TFR & OSD

The annual Terry Fox Run (TFR) occurs on September 14.  It’s a “non-competitive charity event held around the world to raise money for cancer research in commemoration of Canadian cancer activist Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope.” 

The late great Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope on April 12, 1980, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with the goal of running across Canada to raise money for cancer research.  He was hoping to raise at least $1 for each Canadian.  (The population of Canada was around 24 million at the time).  He ran a full marathon every day and gained national attention when he entered the province of Ontario.  Sadly, he was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, because cancer had returned and spread to his lungs.  By this point, he had run 5,373 kilometres over 143 days and raised $1.7 million.  Donations continued to come in and by April 1981, over $23 million had been raised.  Tragically, Terry didn’t recover and passed away on June 28, 1981, at the young age of 22.  His determination & legacy lives on in the hearts of many, and he continues to inspire people & causes, one of them being the Terry Fox Run.

The name Terry Fox is well known in Arctic Bay.  The Terry Fox Pass monument sits on the Road to Nanisivik and was established in 1980s by the Polar Pacers and the Midnight Marathoners.  Terry’s mother, Betty, attended the commemoration ceremony of the monument in 1981.  His younger brother once worked as a summer student at the former Nanisivik Mine. 

September 14 happened on a Saturday this year, so Inuujaq School couldn’t hold a school event that day.  We instead held it on the afternoon of September 17.  Teachers were encouraged to do lessons & activities about Terry Fox and how cancer affects everyone in Nunavut & beyond.  It would be nice if all forms of cancer (around 200) never existed, but unfortunately, that’s not how it is.  Progress has been made in detection, prevention, and treatment, thus increasing the survival rate, but a universal cure still isn’t available.  Hopefully that’ll happen very soon.

The afternoon assembly in the gym began at 1:45pm.  The principal did a short speech about Terry Fox.  This was followed by two brief biographical videos about Terry.  Maps of 3 walk/run courses were then shown for teachers & students before they went outside to participate.  (I had previously distributed laminated maps to the teachers).  The courses followed the roads and were organized according to distance (short, medium, long).  Elementary grades did the short course, middle school did the medium course, and high school did the long course.  All classes were instructed to return to the gym for snacks.  A few staff members & I stayed behind to set up snacks in the gym.  Snacks consisted of Bannock & juice boxes.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day (OSD), occurs every September 30, and is a day “of memorial to recognize the atrocities and multi-generational effects of the Canadian Indian residential school system.”  OSD was first observed in 2013 and comes from the story of Phyllis Jack Webstad, who wore an orange shirt to her first day at school at St. Joseph Mission.  She was stripped of her clothes, including the new orange shirt her grandmother bought her for school, and never returned.  “The orange shirt now symbolizes how the residential school system took away the indigenous identities of its students.” 

Orange shirts were distributed to students & staff on September 25.  Teachers & students did lessons & activities related to residential schools.  The younger grades read Phyllis Webstad’s book, Phyllis’s Orange Shirt.  An afternoon assembly was held in the gym on September 27.  We did it three days before because September 30 is a holiday and there’s no school.  Everyone wore orange shirts.  I began the assembly with a short speech about residential schools, Phyllis Webstad, the orange shirt, and reconciliation efforts.  This was followed by a Minute of Silence.  I then played two videos about OSD.  Classes then had their pictures taken. 

Every went outside behind the school after the assembly to enjoy a barbecue.  Several teachers & high school students set up the food station & began preparing food during the assembly.  It took some time to get everyone served, but at least they went home with full stomachs.  The barbecue lasted until the end of school.  Several high school students stayed behind to help teachers clean up the food station and put away the equipment.

Every Child Matters.

 

Beach Cleanup 2024

Community service & taking care of the land was the theme & focus of September 7 for the army cadets of 3045 Cadet Corps.  Both play important roles in the Canadian Cadet Program.  Community service “fosters a sense of belonging [&] engagement, increases civic engagement, supports community initiatives, [and] helps those in need.”  And as for taking care of the land, we only have one Earth to live on so best to keep it clean & tidy.  (I should also mention that we should keep the Earth clean after we start colonizing the stars and beyond).

