Visiting clergyman witness to Kangirsuk’s violent crisis

When Rev. Brian Burrows arrived in Kangirsuk at the end of January, he had no idea that his three-month stay would coincide with a period of crisis in this Ungava Bay community — starting with the violent death of a woman, and ending with a recent fire caused by a group of gas-sniffing teens.

“Kangirsuk should be an ideal community: it has a beautiful setting, but there has been violence of all kinds,” Rev. Burrows said in an interview shortly before he left Kangirsuk to return to his home in southern Ontario.

To reach that vision of an ideal community, Rev. Burrows is working with local leaders from the Anglican Church to start a youth brigade.

“The idea is to grapple with the discipline in the schools and the level of violence. If you begin with the children young enough, then you can impart solid core values,” said Rev. Burrows.

The brigade plans to offer kids a wide variety of activities — crafts, singing, games, sewing, cooking, baking, safety and first aid — “the kinds of things they can’t do in Sunday school,” and include cultural activities with a social service, such as fetching ice for elders.

Brigade Canada is affiliated with the Girls’ and Boys’ Brigade, which is the oldest uniformed Christian children’s organization in the world. It began in England in 1883. Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts, was a Brigade leader.

Rev. Burrows sees the program in the today’s North as a way of reaching youth aged five and up. The younger children can be involved in badge work, he said, while elders, parents and hunters will help the older children and youth learn how to hunt, fish, cook and sew.

If the churches and communities are to become self-supporting, this kind of program is needed, Burrows believes. That’s because, in his opinion, there will never be enough employment in Nunavik to meet the need for jobs. He said the brigade may inspire young adults to access markets for their crafts and skills, and enter apprenticeship programs.

To date, 20 communities across the Eastern Arctic Diocese have requested training for leaders in the brigade program.

Over the next few weeks, Rev. Burrows and his wife Rita will provide training via tele-conference for Kangirsuk’s brigade leaders.

The Burrows are no strangers to northern Quebec and the Baffin region: they spent 13 years in Puvirnituq and Iqaluit during the 1960s and 70s.

At that time, there were no doctors and no policemen in the whole of northern Quebec, recalls Rev. Burrows.

“Maybe in Fort Chimo [as Kuujjuaq was known then], but certainly not in Povungnituk [Puvirnituq’s former name].”

The daily life that Rev. Burrows remembers was far from perfect, but he said his Inuit parishioners were disciplined, because they were hunting to survive.

“That in itself imposed a training discipline and an obedience to parents — it’s all linked,” he said.

When Rev. Burrows was in Povungnituk in the 1960s, Kangirsuk was much better off, with its rich fish and caribou resources. During this visit, he saw that people have new technological resources — better housing, snowmobiles, vehicles and satellite television.

What’s lost today, Rev. Burrows said, is that sense of discipline, which endured even in the face of adversity.

The violent turmoil in Kangirsuk reminded him of Iqaluit during the late 1960s when, in a two-year period, he buried 24 parishioners, of whom 17 died from violent causes.

During his stay in Kangirsuk, Rev. Burrows served as a substitute religion teacher at Sautjuit School, where, because he is fluent in Inuktitut, he had a chance to work with students.

Rev. Burrows was shocked by the level of violence he witnessed between students at the school — which he believes is an imitation of what the kids see at home.

“It’s almost as if the sins of the father are visiting the children. It’s as if the parents are behaving like children with one another, and the children are behaving like the parents. This is a serious thing.”

He found even tiny children at the child care centre were capable of showing meanness. This means they’re learning it at home, even at an early age, he fears.

“At the home, the radio is on, so you can still hear Inuktitut, music from Johnny Cash and Charlie Panigoniak, square-dancing, etc. and then, you have the television on all the time, which shows you what’s going on in the South,” he said.

“There’s no screening so you get everything. All these words I wouldn’t let my children or grandchildren use are in the homes.”

Added to that, said Rev. Burrows, is the increasing presence of non-Inuit who no longer think it’s necessary to learn Inuktitut — as was the case when he arrived in northern Quebec as a young minister.

“In those days it was considered natural that people would learn the language to communicate. Now that’s another big change,” he said. “I’m considered like a novelty. People say ‘inuktituusuungugavit’ — you speak Inuktitut! You think teachers would want to learn.”

This lack of mutual understanding and cultural connection has also contributed to a lack of the discipline and sense of belonging in the community.

Rev. Burrows made a point of visiting homes during his stay in Kangirsuk — and many were shocked: “They looked at me like what’s the matter? It was rather like they would do in the South.”

During his sermons, Rev. Burrows often spoke about healing and reminded people about the Ten Commandments: church is one way of exchanging of ideas through the Old Testament and exploring how problems were tackled before, he said.
Rev. Burrows said he is hoping Kangirsumiut will rally around the brigade for their children’s sake.