Sixty years later, a thank-you to Coral Harbour man

One man’s care for his fellow Inuit was remembered earlier this month when a group from Nunavik traveled to Coral Harbour from Akulivik to thank the family of the late Tommy Nakoolak for his help more than 60 years ago.

“This is to express our gratitude and recognition to the late Tommy Nakoolak and his descendents with all our hearts… to those who resided in Nottingham Islands” reads a plaque presented by the people of Akulivik to Nakoolak’s descendents.

In the 1940s, Nakoolak worked at the weather station on Nottingham Island, also known as “Tutjaat.”

“There were different Inuit families hired as guides and advisors by these nalattiit [radio operators]. Tommy Nakoolak’s family was one,” said Eli Aullaluk, the mayor of Akulivik.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Peterhead boats brought hunters from the area of Cape Smith in Nunavik over the Hudson Strait to Nottingham Island for their yearly walrus hunt. There, Aullaluk said, hunters from Nunavik received support from Nakoolak and his family: he supplied them with provisions, such as tea, tobacco, flour and even fuel for their boats.

Then, around 1943 or 1944, a sickness, most likely influenza or measles, struck a group of hunters and two of the men died. They were brothers, Mark Qumak, father of late Moses Qumak, and Danielie Qinuajuak, father of late Lucassie Qinuajuak.

“At the time, they did not return home and are buried on Nottingham Island. Ever since then, one wonders as to how the situation may have been if not for the Nakoolak family, who helped in caring for the sick, and burying the dead,” Aullaluk said.

The story of Nakoolak has become part of Akulivik’s oral history, and Aullaluk said it was told “from time to time by our fathers and mothers who are also now deceased.”

Nakoolak’s descendents, five sons and a daughter, are now elders, who live in Coral Harbour and Taloyoak: Johnny, Mark, Paulusie and Jimmy Nakoolak, and Annie Alogut. One son, Bobby Nakoolak, lives in Quaqtaq. He also traveled to Coral Harbour with the group from Akulivik.

Aullaluk said his community had been intending to honour Nakoolak for a couple of years. The long-awaited homage finally took place Sept. 29 to October 2.

“It is felt that this visit was long overdue,” Aullaluk said.

At a community feast, the visitors from Akulivik presented their plaque; the two mayors exchanged community flags; and, for the elders present, memories from the past were replaced by happy memories of the present.

“The Hamlet of Coral Harbour and its people are sincerely appreciated for their hospitality during that visit,” Aullaluk said.

The mayor of Coral Harbour, Johnny Ningeongan, said everyone in his community was touched by the visit.

“It was something that we don’t come across too often, something special, something that certainly was somewhat unexpected. It was pretty emotional,” he said.

Two years ago, Ningeongan went to Nottingham Island to revisit the island, along with Nakoolak’s descendents and relatives from Kangirsuk and Salluit, a total of 111 people. This homecoming to Nottingham was an emotional trip, he said, because many had never been there, following relocation to Southampton Island.

“They carried this pain being separated for so many years. They had carried this for more than 50 years. I recall one of them saying, ‘I came across these young snow buntings this morning, just born this summer and ready to go back home, and I’m going to do that. I’m relieved of my pain and I’m going home.’”

This pain was helped to heal even more, Ningeongan said, by the recent visit from Nunavik.
“When you have someone coming in, and recognizing a family for the efforts they gave, all these things bring back the memories, but also bring relief, at least to a degree,” Ningeongan said. “After all these years, who would have thought that somebody out there would actually be making moves to come by and say ‘thank you?’ In this day and age, this is pretty special.”