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.