One day in a lifetime of work

Elee Kango stands on the slushy shores of Iqaluit and watches wildlife officials hitch their patrol boat to a truck trailer.

He’s only wearing two hooded pullovers and track pants, and he shivers in the cold. Still, it could be worse. At this time of the morning he’d usually be in math class.

Alden Williams, a wildlife officer in Iqaluit, gives the truck some gas and yanks the boat free from the water. With the bay beginning to freeze, it’s time to store their patrol boat for the winter.

Later in the day, Kango will help take down some old cupboards, pull the sea anchor free from the shore, and help anyone who comes into the wildlife office fill out paperwork.

He just shrugs his shoulders when asked what he wants to do when he grows up.

Elsewhere in town, Sateana Ell arrived to work half an hour early — partly because she was excited, and partly because her watch was broken.

She spent the day with Koovian Flanagan, assistant deputy minister of justice. They visited the Baffin Correctional Centre, the halfway house, the justice department offices, and the young offenders centre.

The halls of the young offenders centre were quiet and empty when she visited. The inmates were gone, playing hockey for several hours. A day earlier they shot 12 seals and learned how to skin them from elders.

She’s kept track of her ideas by jotting them down on paper. One corner of a page says: “I want a job that I like, or even love. I don’t want a job that I hate, and maybe I’ll be in the department of justice.”

She wants to be a judge. That means she’ll need six years of university and about 10 years experience as a lawyer. Right now she needs to focus on getting good grades.

Her dad was once a warden at BCC, and her mother works as a corrections officer at the youth corrections centre. Now she has a better understanding of what her mom does for a living. “She’s trying to help them, so they won’t go there again,” she said.

She’s also doodled on her page pictures of a flower, a devil and a heart with wings.

“I like colours. So maybe I’ll go to art school or something.”