#Aklavik

[vox-anglosphere]

The lonesome Mackenzie River ice road beneath the Northern Lights

[wachinyeya]

The Inuvialuit and the federal and Yukon governments signed a new conservation agreement to ensure greater protections for almost 850,000 hectares of the territory’s northeast coast.

The new agreement – which also includes the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Inuvialuit Game Council, Aklavik Hunters and Trappers Committee and Aklavik Community Corporation – focuses on the northeastern slope of the territory in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.

The new protected area, the Aullaviat/Anguniarvik Traditional Conservation Area, covers 1.8 per cent of the Yukon’s landmass.

[variousqueerthings]

FRASER: Ray, all right. Listen. When I was little, my grandparents took me on vacation to Aklavik. VECCHIO: What, for a little sun and sand? FRASER: Oh, hardly. It's a thriving urban center. Anyway, one day I — I wandered off alone when they were window shopping. There I was, all alone in a big city. The point is, Ray, that I became hungry. Very hungry. And I knew no one. I, I had no money. I — I was desperate. VECCHIO: So you ate a polar bear. FRASER: Well, don't be ridiculous, Ray. I boiled my shoes. My, my oxfords. My left oxford, to be exact. Boy, did my grandmother ever tan my hide over that one.

so many things fraser says as par for the course and it truly explains so much about *waves hands* all of that

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Northwest Territories Ablaze

The boreal forests of northern Canada have evolved to burn. These forests are dominated by black spruce, a type of evergreen that is not just tolerant of fire but dependent on it.

Black spruce has waxy, resinous needles adapted to ignite during lightning storms and burn vigorously. The forests thrive if they burn every century or so because fires open the canopy up to light, stimulate new growth, and help maintain biodiversity. Fires also melt away the waxy coating on cones of black spruces allowing them to deposit seeds uniquely designed to thrive in charred, acidic soils. But Canada’s black spruce boreal forests have been burning more frequently in recent decades, putting even these fire-loving forests under strain.

When the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite captured this image of smoke streaming throughout the region on August 11, 2024, the sensor detected nearly 100 active fires burning in the Northwest Territories, according to data posted by the territory’s government. The Canadian government, including the Northwest Territories, uses hotspot data from the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), a fire monitoring system developed by NASA, to help detect and track wildfires.The image below, captured by NASA’s EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) on NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite, shows a river of smoke from the fires in western Canada winding its way over the Hudson Bay.

Most fires in the Northwest Territories burn far from towns or infrastructure, so authorities let many of them burn themselves out, a process that can take weeks or even months depending on the weather. Of the 96 fires active on August 11, Canadian authorities reported that 88 of them burned unhindered by firefighting efforts. Firefighters had controlled five fires and were in the process of suppressing one, according to the territory’s government. None of the fires were close enough to settlements to trigger evacuation orders. However, dense smoke has triggered air quality warnings for fifteen Northwest Territories communities, including settlements in the North Slave, South Slave, Dehcho, and Sahtu regions.

The fires coincided with a drought classified as moderate to extreme by the North American Drought Monitor and a week of extreme warmth that broke temperature records in several places in the Northwest Territories, including the towns of Aklavik, Inuvik, Fort McPherson, and Tuktoyaktuk. All four communities surpassed 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit); Fort McPherson’s temperature soared to a remarkable 34.9°C (94.8°F) on August 7 and 8.

Though Canada’s black spruce forests are accustomed to fire, ecologists who study them are finding that some forests in the region are struggling to recover after fires due to the increasing frequency and size of fires in the region. One study led by Jennifer Baltzer, an ecologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, found that black spruce’s ability to regenerate declined at 38 percent of the 1,500 recently burned forest sites included in the study and failed to regenerate entirely at 18 percent of the sites—unusually high percentages compared to the historic norm. The analysis was based on tree regeneration data compiled and analyzed as part of NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE).

