We were welcomed this afternoon by the village of Ulukhaktok, formerly known as Holman Island. It’s located on Victoria Island, the eighth largest island in the world.
The village is the sixth-northernmost community in Canada. It was first permanently settled in 1937 by a single Inuit family. Today it has a population of 482, comprised of 90% Inuit, 2.5% other Canadian indigenous people, and 7.5% non-Aboriginal.
A troupe of about 40 performers came on board for a 90 minute long presentation. Demonstrations of athletic skills and competitions were followed by a series of musical performances and dances.
The large tambourine-shaped instruments are drums. They accompanied singing and dancing groups, which included everyone from a sullen teenager to a respected elder.
Our zodiacs took us to the harbor, from which we could either hike up a small hill for a view or have a hamlet tour with a local resident. Mark and I choose the latter.
The village has two churches. The Catholic church has been unused for years and is undergoing renovation. The Catholic mission arrived two years after the first permanent settlers. I don’t know how successful the mission was in conversion, but our guide mentioned that the priest had saved many people in a physical sense, including her uncle at birth.
The Anglican church is still used. Like all of the village buildings its address is on an ulu knife shaped sign.
The co-op is the community general store. It has everything from produce to pelts, hardware to canned goods. Prices are high, especially for produce, as everything arrives by ship.
Mounty’s headquarters (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
This artist makes stencils which she uses to stamp inks into beautiful pictures.
These little kids came to chat-up Mark. (“Hazel is shy”)
Three ships were permitted to visit this year. Coincidently, all were within the past week.
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