PART ONE INDIGENOUS HISTORY AND IDENTITY
VINNIE BARON AND FELIX ST-AUBIN
PERSPECTIVE
Our Land
Well, here goes our take on our land. Not so eloquent, but to the truth.
As we are.
We try and go out on the land as much as we can. When we can. When we are able to relieve ourselves
from our day-to-day responsibilities.
We go camping with our children,
even when they are still in the amauti.
And our children grow up learning to love the land.
When we spend too much time in our community, then we start getting restless and moody.
Being out on the land is therapy. It soothes our souls. It makes us happy. We feel connected.
Being in nature is a natural high. You can’t beat it.
It makes you healthy in body and soul.
Even though you have been physically moving, you feel rested.
The work week is much more bearable after we have been out on the land.
A site not far from the Inuit village of Kangiqsualujjuaq, the home of Vinnie Baron and Felis St-Aubin. “This is during Easter when we as a family have a chance to go for a long trip. It is near Ikirasakittuq. It is down the bay. The lake is called Inuksulik. Meaning there are rock markers. People build rock markers to indicate different things, and they are fixed in different forms. The marker for the lake indicates there are fish. Many, many big char there.” Photograph by Felix St-Aubin, July 2015.
We hunt for subsistence. We do not hunt to kill. We do not hunt for trophy. Or to boast.
We hunt for our food. The most healthy diet.
The land is ours. It is beautiful. It gives us nourishment.
It teaches us that we need to take care of it.
To respect it. And in return, it will respect us.
And nourish us.
We are happy when winter is here. Because everything freezes over and we are able to go everywhere we want to go.
The land is much more accessible. We can go caribou hunting. Ptarmigan hunting.
We are happy when spring is here. It is not too cold and not too warm. We as family go geese hunting. And ice fishing.
The fish are much more alive and go for our hooks!
We are happy when it’s summer. We are able to go on our boats and go camping. Go seal hunting. Go pick mussels and ammuumajuq
when low tide is at its lowest.
We are happy when it’s fall. The mosquitoes are less. The berries are ripe.
The fishing is good. The fish climb upstream to go to lakes where they will spend their winter and we are able to hook them with our nitsik.
We start collecting fish eggs to make suvalik. A great dessert!
The seals are abundant.
We go caribou hunting and their tunnuq is thick and delicious!
I can go on and on. But we are essentially a part of our land.
And we strive to practice our ways.
And to speak our language.
We are proud to be an Inuk.
Wouldn’t want to be anything else.
NOTE In the Inuktitut language, an amauti is the hood of a woman’s parka, in which babies are often carried; ammuumajuq are clams; a nitsik is a hook or lure used in jigging; suvalik is a mix of local berries, fish eggs, and oil; and tunnuq is fat.
“This is a picture of our daughter, Brenda, fishing at a place called Kuururjuaq. This river is located inland and north of our village of Kangiqsualujjuaq. Kuururjuaq is a great place to fish all summer long. Brenda loves to go outdoors, and here she is taking out a char. The best fishing at this place is when the ice is gone at the beginning of the summer.” Photograph by Felix St-Aubin, April 2017.
“This photograph was taken at Qamanikallak, which is some distance up the George River (Kangirsualujjuap Kuunga) from our community of Kangiqsualujjuaq. We have to paddle the creek to reach our fishing spots. We start going upriver during fall when the fish are spawning. We had a lunch of fresh fish and tea.” Photograph by Felix St-Aubin, August 2015.