BETWEEN A ROCK AND HARD PLACE

      In Canada there are several very serious aboriginal protests going on at this time..

      Historically there are a multitude of reasons for aboriginal grievances. Europeans came and stole aboriginal land. Treaties were made with the aboriginals. The treaties were poorly written and have caused problems ever since. The government didn't hire the best lawyers when treaties were written. 

     Reserves of land were given to aboriginals. Many times parts of reserves or all of a reserve were taken back without aboriginal consent.. Promises were made and never kept. Education is a major issue. The governments idea was to take   away aboriginal language and customs by education. That education destroyed a whole generation of aboriginals.

     Anyway, I think I've made my point that there are solid reasons for grievances. What's going on today is not productive. There are a series of protests which have shut down railroads. What sparked the issue were some hereditary Chiefs in British Columbia who were protesting a gas pipeline that was to go across their territory. The RCMP began removing the protesters. Other aboriginals from far away decided to support the gas line protesters. Things boiled over.

    Now the aboriginals and government have dug their heals in and neither side is willing to back down. Some politicians are also trying to use the situation for their advantage.

    So I am sad about this situation that has become an impasse. Most of the aboriginals do not support the blockades and protests. Most aboriginals are hard working people trying to make a living. Aboriginal governing is a mess. There are elected band councils and then there are hereditary chiefs. Many times these two groups do not agree. The government set up the elected band councils The hereditary chiefs follow traditional ways. 

   The situation has become more complicated than it needs to be.

   Now many readers will not know what I'm talking about or not care but I guess I had to write this for myself.

AND NOW FOR SOME MUSIC.

      I like listening to music. There's very little music I don't like. After that all bets are off. Some music I like a lot and some not so much. I don't listen to Rap or modern country. So when I go through You Tube I will take a listen to things I've never heard before.

      I spend time on You Tube looking for good things to listen to. This week I spent a lot of time searching on You Tube for videos to  go along with my posts.

     Well, I did have time to look for music. I wanted to find some bands like Billy  Vaughn, Ray Conif, Bert Kaempfert  James Last and anything else that would crop up.  I liked listening to these  bands when they were popular.

    Well wouldn't you know it. I bumbled into a very entertaining band that  I'd never heard  before. It plays typical band music in a very entertaining fashion. It's energetic and very entertaining to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lzGxoUhA4c&list=RD7lzGxoUhA4c&start_radio=1 Go and have a listen to it. I'm sure you'll like it.

     Then there were rock groups that were only instrumental...no vocals. I can't even remember one name. So I have something else to look for when I've got some time.

GATHERING MUSSELS...UNDER THE ICE

    Yes, I'm going back to one of my favorite places again...Wakeham Bay. Yes, I did go under the sea ice to pick mussels.

    Here's how it happens.

    We lived in a beautiful bay that was 24 miles deep and at places 6 or 7 miles wide. There was a very high tide ...40 feet. The bay froze over around the first of December because of the constant wind and high tides. Going in and out of the bay were strong currents...about 12 miles per hour. You wanted to come home when the tide would sweep you in to home. The beach was stony, rocky and covered with huge boulders Some boulders were 10 to 12 feet high. Now you have to remember all these details to get under the ice.

     Later in the winter when the ice has become very thick and at high tides is the time to go under the ice. Yes, I know the tide comes in daily . But along with that there are higher tides when lined up with the moon.

     When the tide goes out the ice settles on the beach but remember those huge rocks. Well,  the ice parks on top of them . The ice sort of drapes over the rocks. What this does is to leave space under the ice around the rock. When there are a number of large rocks in a row it leaves a passageway under the ice.

     So very carefully the Inuit choose where to make a hole in the ice. They choose a time when the tide is going out. A hole is made in the ice big enough for a person to go through. Sometimes a ladder is put in the hole for you to get down to the bottom. Then anybody who wants to go down is able to. Sometimes 15 - 20 people are under the ice.

     A lantern is used to provide some light. You have a pail and start picking up mussels. Some water drips from overhead. You sometimes go 100 meters under the ice all the time walking on the ground. There is some cracking of the ice.

     I will post a video of Lukasi , who you met before talking about the petroglyphs, now taking you under the ice. Lukasi's father , Napaaluk, was the person who took us down in 1967.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HNLdATjXH4

    Now these were small black mussels and very tough. I didn't like them but, being a prairie boy that's not surprising.  The kids would bring up a half pail of mussels to my house and I would give them some money. I didn't eat the mussels.

    When I look at this video now I say I would never go under the ice now. In 1967  it was an experience of a lifetime to go under the ice.