Many of the areas burning in this image also burned in 2023, during Canada’s worst wildfire season on record. However, the total number of fires and the number of hectares burned in the Northwest Territories through mid-August 2024 are below the 10-year average so far, according to data released by Canadian authorities. The extent of burning in neighboring British Columbia and Alberta through mid-August 2024, however, was above average.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and data from DSCOVR EPIC. Story by Adam Voiland.

[flagwars]

Flag Wars Bonus Round

[fishfolkart]

Goldeye - is a member of the Mooneyes family. It is native to North America from western Ontario to the Mackenzie River as far down as Aklavik. In the east, it extends southwest below the Great Lakes, through the Ohio and Mississippi River drainages. In the, west it occurs southeast from western Alberta, through eastern Montana and Wyoming, to Oklahoma. It feeds on aquatic insects, crustaceans, mollusks, small fishes, frogs, shrew, and mice. It can reach a maximum length of 52 cm (20.5 Inches) and a minimum published weight of 1.7 kg (3.75 pounds). https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/158111183

[winningthesweepstakes]

Freddie the Flyer by Fred Carmichael and Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, illustrated by Audrea Loreen-Wulf

Freddie the Flyer by Fred Carmichael and Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, illustrated by Audrea Loreen-Wulf.  Tundra, 2023. 9781774880807 Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 4 Format: Hardcover Genre: Biography What did you like about the book? Born in 1935 in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Freddie James Carmichael became fascinated with flying from a very young age, He began training…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“DEMENTED TRAPPER KILLS CONSTABLE,” Kingston Whig-Standard. February 1 1932. Page 10. ---- Man Was Fleeing From-His Blown-up Cabin in the Arctic ---- EDMONTON, Feb. 1— Constable E. Millien was shot and killed by Albert Johnson, demented trapper, at a point 30 miles up the Rat River Saturday.

Details of the shooting reached Edmonton last night. It was reported to Aklavik by a portable radio with the patrol and the word then flashed to the city. 

The killing occurred in the rolling barrens of the upper Rat River about 30 miles from where the stream flows into the rushing Mackenzie, according to the meagre radio report, apparently Johnson was fleeing westward from his dynamite-shattered cabin to the Yukon boundary about 100 miles distant .A journey of another 100 miles across the northern tip of the Yukon would take him into Alaska, United States territory.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Hey, do you have any good essay/ articles/ etc about Inuit beliefs/ culture? I've found a few just by googling, but I feel like I always could use more sources.

That's a big question because

The people indigenous to these territories are all generally considered Inuit to some degree. That image shows 14 distinct languages and dialects [Inupiaq: Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and Northern Alaskan Inupiaq; Inuvialiktun: Siglitun, Inuinnaqtun, Natsulingmiutut, Kivalliq, Aivalliq, and Qikiqtaaluk Uannangani; Inuktitut: Qikiqtaaluk Nigiani and two Nunavimmuitut groups; Greenlandic: Inuktun, Kalaallitsut, and Tunamiisut], and as you can imagine, there are many cultures specific to them, and even if we break it down to just Inupiat, which consists of only 2 of the groups named on this map

None of these nineteen villages [Unalakleet, Nome, Teller, Wales, Shishmaref, Deering, Buckland, Selawik, Noorvik, Kiana, Kotzebue, Noatak, Kivalina, Point Hope, Wainwright, Barrow, Barter Island, Aklavik, Inuvik, and Tuktoyaktuk; these were the common English names for these villages in the 1970s when this was first published; Unalakleet and Noatak should sound familiar to Legend of Korra fans.] are guaranteed to be 100% culturally identical. There are dances and customs specific to King Island, my ancestors' homeland, which isn't even on this map because it's so small and no one lives there anymore. So you can understand why I'm quick to point out that I'm Inupiaq, specifically specifically King Island, and my cultural experiences should not be considered universal to all Inuit.

