JK - What's it like to live inside the arctic circle?

[Rob Lang]

On the monkey hangout JK mentioned (in passing) he was living inside the arctic circle and I find that fascinating. I live in crowded suburban Britain, tea, cake, walking everywhere, pubs, saying "Toodaloo" rather than goodbye, shop on every corner, milkmen, talking to the postman, youthful student neighbours, barbeques when it's 5 degrees, complaining about the weather, all pretty boring. The most dangerous things I have to deal with are cyclists on pavements (sidewalks) and my mother-in-law.

If it's cool with JK, I'd like to ask a bunch of open questions. If you want me to STFU, please do!

What's it like? what sort of daily challenges do you have? What support is there when the chips are down? Is it easy to get stuff where you are?

[J.K.Mosher]

To get a glimpse of what the flora, fauna and land is like here is a link to a page I admin . . . it has multiple pictures of many things . . . please be aware some of the pics are graphic (ie dealing with meat wastage) and some are just posters, but those pics in the "wildlife albums" should give an idea of what is around me.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ehdiitat ... tos_albums

I live in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada. If you look it up it is the burial place of the "Mad Trapper of Rat River". We are located in the Mackenzie River Delta.

We have two stores that are a combination of groceries, and dry goods.

During late spring, the summer, and early fall the only way out of the community is via small planes, or boat.
Late Fall, Winter and Early Spring we still use planes, but can also leave the community via the Ice Road, and skidoo.

From Late June to Early August we have nearly 24 hour daylight. From Late November to Mid January we see nearly 24 hour darkness.

Temperatures here range from +40 to -40 depending on the time of year. (That's Celsius).

We have un-paved roads, the mail is flown in three times a week. Most freight is flown in, except for during winter road when it can be trucked in over the ice road or late summer when we get the fuel barge in.

Aklavik's population is predominately aboriginal in descent (Gwich'in and Inuvailuit) . . . in fact my better half grew up here, she is of Gwich'in Descent. Current population for the town I believe is around 650 to 600 people.
Fishing and hunting are the main pastimes for when not working.

Support . . . we are basically isolated so the community supports each other during times of need. Medically if it is too serious for the local health center to handle you get "medi-vaced" out on a twin engine plane to either Inuvik, Yellowknife, or Edmonton.

We do have an RCMP detachment with 3 officers.
The courts, Doctors, and Dentists come through the community on a semi regular basis ranging from monthly to once every three months.

We have a School (Moose Kerr) that handles grades primary/kindergarten to 12. A local learning center for upgrading, and short courses run by Aurora College.

We have 3 governments here . . . the local Hamlet (municipal affairs) the Aklavik Community Corporation (Inuvailuit Land Claim Organisation) and the Ehdiitat Gwich'in Council/Aklavik Indian Band (Gwich'in Land Claim Organization/Treaty Organization.)

Community Services are delivered to individual houses via a trucking system. (We get water delivered to our home three times a week, and sewage pump out the same.)

Stuff is getting easier to get due to online ordering, but still have to wait for the mail, as weather can make that severely delayed.

Did I miss anything?

[Rob Lang]

Mate, that is superb. I've been hunting pics and info online and you live in a beautiful-but-can-kill-you-if-you-don't-respect-it kind of way.

The idea of supplies being flown in is alien to me, I bet you have a cracking food reserve in case the winter goes mad and tries to kill everyone. I'd love to have a go on a skidoo one day, they look like a riot.

It was interesting reading about the use of renewable resource (sounds like your speciallity), hunting of game is OK but not using the meat for consumption is illegal. I love the idea of waste being illegal, it's a no-nonsense practical idea.

Aklavik seems like the town that simply won't go away, no matter how hard the government wish it.

Do you get much tourism?
Does everyone know everyone - is that actually true about small places?
What is the relationship between the aboriginal and, errr... not-aboriginal?
Is there such a mix that it isn't an issue any more or is there an outsider feeling?
Do you hear Aboriginal languages spoken very often?

[J.K.Mosher]

Food reserve . . . sort of . . . we are surrounded by rivers and lakes so fish is always available, we have rabbits, ptarmigan, moose, dalls sheep, caribou, and musk ox so if meat is a problem we can always attempt a hunt.

I do have a small supply of basics just in case, some canned goods, flour, sugar, dried pastas and soup mixes. Both stores routinely carry a three month supply of "basics".

In the NWT it is illegal to waste or leg go to waste the meat of any large game animal fit for human consumption. It's based on the traditions of the aboriginal populations. I moved from the Renewable Resource Council to the Finance Office in May of this year. So I'm slightly out of the loop for what is currently happening. But it's fun to get out on the land and I still attempt to do that when I can.

Inuvik was created when the government decided they didn't like the Aklavik site as it is prone to flooding in the spring.

Tourism is starting to increase, and the local organizations are working on improving it.
Everyone does sort of know everyone . . . a lot of people are related by marriage or blood ties.

The relationship between aboriginals and non-aboriginals is pretty good. There is a lot of history from the residential school period that has to be worked through, but generally speaking if you come to stay in the community you are part of the community. I've been here since 97, so I'm not longer from "down south" I'm from Aklavik.

The outsider feeling does happen, but kinda of relates to how the individual relates to the community. If you come into the community with a "chip on your shoulder' or something to prove and don't open yourself up to the community you get the outsider treatment. If you make and attempt to be a member of the community, the community welcomes you.

The elders speak it more than the more recent generations.
I know a few words in both Inuvailuitktun(sp?) and Gwich'in.

[Rob Lang]

Thanks for being so candid, this is utterly fascinating.

There's been a lot of talk here about drilling for gas/shale gas/etc, do you get much talk of it where you are?

[J.K.Mosher]

Yes we do.
As part of the Land Claim Agreements, all development needs to go through a consultation and approval process with the local Land Claim groups before it can happen. So we do have meetings with Gas/Oil companies looking to explore the arctic for gas reserves.

Currently there is talk of exploration in the Beaufort Sea area, for both oil and gas.

No Prob about talking, kinda fun

[Rob Lang]

Is the land ownership issue a bit tricky?

From my super-naive point of view, it's an area that is both aboriginal and (for want of a better word) settler-al. Land claims in other nations (such as Saudi Arabia) have always been difficult where historical populations have moved over vast areas. Not just that by a shifting geography - dunes in Saudi, I imagine deltas have shifting islands and you definitely get ice - that isn't always named (because why would you bother if it's just another little island in the delta?).

[J.K.Mosher]

The gwich'in and inuvauilt have settled land claims, I know a lot of negotiation took place to establish the claims, but I'm unsure as to how the land was determined. I do know that as per the claims that the groups have control over the access and development of any of the lands with in their claims, but do not have "ownership" of any sub-surface resources.

So though they may not "OWN" the oil/gas under their land, they control all the rights to the land, and can determine when, where and who can access those lands. This included any development . . . so if an oil company needs to build a road to get to an oil well they need to have permission and agreements in place to create the road as well as develop the oil well.

It gets confusing and convoluted . . . I can try and find links to the various land claim agreements if you are really really interested . . . they are a tough read though . . . to be honest they make ICAR look like a haraquin romance novel in comparison.

[vulpinoid]

My parents are heading up to Western Canada and Alaska next year...this really makes me want to hitch a ride with them, and take a detour to that part of the world.