 1925, the Governor General granted a Ticket of Leave to allow Nuqallaq to return home on the ship that summer.

Aboard the Arctic, Nuqallaq was housed in one of the whaleboats on deck. The fresh air on the early part of the trip brought a marked improvement to his health. Off Cape Mercy, with the ship in the pack, he even went for a walk on the ice. But by early August he was sick again, with pain in his chest, and coughing. The doctor diagnosed pleurisy. He was given eggs, milk and whiskey as treatment, but soon became impatient for heavier food, and ate ravenously for a number of nights. He despaired of reaching Pond Inlet alive, and convinced himself that the inlet would be full of ice and prevent his return.

Finally, on Sept. 3, the ship reached Pond Inlet. Nuqallaq dressed up in a white man’s suit for his return. He went ashore and was greeted by his young wife, Ataguttiaq. His sole possessions were $3.15, a ring with five stones for his wife, his Ticket of Leave, and his Inuktitut Bible, which he is said to have carried everywhere with him. The government officials aboard the Arctic watched the reunion of Nuqallaq with his people, and reported that “…there was no demonstration when he arrived. He was still considered in the bad books of the white man because of his crime…”

When Nuqallaq was taken away in the fall of 1923, he left behind a young and attractive wife, Ataguttiaq. She began a relationship with a young policeman, Ernie Friel — Makkulaaq — the youngest of four officers stationed at Pond Inlet.

He was an active young man, who learned to drive a dog team and maintained a trap line on Bylot Island. Friel’s relationship with Ataguttiaq was open and known to all in the district. In February, 1925, Ataguttiaq bore Friel’s child, a boy named Arnakallak. He remained with his mother for only the first three days of his life, then was given to his grandparents, Qamaniq and Makpainuk, to be raised. Nuqallaq learned of the existence of this little boy as soon as he arrived. It didn’t matter. He accepted him. The important thing was that he was home.

One of Nuqallaq’s first desires was for a good feed of seal meat. The police provided him a tent, and did what they could to make his quarters comfortable. After his meal, he went to bed and was still there when the ship departed for the south. In fact, he was dying. The ship’s doctor noted, “He was expectorating some blood… The prognosis is grave.”

During the next two months, Nuqallaq hunted seals sporadically. In November he worked for some days for the Hudson’s Bay Company, then left with his wife and others for Arctic Sound to hunt. One day, his hunting partner, Kipumii, fell through the ice. Nuqallaq was unable to reach him, and shouted at the top of his voice for help. Others heard him and saved Kipumii, but Inuit believe that the exertion that his shouting put on his badly damaged lungs worsened his health.

The police visited Nuqallaq at Emerson Island in the middle of November, and found him sick and confined to a damp and cold snowhouse. On December 5, he died. He was buried at a place called Iqaluit in Tay Sound.

Judge Rivet’s sentence had been a death sentence after all.

Taissumani: A Day in Arctic History recounts a specific event of historic interest, whose anniversary is in the coming week. Kenn Harper is a historian, writer and linguist who lives in Iqaluit. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.