The cadets & adult staff arrived at Inuujaq School in the early morning for breakfast in the Home Ec Room.  I borrowed a pickup truck from Frank, the former commanding officer.  A cadet parent also brought their truck and volunteered to assist in supervision & transportation.  A senior cadet took roll call while the cadets ate.  I held a quick briefing after breakfast.  Several cadets & I gathered equipment & supplies from storage and loaded them onto the pickup trucks.  I did one more roll call before we drove towards Frank’s Shop to pick up the atv & trailer. 

We arrived at the airport at around 9:45am.  The cadets transferred the equipment and food supplies from the pickup trucks to the trailer.  Cadets could either sit on the trailer and get a ride down to the shoreline or walk.  I chose to walk.  The ride in the trailer is too bumpy for me.  A few cadets also chose to walk.  A senior cadet drove the atv with the attached trailer. 

The cadets were already in the process of setting up a white tent when I arrived at the shoreline.  The tent would serve as the kitchen, eating area, first aid station, and warming area in case someone got really cold.  Once the tent was set up, all the equipment & supplies were moved inside.  Two foldout tables sat in the middle and two cots sat on the sides as places to sit.

The woodpile was no more.  The many discarded pieces of wood that made up the pile had been burned in a huge bonfire some time during the summer.  The wood had been collected over the years since the cadets began taking care of the shoreline in 2013.  Burning the entire pile in a massive bonfire had been talked about for many years but never followed through, until now.  We wondered how long it took for the pile to burn itself out.  The only downside now is there would be no wood to burn in October for the cadet bonfire.  Maybe we would get lucky and pick up discarded pieces today?  We were about to find out.

Cadets were formed up and given gloves, garbage bags, and walkie-talkies.  I explained we would be picking up garbage that didn’t belong on the land.  Large items too big and/or heavy to carry would be collected into piles and then picked up by the senior cadets operating the atv & trailer.  We would break for lunch at noon and then continue cleaning the shoreline until 3pm.  The cadets were dismissed, and the cleaning began.

The shoreline behind the airport may be 5km south of the community but garbage & other discarded items found their way here because they’re left out on the ice and then carried here by the current after the ice melts at the end of June.  Anything you can think of, we have found it along the shoreline.  Most of the time it’s food packaging, pop cans, and plastic bags, but we’ve also found toys, oil cans, clothing, bikes, sports balls, dolls, and even a small boat!  I’m glad dangerous objects like guns, live ammunition, and knives have never washed up on shore.  The cadets & I spent 90 minutes cleaning the shoreline near the remnants of the woodpile. 

Two senior cadets collected & boiled water inside the tent a few minutes before noon.  They used a Coleman stove.  I radioed for all cadets to assemble in front of the tent.  The cadets placed filled garbage bags in the trailer, wiped their hands with Lysol Wipes, and then lined up to collect an MRE lunch bag.  MRE stands for Meal-Read-to-Eat.  Lowest ranking cadets go first, and officers get their meals last.  We labelled our main meal bags with permanent markers before placing them in the pot of boiling water.  The instructions recommend 10 minutes, but I always suggest 15 minutes.  Labelling the meal packages avoids confusion & arguments.  We snacked on granola bars & juice boxes while we waited for our meals to cook.  The meals were delicious.  Lunch lasted an hour.  Unopened leftovers were collected in a box.

We continued cleaning the shoreline at 1pm.  The cadets & I walked further from the tent in both directions.  It didn’t take long for the atv & trailer to get stuck in some mud.  It’s now a tradition.  It’s one of the reasons why I try to get two atvs; use the second one to rescue the first one, or the other way around.  Unfortunately, we only had one atv at our disposal.  We relied on ingenuity & brute (pushing) force to free the atv & trailer.  More garbage bags were filled & large items were placed in the trailer.

I sent two senior cadets to the landfill to drop off the garbage we had collected.  I let the remaining cadets have a little free time and enjoy some snacks.  When I got word the senior cadets were on their way back, I instructed the remaining cadets to move everything out of the tent and then disassemble the tent.  When the senior cadets arrived, we placed the tent, equipment, and remaining food in the trailer.  I took a group photo of the cadets and thanked them for doing their part in taking care of the land.  Taking care of the land follows the IQ Principle of Avatimik Kamattiarniq.

