Rhythm of the Tides: my arctic experience

Iqaluit - the City of Inuit Culture

The lack of trees is one of the first things that strikes me about Iqaluit. Of course, I knew that there would be none, but despite that I feel their absence from deep inside. It's a feeling that's hard to explain.

I enjoy inhaling the fresh air: it's so invigorating. I love watching the icebergs, and I adore the patches of wild arctic fireweed and arctic cotton that we see here and there as we walk around town. I also admire the stone carvings that line the street near the legislative building and I spend much time absorbing the beauty and message of the massive statue in front of the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) building.

This sculpture depicts the Inuit nomadic life. Three major features crown it: a hunter, a muskox and a polar bear. Smaller elements include other hunters, a walrus and a drum. The message it conveys to me is, "We will remember our heritage."

NTI is the legal entity that signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) with the Federal Government and the body that monitors its terms to ensure that the Feds live up to them. This massive statue was erected on July 9, 2013 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the NLCA. It was carved by: Inuk Charlie, Paul Malliki and Looty Pijamini.

At first sight one can mistake the NTI building for that of the Royal Bank because they have a very visible branch at the corner of the first floor and an outsized logo on the building. In reality, it is arguably the most important Inuit building in town, after the legislature. The third is the Federal Government Building. Decisions made inside these three buildings affect the lives of all Inuit, and all three are located within spitting distance of each other. They define the business centre of town, commonly known as downtown.

The legislative building is worthy of note, not for its architectural features, but for the design of the main chamber where the delegates sit. This room is designed to look like an igloo with the help of a creative wood framework, which also incorporates the chamber's lighting. The delegates' wooden desks form a circle and the chairs are covered with sealskin. A traditional sled, made from the same wood, sits in the centre. When the legislature is in session, an exquisitely carved mace from a walrus tusk is placed in front of the speaker's chair. 

In this room I not only see Inuit culture, I also feel it. I'm standing in a part of Canada that is uniquely foreign to western culture, except for the mace, or its concept, which is British, but the physical object is a delicious piece of Inuit art. It is embedded with native precious stones, including rare lapis lazuli  from Kimmirut. Even though the concept of a 'speaker' is also British, the circular seating and non-partisan, non-adversarial approach practiced here makes it uniquely Inuit. This is consensus politics - a breath of fresh air for us southerners.

From downtown we go to the cultural centre in Lower Iqaluit. Here, next to each other, we find another trilogy of buildings: the museum, the tourist information centre and the elders' qammaq, the latter faces Iqaluit Square, which can be easily mistaken for a small parcel of undeveloped land. It's not a social gathering place as the name would indicate.

The Nunatta Sunakkutaangit is the foremost Inuit museum in Canada. The building, or part of it, used to be owned by the Hudson Bay Company and is one of the remaining structures from the early forties. There are three parts to this charming museum: a permanent collection comprising Inuit clothing, soapstone and whalebone carvings, traditional kayaks and hunting tools and fishing spears; a temporary exhibit area showcasing the work of modern artists; and the upper level containing relics from the Thule culture that preceded the Inuit. The piece that I find most interesting here is the ancient snow goggles (ilgaak) that allowed them to see even in a blizzard, but their primary purpose was to prevent snow blindness.

The Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre offers another taste of Inuit culture. Don and I had hopes of seeing some caribou and maybe even a polar bear on this trip. Here we come face-to-face with them, without the risk of being mauled. The centre has two functions: to showcase Inuit culture with beautiful exhibits of arts and crafts, and wild animals and birds of the arctic; and to provide help to tourists. After visiting the various exhibits we return to the reception desk to plan our second week of exploration and load up on brochures.

The elders' qammaq is not open to visitors, but we attended a special event there that I discuss in a subsequent chapter.

Our tour of the city ends at St. Jude's Cathedral, also known as the Igloo Cathedral. It is the seat of the Anglican diocese of the arctic and by far the most interesting piece of architecture in town. It should not be surprising that the church steals the show even in Iqaluit. Religious institutions  have done the same throughout the ages and throughout the world. Some of the most, if not the most, impressive buildings in the world have been built in the name of god.

From an architectural perspective, it's the only structure that incorporates Inuit culture. It's white exterior and igloo shape blend in with the natural landscape and is more in line with my expectations for something uniquely Inuit. It is probably the most photographed structure in town.

My overall impression of Iqaluit is that it's too Canadian to be Nunavuttium and not Canadian enough to be aesthetically appealing. Being a relatively new city there is very little history and very few historical sites. Born in the modern era, it has seen very rapid change with little forethought to community planning and living. The lack of trees, of course, makes a big difference, but the town planners could have compensated for that in other ways, such as stunning, or more clever, architecture and more landscaping with arctic plants and flowers. I see it in grey tones, rather than in vivid technicolour.

For me, Iqaluit is merely a collection of housing developments connected by dusty dirt roads, which turn muddy when wet. It's not a pedestrian friendly city; and for the most part, there are no sidewalks, which makes walking in the rain messy and unpleasant. All in all, the real beauty is not in town, but in its surrounding landscape and in the gorgeous sunsets and sunrises, which give this rather dull town a touch of colour. Unfortunately, at this time of year they occur when most people are sleeping, so one has to make an effort to see them.

The modern world arrived here in the forties, when the U.S. established a weather station and later a large airbase for shipping supplies to American troops in Europe. A big wave of Canadian colonists arrived during the cold war era to replace the departing Americans. Fear of a soviet nuclear attack prompted Canada and the U.S. to build a distant early warning system in response to the perceived threat. As a result, many radar stations were built across the Canadian arctic to monitor for incoming soviet bombers carrying nuclear warheads, and Iqaluit was one of the sites.

Until the Americans arrived in Frobisher Bay, Iqaluit was a small village in what is now known as Apex. It was the Americans who caused the Iqaluit villagers to move next to the base, so they could sell them goods and labour. The new settlement became known as Frobisher Bay and it wasn't until 1987 that it was renamed Iqaluit, which in Inuktitut means place of many fish.

It's crowning as the capital of Nunavut was a game changer for Iqaluit. It brought change with explosive force, causing the town to grow by leaps and bounds with minimal planning. One of the consequences is a town that feels impersonal and lacks a social dimension. I don't think I will write a song titled, I left my heart in Iqaluit.

I believe that part of the problem is also the dominance of southerners in what's supposed to be the showcase of Inuit culture. It's not the Inuit town I had expected to find. Therefore, my unfulfilled expectations could also be affecting my perceptions of the city.