Sources I recommend for picking up on beliefs and culture (trust me when I say anything that tries to condense it down to a nifty list of bullet points is going to end up at least a little reductive):

Interviews with elders (i think there are some transcripts on Alaskool, and one of the school districts have video interviews on their site. Not to mention you can find so many online that lead to other, more in-depth sources they also contributed to)

Collections of folktales (especially with specific people credited for each story; The Dall Sheep Dinner Guest is a good example, and you might even be able to request it at your local library and read it for free)

Reach out to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, explain that you're trying to research Inupiaq cultures, and ask if they can get you in contact with someone who can recommend sources. (Not sure how well this will work with all the budget cuts and covid related restrictions, but it really is worth a shot. UAF doesn't have the best opportunities for everything, but it is a go-to place for learning about Alaska Natives)

Never Alone Cultural Insights (Never Alone is a video game based in Inupiaq storytelling and the Cultural Insights were bits of interview footage with Inupiat folks. You can find them for the main game and the DLC on youtube.) I'll even link to them for you:

(I'd be lying if I said descriptions of Aapa Willie Goodwin Sr., whose Eskimo name was Panik, didn't influence the way I write Sokka and Katara's relationship with Hakoda ^-^)

[culture-for-a-hungry-mind]

THE CANADIAN ARCTIC - Welcome to the North

This post will look at the role of Women in the Arctic, traditional teachings and how that relates to food. 

An interesting look at the cultures respectful connection to the land.

Traditional Responsibilities of Inuit Women - Food preparation 

In the North, it is less about recipes and more about methods of gathering, processing, and storing food. Each part of the animal is used and respected. The parka this young girl is wearing was hand sewed by her great Nanuk. The fur is from a wolf that her grandfather hunted. 

Francine lives in Aklavik, North West Territories, Canada.

She attends school where she learns academic and traditional Inuit curriculum. This curriculum includes learning the traditional responsibilities of women and girls in the region.

(Inuuqatigiit Curriculum, 51)

(Inuuqatigiit Curriculum, 59)

Much of the Traditional Responsibilities of Women & Girls focuses on the home, making clothing and food preparation. 

Complete Teachings can be found at http://inuuqatigiit.ca/

SPECIFIC FOOD

The Hunt, Preparation and Presentation.

Traditional Teachings - Whale

Beluga Whale laid out to dry - Aklavik 2020

Muktuk (whale skin) 

This is a traditional Whale dish that is enjoyed by the Inuit.  Muktuk can be eaten raw, frozen, dried, baked, or fried. Many people hang it to dry after they have cut it up. Once it is dry they bake it in the oven or over a fire for 3-4 hours. Not much is added in regards to spice because the flavor is rich by itself. Processing muktuk releases a lot of oils and fat.  These oils are saved and eaten with frozen or cooked meat.

Muktuk and Dry meat dipped in HP sauce

“Traditional food is valued because it is what people lived off of years ago. It is more healthy than white mans food and has more iron and vitamins” (Dene Elder, Aklavik NWT, 2021)

Traditional Teachings - Fish

Fish drying - Aklavik 2020

Dry fish - The Northern treat

Most people use kony or whitefish to make dry meat because they have less bones. Preparing a fish to dry takes skill and patients.  Most people butterfly the fish and then cut it into small strips (while still attached to the skin - as pictured).  Others take each individual strip of fish off the skin and dry separately. This method is called fish sticks.  “I find that fish dried on the skin is more oily than fish dried in smaller pieces. The head of the fish is then taken and boiled. The broth of the boiled head is drank when you are sick.” (H. Evans, 2021)

Method of gathering fish

During the summer months people go out in boats and canoes and fish.  During the winter you can either set a fish net, which is checked every three days, or you can fish through a hole with a jiggling stick.  Fish that are not good for eating are put back in the water.

Fish Sticks dipped in butter

White fish cooked over an open fire.

Ok - Wow - So much to learn - Fascinating!!!

I have decided to post an Arctic Part 2 (and maybe 3..4..) - Stay tuned.... Next we will look at Berries and then onto Caribou and Birds (Geese)

Thank you so much for checking out Artic Food with me :) 

[troublemaker1704]

One happy mama!!!! 🥰😍😘🤩🥳🥳🥳🥳 (at Aklavik, Northwest Territories) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb6uXm9OxaN4RW4OIjJocoWSXDPW7z-ZbLOpmA0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[goalhofer]

1980 winter olympics Canada roster.