SOME EXPLANATIONS FOR THE TWO PREVIOUS POSTS

    The two previous posts brought lots of questions and comments. The experiences I had were very different and it was from a different age 1967-69.

    When I look back it's hard to imagine the conditions we lived under. We've always said it changed our lives forever and we look back at it as one of the best times of our lives.

     Mr Pudding from Yorkshire Pudding asked to see the petroglyphs so that gave me a large amount of homework. I had not taken any photos of the petroglyphs because I did not get out there. It was about 50 km away and we had to go around a point on the open sea. There are several excellent sites on this topic. I just had to find the best . ...and I still can't put links on my blog that take you to a site. AC kindly told me one way to copy a link for a video but that was not available for this video. Some day if I live long enough.....?

     However Fred Breummer had told my how he photographed them and I have seen his articles.   He took charcoal and darkened the outlines to get a better photo. These petroglyphs were put in soapstone which is a much softer rock. The soapstone in the Wakeham Bay area is dark gray and much harder than other areas. Some soapstone is soft and waxy and you can scratch it with your finger nail. The harder rock means the petroglyphs last much longer. I have one article in the house from a magazine called the Beaver summer of 1973. I don't think the Beaver is on line.

    However, I did find other sites with photos. Check out the site Images on Stone Qajartalik. This is a large site but  just look the part on Qajartalik.



 

WHERE ARE WE GOING NEXT?

   John from John's Island asked me where I was taking you next. I told him , "Back to the same place."

     For my newer readers a brief explanation on the background of these posts. I was a teacher and spent 1967-69 in the small Arctic community of Wakeham Bay, Quebec. There were 188 Inuit and 10 white guys.  I was a teacher , principal and local administrator.  They were all very interesting positions but very challenging and a lot of work and time. . The community was 1200 miles north of Montreal , Quebec. There were no roads to this community and no regular air schedules. We went 6 or 7 weeks at a time without mail.

     I had a 14 year old boy as a regular paid interpreter. the Micro Manager was eager to do nursing there but there was no position. She got $50.00 per month to do health care and there really was full time work. She didn't have an interpreter but between her limited inuktitut and their limited English they got along. When there was a serious case she got Lukasi to be her interpreter.

     This post is really about Lukasi. There was nobody finer that Lukasi. He was 18 years old at the time. I don't know where he picked up his English. In this video he is talking about petroglyphs which were found a few miles away. It's the only place in the north with petroglyphs.

    While we were there a well known photographer came to photograph the petroglyphs.  Fred Breummer came and stayed in my house for 8 days. Those 8 days should have counted for at least 5 university credits. We talked late into the night about his experiences. Fred had had a tremendous amount of northern experience. I think Fred wrote about 25 books. Most of them featuring his photography. Fred did a major article on the petrogyphs.

      I found this video of Lukasi discussing the petroglyphs.   youtube.com/watch?v=TJSolwDrxbo   Sorry I can not the video link on the blog.

MORE YOU TUBE

      Sometimes I find something like you tube and later on I get playing on it to see what's there. It looks like there's no limit at to what you can find. I like to look up the different places where I have lived.

       So last night I just put in Wakeham Bay and a number of videos came up. I checked to see if there was anything interesting in the list.

      Well one of the little videos featured a woman who was ten years old when I was there in 1966-1969. There was Jessica explaining how to dig clams and eat them . She speaks Inuktituk and there are English captions. She digs the clams , cleans them and tells about eating them. She likes them raw with a bit of old whale or seal oil.

     So what a big surprise! So check out this link. Jessica Arngak, Wakeham Bay

YOU TUBE ADVENTURES

     There are times when I some how or other get taken down a rabbit hole on the Internet! Lately that rabbit hole has been You Tube.

     Now I like listening to music and with You Tube I can listen to what ever I want. So when surfing I sometimes find things that I have forgotten long ago. It's sometimes surprising when I find a group that I had long forgotten and then I find out that I have an LP , Tape or CD.

     Last night I bumped into two performers that I really liked.

     So first, Billy Vaughn. I had completely forgotten about Billy Vaughn. Listening to one tune brought back all Vaughn's music. The Billy Vaughn band had hit after hit. You can bet that I listened to a few if his tunes last night.

     The second performer I rediscovered was Mr. Acker Bilk who made much music popular with his clarinet . It's always interesting the long road that performers have to take to get to the top of the heap. Acker Bilk was English and became popular overseas as well. So I did have a tape of Mr Aker Bilk that I remember listening to many times.

     So take a listen to these long forgotten performers . Some of you will remember them from a long time ago. and some of you will discover some great music.