Elders teach traditional skills at Resolute camp

A seven-foot long narwhal tusk, musk ox skins, fish, muktuk, meat and many, many memories: that’s what participants in Resolute Bay’s first elder and youth camp brought back home with them.

At the end of August, 10 young people and four elders from Resolute Bay spent 11 days out on the land. There, elders Nangat Idlout, Simeonie Amagoalik, Elizabeth Gunn and Simon Idlout passed on a wealth of traditional knowledge to a much younger generation.

Resolute’s youth committee helped select the two young women and eight young men, 16 to 30, who participated in the camp: Solomon Idlout, Angela Idlout, Leah Alexander, Pauloosie Attagootak Jr., Peter Amarualik Jr., Tommy Sudlovenick, Norman Nungaq, Jeff Amarualik and Tracy Kudloo.

On Aug. 16, the group loaded gear on to a Twin Otter before heading off to Creswell Bay, the site of an outpost camp about an hour by air from Resolute.

“Netsilik people used to live there and there’s lots of fish, narwhal and musk ox,” said the hamlet’s recreation director, Joadamie Amagoalik, in an interview from Resolute Bay.

Amagoalik also served as the camp boss “so the elders didn’t have to wake the youth up in the morning.”

The group often held meetings to discuss what to do with the youth — and to see how the elders and youth could work together.

“In the beginning the elders, they would go to bed eight, nine or 10 in the evening, and the youth were going to sleep at three or four in the morning. They basically had to get the youth on the elders’ time because they wanted to get going around nine in the morning. They compromised, and the youth compromised, and everyone started around 10. They had to learn from each other, that everybody has to compromise.”

The traditional activity of hunting narwhal mobilized everyone in the camp. Before heading out, the group had a meeting about who should go out to catch narwhal because the elders were worried that the hunt could be dangerous.

“The elders were concerned. They didn’t want too many people in the boat, so myself and Jeff Amagoalik went out with the elders,” Amagoalik said. “It was pretty hard to catch.”

The narwhal they landed was a large male, with a 17-foot body with a seven-foot tusk.

“The elders were teaching the youth. Some of them had some idea of how to cut it up, but the whole body was cut up just to show the youth how to do it, how to take the head off with the narwhal tusk in there, and how to take the sinew off the back. All the useful parts of the narwhal were basically identified,” Amagoalik said.

The group also caught one large and one small musk ox and completely butchered them and prepared the meat and fur.

“We caught a lot of fish, too. There were thousands of fish. Everyone got tired of eating fish!”

During the day, the young people paid attention to the elders as they explained what to do in Inuktitut, and, through this, were able to learn many new words. One night, an elder told the group scary ghost stories from her childhood.

Long-time hunter, cold-weather survival expert and Canadian Ranger, Simon Idlout, who was recently passing through Iqaluit, said he and the other elders who participated in the camp were happy to work with the young people and pleased with their interest.

The local youth committee was able to organize this year’s camp, thanks to a recommendation from a Qikiqtani Inuit Association youth meeting for such a camp and money that had been set aside for a community activity.

The skins, tusks, and horns resulting from the camp’s hunt will be sold to benefit the community youth committee. The meat from the narwhal and musk oxen went to a community feast.

Assistance from Kenn Borek Air, Nanuk Outfitting, local radio operators and elders — “because they really helped us” — were key in making the camp a success, said Amagoalik.

As a bonus, the school is giving credit to students who attended the camp.

Next year, Amagoalik hopes to see a repeat of the experience for youth in the community.

“They learned a lot. Especially here in Resolute where about 90 per cent of the community works for a living. Even though they’re working, they’re barely making it and it’s not too often that their youngsters can go out to the land for two weeks.”