Skiing: Ken Read (Calgary, Alberta), Dave Irwin (Thunder Bay, Ontario), Dave Murray (Vancouver, British Columbia), Steve Podborski (Blue Mountains, Ontario), Horst Bulau (Ottawa, Ontario), Tauno Käyhkö (Thunder Bay, Ontario), Steve Collins (Thunder Bay, Ontario), Loni Klettl (Lamont, Alberta), Laurie Graham (Caledon, Ontario), Kathy Kreiner-Phillips (Timmins, Ontario), Sharon Firth (Aklavik, Northwest Territories), Angela Schmidt-Foster (Woodstock, Ontario), Shirley Firth (Aklavik, Northwest Territories), Joan Groothuysen (Ottawa, Ontario) & Esther Miller (Edmonton, Alberta).

Bobsleigh: Joey Kilburn (Ottawa, Ontario), Robert Wilson (Montreal, Quebec), Brian Vachon (Moncton, New Brunswick), Serge Cantin (Montreal, Quebec), Martin Glynn (Montreal, Quebec) & Alan MacLachlan (Toronto, Ontario).

Figure Skating: Brian Pockar (Calgary, Alberta), Paul Martini (Toronto, Ontario), John Dowding (Oakville, Ontario), Heather Kemkaran-Antymniuk (Strathclair, Manitoba), Barbara Underhill (Pembroke, Ontario) & Lorna Wighton (Toronto, Ontario).

Hockey: Bob Dupuis (Blind River, Ontario), Paul Pageau (Montreal, Quebec), Warren Anderson (Toronto, Ontario), Donald Grant (Niagara Falls, Ontario), Randy Gregg (Edmonton, Alberta), Terry O’Malley (Toronto, Ontario), J. Brad Pirie (Guelph, Ontario), Don Spring (Edson, Alberta), Tim Watters (Kamloops, British Columbia), Glenn Anderson (Vancouver, British Columbia), Ken Berry (Burnaby, British Columbia), Dan D’Alvise (Toronto, Ontario), Ron Davidson (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan), John Devaney (Edmonton, Alberta), Dave Hindmarch (Vancouver, British Columbia), Paul MacLean (Antigonish, Nova Scotia), Kevin Maxwell (Edmonton, Alberta), Jim Nill (Hanna, Alberta), Kevin Primeau (Edmonton, Alberta) & Stelio Zupancich (Toronto, Ontario).

Luge: Bruce Smith (Toronto, Ontario), Mark Jensen (Toronto, Ontario), Danielle Nadeau (Montreal, Quebec) & Carole Keyes (Woodstock, New Brunswick).

Speed Skating: Jacques Thibault (Quebec, Quebec), Gaétan Boucher (Quebec, Quebec), Craig Webster (Regina, Saskatchewan), Sylvie Daigle (Sherbrooke, Quebec), Kathy Vogt-Gregg (Edmonton, Alberta), Sylvia Burka (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Brenda Webster (Regina, Saskatchewan) & Patricia Durnin-Leach (Winnipeg, Manitoba).

[gsoutd2511]

