My memories of Nanisivik

We first moved to Nanisivik when I was 12 years old. I was a young Inuk girl who had never spoken English. It was to be the first time I had ever lived in a dominant English-speaking cultural environment.
For a while, I felt OK knowing that I was not practising my ancestors’ cultural ways. When I moved back to Arctic Bay 15 years later, there were times I felt extremely embarrassed for not saying the proper Inuktitut words or talking the proper way or having the proper knowledge. In time I got better, thanks to all those people who were patient enough to correct me.

However, there were benefits of living in Nanisivik. As I had no other job experience previously, Nanisivik showed me what was necessary in terms of self-discipline and acquiring a good work ethic.

We all gain the knowledge that life is not always a simple task and that you have to put in an honest effort to accomplish whatever needs to be done. I knew that I would never really learn to live like southern people nor would I fully live a complete northern or traditional lifestyle, but I did learn to adapt to my surroundings and take different things from both worlds.

Nanisivik brought employment opportunities and was a place to call home. My grandfather, his sons and other relatives have been there since before the catering services and the geological crews. I’m sure that if my grandfather and my parents were alive today, they’d say the mine was meant to close eventually. I’m sure they would express gratitude that they at least were given a chance to have a job for a while.

I’d like to thank Strathcona Mineral Services for honoring the memory of my late father, Simeonie Allurut, by naming a school after him. Simeonie Allurut died on Sept. 29, 1986, in Nanisivik.
I also want to thank them for allowing our late mother, Rebecca Allurut, to stay in her house, as she continued to work and live in Nanisivik for eight years after our father passed away. She had lived in Nanisivik for at least 17 years.

Thank you for all that Nanisivik has done for our family.

Aseena Allurut
Iqaluit