April 27, 2006

Resolute Bay, Nunavut (Qausuittuq) is the most northern point in Arctic Canada to which you can take a commercial flight, and it functions as both a residence and a point of departure for mining, exploration, hunting or research farther north. This be where da polar bears and Eskimos live, eh?

It's also a part of Canada that's making the Canadian government a bit itchy. As the globe heats up, the Northwest Passage looks to become the shipping shortcut that merchants once dreamed about. But who controls it? Canada? The US? Russia? Denmark? In the 1950's, Canada placed "human flagpoles" (Inuit "volunteers") in Resolute. They're still there, and not happy about it. But the government is still worried. Who's been sneaking around in their attic?

posted by Koko 18 years ago
  • Dang Um, Dey are de warmer climes, mon. *fries plantain, feels irie*
  • Inukshuk Creator (flash)
  • brrrrr. Nice place to visit but... Some fabulous photos. Thanks, Koko!
  • At night, winds that reached 70 miles per hour (115 kph) meant each tent had to be weighted down by three snowmobiles. Well, that'll keep the tossing and turning to a minimum. Great post, Kokokoko! )))
  • eskimo is a racial slur, on par with the n word, inuit or inuk is the perferred term
  • Is that where you live koko? Is it? Is it? I bet it is. I just KNEW you lived in place like that, travelling by husky and rubbing yourself in walrus fat.... *stops to think about that for a second* Eh?
  • PinkMoose, that's not true. Alaskin natives who are not Inuit object much more strongly to being mislabeled as Inuit than they do to the word 'Eskimo'. Also, the international Eskimo games are still called that, I believe.
  • Thanks, PinkMoose, I am aware that Inuit is the preferred term (as used above). The sentence was meant to be ironic. Apologies for any offense. From The Racial Slur Database: Eskimo was once acceptable in Canada, and still is almost anywhere else. It means "raw meat eater." Eskimo orginated from southern Indian tribes describing the northern Inuit, whom they were constantly fighting. Inuit take offence to being called Eskimos, despite the fact that they do eat raw meat. *pokes kitfisto with a whale bone*
  • My favorite place in Nunavut. Told by the best spokespeople of any town, the wee school-lings. I'm under the understanding that Cape Dorset has the most employed artists per capita of any community in Canada (22%). Home to Kenojuak Ashevak and her famous Enchanted Owl.
  • He is not talking about Alaska, he is talking about Nunvaut, which is Inuk/Inuit. Alaska would be Akiachak, Aluet, Tinglit, Haida,Yup'ik, Inupiaq, Kutchiwan, Eyak, etc
  • She... Regardless, James Huston used the term 'Eskimo' to an odd, almost cringeworthy, extent in the documentary, Songs in Stone, by his son John. I can't find a transcript but he is referring to his first trip up to Cape Dorset when he first met the residents in the mid-20th century: "...I had never met an Eskimo before, I had no idea at the time that we weren't supposed to use that term but they were Inuit, and that was the name we should use. [chuckles at his ignorance]" (grotesquely paraphrased from memory} I'd wager that a man such as James Huston, who had spent enough time living with the Inuit of Nunavut that his children were raised with the Inuit from day one, would know the offenses laid by using such a term if it were truly "on par with the n word." However, James "Sowtnik" Huston is a beloved legend of Cape Dorset. Perhaps the times have changed and we are all more sensitive these days and "the left-handed one" is stuck in the past. But I don't think that he is that far out of touch with reality. The word nigger has so much connotative baggage from the slave trade and well known genocidal hate groups that it more than tops the word eskimo for severity of racism. I am not trying to condone its use, however. I'm just saying your appeal to emotion is making the baby Jesus cry; we know it is a slur, PinkMoose, but I say let the dogs lie, there is no reason to start animosities here. And, no, Space Coyote, the Inuit Games are not still called that.