Being Grace

Growing up as I child I spent all my summers either at family cottages or canoe tripping with my family, an important value was the outdoors for us and my parents insured many adventures to satiate this need. When I began to outgrow family trips I was sent to a summer canoe camp where I would spend 6 summers canoe tripping with Northwaters, with trips to Maple Mountain all the way to the Albany River spanning from 10 days to 30 days. Alternatively I spent my winter weekends ski instructing groups and private lessons, swim instructing during weekdays, and being a drama camp leader. During March 2018, I took part in a school exchange to Aklavik, Northwest territories. I loved my experience because I got to experience a new culture and get to know the people of the small town. From there my outdoor love grew to a desire for the future.  I worked at Cedar Ridge Camp, just outside of Bancroft, Ontario as the Canoe Instructor. I worked for the main camp season (6 weeks) where I would teach different cabin groups each day. I had the opportunity to join cabins on River days, myself and another coworker would take cabin group to Palmer Rapids for the day and introduce them to whitewater canoeing. As well as co-leading the 5 day Leader In Training trip down the Madawaska river. I would love to eventually become an outdoor education teacher and help bring outdoor learning back into the classroom or by starting a company dedicated to providing therapeutic opportunities for youth at risk in the great outdoors. I have spent many of my summers in the outdoors community and now want to further my involvement by being able to be apart of giving today’s youth the opportunity to experience and create their own meaningful journey’s. I feel like at this point in my life working in the wilderness best benefits my learning and growth. My dream is to lead trips professionally, knowing how to accept the unknown and trust those around you are some qualities I believe are just a few, of many, that make a great leader. Learning at Lakehead I hope to gain further insight into not only who I want to be, but how I will achieve it. Mostly, I hope to cultivate meaningful experiences for those choosing to spend their summers as I once did. 

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“‘MOUNTY’ AT ARCTIC POST SHOT DOWN,” The Province (Vancouver). January 4, 1932. Page 3. ---- Lone Demented Trapper Fired Through Door at Two Officers. ---- LIFE SAVED BY RECORD DOG TRIP ---- Companion Covered 80 Miles in 20 Hours Through Blizzard ---- AKLAVIK, N.W.T., Jan. 4. Shot through the chest, allegedly by a man he was attempting to arrest, Constable A. W. King of the Arctic Red River detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is lying In a critical condition in the hospital of Dr. J. W. Urquhart here. 

King was brought to Aklavik during the week-end by Constable R. G. McDowell, who had been his companion when the shooting occurred at Rat River on the oid Yuson trail last Thursday and who drove his dogs eighty miles into the teeth or an Arctic blizzard that he might bring the wounded man to safety. 

DEMENTED TRAPPER SHOT THROUGH DOOR. McDowell and King were Investigating complaints of Indians that their traplines had been tampered with when they visited a lone trapper's cabin eighty miles from here. The owner, Indians said, had been acting queerly and appeared to have become unbalanced mentally as a result of his lonely life in the Arctic. 

The policemen were seeking admittance to the cabin when shots were fired through the door from within. One of the bullets struck King In the lower part of the chest. 

DROVE DOG TEAM to HOURS IN BLIZZARD. McDowell hastily loaded the wounded man on his sleigh and, In a feat which Is acclaimed by residents here, drove his dogs to Aklavik in twenty hours. His average speed of four miles an hour is held to be remarkably good, particularly as he was driving into a blizzard such as few northerners would care to face. Dr. Urquhart reported Monday that King's condition la serious. No arrest In connection with the shooting has been made as yet,

[sachkiawaaj]

'We survived, and we'll do it again': Aklavik, N.W.T., residents calm but prepared for possible flooding

‘We survived, and we’ll do it again’: Aklavik, N.W.T., residents calm but prepared for possible flooding

Memories of a flood 15 years ago are top of mind for residents in Aklavik, as they prepare for a spring breakup that has already devastated other communities in the Northwest Territories. “Our whole yard was full of water,” recalls Mina McLeod. Although many people were evacuated from the hamlet during the flood of 2006, she and her husband stayed behind to look after their home — and in case…

[canada4news]

Gwich'in elder recognized for nearly 25 years of char monitoring on N.W.T.'s Rat River | CBC News

Gwich’in elder recognized for nearly 25 years of char monitoring on N.W.T.’s Rat River | CBC News

After nearly 25 years of monitoring char on the Rat River at his camp near Aklavik, N.W.T., John Carmichael has been recognized for his work.

The Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board held a recognition ceremony about two weeks ago to celebrate Carmichael and the monitoring he’s accomplished.

“John has been the head char monitor since the mid ’90s. He helps collect the information at his…