Return to the Arctic

Somehow I never seemed to share the story of my return to the Arctic which coincidentally happened only a year and a half ago.

So in the spirit of “it’s finally cold outside and I have time to write this done”, let’s share Oneg and fam’s adventure back to the Arctic. But with a twist!

This time, we’re going across Canada horizontally too!

When we last joined Oneg in the north they were jammin’ in the bush of Northern Ontario…

… then they got married, got a cat, and started playing Stardew Valley…

But also, COVID hit the community, school/work shut down, and we got stuck on our asses for six months. Among other reasons, my wife and I realized it was time to move on from the small community in the middle of a very big forest. But where would we move to?

I had only taught previously in Nunavut, and after two years surrounded by trees I quite frankly missed the vast tundra. I missed the openness, the feeling of endless existence and the freedom to look beyond. I also longed for the cultural activities and traditions that I had experienced in Nunavut, like drum dancing, hunting, eating food of the land, etc. Though the First Nation community we were in had some hunters and trappers, the community had been greatly impacted by colonization and was also quite religious. And the religious aspect did make a difference as we are a queer couple, and I am also visibly queer. I have to note though, that this was not a reason for why we left. We never had any issues with locals, it was always the non-locals who stirred things up.

Anyhow, I applied to teach in a few communities in Nunavut again, but then realized that I was limiting myself to an experience that quite frankly was quite rollercoaster-y. So, I decided to take a peek to the left of the map and tried not to cringe at the distance.

Northwest Territories.

Tundra!

Far…

Why not?

I applied to one school, in the town of Inuvik- 3,000 people. It was a big step up from the 400-600 person communities so far. And it seemed to have quite a few cool opportunities while maintaining that small-hub vibe. It also seemed to be north enough that the temperatures would be acceptable. Ya know, the -30s and such.

But I never heard back.

And while I called schools and sent out more resumes, my inbox remained empty.

That is until of course, I got an email from this random place with three ‘k’s in its name- Ulukhaktok.

Try saying that three times fast.

The principal of the school there had seen my resume in the job pool and reached out saying they had an opening for a Junior High Humanities position. Perfect!

So we packed up our lives (again), and flew across Canada both horizontally and vertically to a small hamlet on an island in the arctic.

Ulukhaktok - the place where ulu parts are found.

Definitely found parts of myself here.

We’ve been here for a year and a half now and my heart has been filled. This year I teach a Grade 5/6 homeroom class and it’s quite a ball.

I’ve had the honor and privilege of going out on a musk-ox hunt with my students, enjoy ice fishing in spring and berry picking in summer. I’ve had the opportunity to learn Western and Central drum dancing, learn about and how to set fox traps, as well as skin a fox! I’ve had so many wonderful experiences here so far. So much laughter, mamaaq (yummy) food, good dancing, and the best company.

Ulukhaktokmiut (people of Ulukhaktok) are one of the friendliest people I’ve met in my life, and they have been so accepting and loving towards me and my family. Everybody loves my wife for sure (I mean, who wouldn’t), and I’ve made some really good friends here.

I’ve told a few isolated pieces about some of the fun things that have happened here so far, like about getting backwards in Tales of the First Day Back, and some poetry about Berry Picking in the Arctic and The Darkness Settles Like Snow.

But I know there’s definitely more I could write about. I guess I was just a bit too occupied living it. Sometimes that happens; we get too busy living.

Ain’t that a beautiful thing?