We returned to the pickup trucks at the airport.  Most of the cadets got a ride in the trailer while I walked.  I must keep physically active.  We drove back to the Frank’s Shop to drop off the trailer, and some of the corps supplies.  The cadet parent drove half of the cadets home while the remaining half helped me return the remaining corps supplies to school.  The corps rents two rooms at the school.  Once that was done, I drove the cadets home. 

 

Sealift 2024

Arctic Bay’s annual sealift season began on August 30 with the arrival of the Rosaire A Desgagnes vessel, operated by NSSI.  The vessel is large at a length of 138.06 metres.  Thankfully, the depth of the bay is deep enough for large cargo vessels to anchor close to shore, shortening the transportation time of the small tugboats & barges. 

For those of you reading this blog for the first time, Nunavut communities are only accessible by air & sea during the summer months.  There is no permanent highway network in the territory and no roads to southern Canada.  I use the word permanent because ice roads are used in some places, but these are not extensive and restricted to winter.  Speaking of winter, when the waterways freeze & turn to ice, the only fast way to transport supplies in large quantities is by plane. 

The short summer months enable large cargo vessels to travel & deliver large amounts of supplies to communities.  Since this occurs only once a year, people & businesses order items in bulk, holding them over until the next sealift.  Heavy items that are too large to fit on planes are also ordered.  Think vehicles, furniture, boats, prefab houses, water, and anything else that’s not prohibited.  It can be costly to ship by sea, but I think you save money in the long run.  Air cargo transportation is still “the most expensive mode of shipping.”

I headed down to the shoreline in front of the Northern Store to take a closer look at what was being offloaded.  At that time, the shoreline crew had only offloaded several sea containers, loaders, and a few wooden crates.  Luck was on my side because one of those wooden crates was mine. Thanks!  Now I had to hire a local mover to deliver the crate to my residence.  More containers, crates, and several vehicles were brought ashore the following day (August 31).  People are advised to avoid the unloading area due to heavy loaders and the fast pace of work.  Cargo ships can’t stay in town too long because they have other communities to visit and the sailing schedule regularly changes due to weather and other setbacks.

I was able to hire a local mover, and they delivered my wooden crate.  I opened the crate on September 1^st with the assistance of a crowbar, hammer, and axe.  Two locals helped me move my belonging inside.  I spent the next 2 – 3 hours unpacking, sorting, and putting everything away.  My residence now looks like a fully stocked bomb shelter.  Not all the items are for home.  Several of them are for school and cadets.  The pieces of wood that made up the wooden crate were picked up and taken to the landfill.

The Rosaire A Desgagnes departed after a three-day stay.  The next vessel to arrive was the Aujaq, operated by NEAS, on September 5.  The Aujaq is another large cargo vessel but just a metre shorter in length compared to the Rosaire.  The unloading & delivery process was the same as before.  Sea containers, wooden crates, and loaders occupied the shoreline in front of the Northern Store.  Inuujaq School’s sealift orders happened to be on this vessel, and I located the tall, heavy wooden crates after school.  I notified the principal of their arrival.  The school supplies we normally order are photocopying paper, arts & crafts, food for the breakfast program, stationary, furniture, sports equipment, filing cabinets, and custodial supplies. 

The crates were moved to Inuujaq School the following day (September 6) and then opened on September 7.  School staff mostly did the unpacking and moving items inside the school.  I think several high school students helped as well.  I wasn’t available because I was cleaning the shoreline behind the airport with the army cadets.  (More on this in a future post).  I was told it took an hour or two to empty all the wooden crates and bring the items inside.  The school’s main hallway looked like a warehouse by the end of the day.  The large wooden crates were made available to anyone in the community for free.  People use them for storage and/or building materials.    

It’s going to take several days for school administration to record what items arrived & didn’t, unpack everything, determine where items go, deliver those items, and then dispose the leftover packaging.  It’s a good thing I keep accurate records. 

