At the local Co-op store in Kugaaruk, Nunavut, a carton of orange juice is priced at $13.99. The main form of transportation is by snowmobile, despite an average high of -30C in the dead of winter, and the arena provides endless hours of entertainment.
Much of the food is caught by the locals, hunting polar bear, narwhal, bowhead whale, caribou and Arctic char. At the end of the year, the Co-op pays dividends back to the community often shrouded in ice fog. Last year those dividends tallied $1.4 million.
This is life in Canada's far north, where the only way in and out is by plane. Once a year, large goods such as trucks or tires are shipped to Kugaaruk from Montreal. The ship stops at the northwest tip of Baffin Island, then the coast guard takes over, using icebreakers to reach Kugaaruk. A $30,000 truck could cost another $30,000 for shipping to such a remote place.
Despite the expenses and harsh climate, it's a life Kugaaruk's Senior Administrative Officer Greg Holitzki has known for the past two years. Originally from B.C., Holitzki came here with his wife several years ago in search of an Arctic adventure.
"When we lived in Arctic Bay, we had a day that was -77C. To go out in -77C and walk in it, is something that you'll never do again. So we did. To live in an environment where you get no planes and you have no food on the shelves is very different. When you go south, you start to really appreciate what other people take for granted," said Holitzki, adding the community sees maybe 30 tourists a year.
When 500 soldiers from Edmonton's 3rd Batallion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI) flew to Kugaaruk in February to conduct two weeks of training exercises near the community, it was a big deal. Several people took the day off work to watch soldiers jump from two Hercules planes. Holitzki expects Exercise Arct ic Ram will pump at least $200,000 into the community.
It's Valentine's Day at Kugaardjuq School and the students are buzzing with excitement. Some of them made flowers out of pipe cleaners and tissue paper to give to their guests warming up in the gymnasium.
The school has 264 students in kindergarten to Grade 12, and is also the host site of the Nunavut Teachers Education Program (NTEP) in the Kitikmeot Region. The program graduates are locals being groomed to teach the lower grades. Some of the subjects are covered by the Alberta curriculum, but school principal Jerry Maciuk said the government is developing its own curriculum to keep the Iniktitut language and Inuit culture alive.
"Kugaaruk is perceived by all other agencies, education and RCMP, as the gem of the north," said Maciuk, who came to Canada from Poland in 1985 and has spent the last six months in Kugaaruk.
But life in the north isn't for everyone.
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| The sun sets on Kugaaruk, Nunavut |
"The more isolated you are the worse it gets. If you can't leave and don't have the ability to get out of this square footage that we live in, then it becomes like a jail," said Holitzki, adding Arctic Bay was the worst community he's lived in for suicides.
"The young people that committed suicides in Arctic Bay were all related to relationships. So that can be depressing when you only have so many people."
- published by Sun Media February 2014