The Aujaq departed after three days. 

I should also mention a tourist ship, operated by Quark Expeditions, spent a couple of hours in the community on September 6.  It’s been a while since a cruise ship visited the community.  I guess the COVID-19 pandemic is truly over.  Tourists were ferried to shore & back using Zodiac boats.  The drivers avoided the sealift operation by driving into the breakwater pier.  Tourists were given a few hours to walk around town and take pictures.  It’s easy to spot the tourists because they wear large yellow jackets.        

 

To New Beginnings

I returned to Arctic Bay earlier than before to start my new job as Vice Principal of Inuujaq School.  Surprise!  No more acting.  I decided to continue in school administration and applied for the job over the summer.  The interview went well, and I was offered the position.  I accepted and here I am.  I will still be the high school music teacher.    

School administrators are required to return to work about a week before teachers and I quickly found out why.  There is plenty of work to do before the new school year begins.  I set up the Vice Principal’s office just the way I liked it and then got to work preparing staff binders.  The binders contain important information about school operations, rules, calendars, schedules, events, and due dates, just to name a few.  Preparing these binders alone took several days because of photocopying and organization.  There were other things in the office that needed to be done, but I won’t bore you with them.  I also had to prepare my high school drum class. 

Teachers & staff returned to school on Monday, August 12.  There were lots of greetings in the hallways.  The principal & I held the first staff meeting of the year in the morning, welcoming the staff, outlining the first few weeks of school, going through the staff binders I prepared, and what was expected of us from the school board.  The meeting took up the entire morning.  Staff then had the afternoon to prepare their classrooms.   

The next two days were also devoted to preparing for the upcoming start of the school year.  One day is never enough.  By the end of Wednesday, Inuujaq School was ready.

The first day for students was Thursday, August 15.  Staff arrived very early to prepare the food for the Welcome Back Assembly & Breakfast.  The Home Economics Room, aka the kitchen, was full of activity.  Various fruits and meats were cut into pieces and placed in large bowls.  The bowls were brought to the gym, along with juice boxes, granola bars, yogurt tubes, tea, coffee, & paper plates.  The gym was set up the day before.  Chairs lined the walls, a row of tables covered in cloths sat at the front, and a speaker system was also set.  Staff equipped themselves with non-latex gloves and began dividing the food onto paper plates.  You don’t want to keep the audience waiting during breakfast.  Juice boxes were arranged on a large side table.  We prepared as many plates as possible until the first school bell of the 2024-2025 school year rang at 8:35am.

Classes were called down to the gym at 9am.  Parents & guardians also arrived to attend the assembly & breakfast.  The assembly began 15 minutes later.

The principal welcomed everyone to the new school year and asked all staff to come to the front, introduce themselves, and state their title (job).  The food was blessed by an Elder after staff introductions, and then the staff began distributing the prepared plates & juice boxes.  Breakfast lasted about 35 minutes.  Teachers we then instructed to take their students back to class.  Parents & guardians were thanked were being in attendance.  High school students stayed behind to clean the gym.

The transition from acting vice principal to vice principal went smoothly for me.  I was acting vice principal for 4 months before the summer so that gave me plenty of time to see & experience working in school administration.  The transition from full time teacher to almost full-time vice principal was very noticeable.  The most being duties, routines, and responsibilities.  Communication plays a big role because I’ve been answering lots of emails, answering phones, distributing schedules, posting announcements online, and speaking to staff, students, parents, guardians, and superintendents.  I’m glad I’m organized, otherwise I’d be drowning in paperwork.

Unfortunately, being a vice principal means I’ll have to deal with disciplinary issues with students.  It’s just part of the job.  I hope there won’t be too many.

Inuujaq School staff held a retirement party for the dental hygienist that had been practicing in the community for more than 3 decades.  She had her own room in the school to operate her clinic.  The party was held near the end of August.  The staff gave her a card and a gift.  She thanked everyone for the gifts and for making her feel welcome from the beginning.  She & the staff enjoyed a tasty assortment of snacks.  Thank you for your many years of service!