Dear non Inuk health care workers and teachers of the north:

You, like me, are here in the Arctic to work. You have traveled from another part of Canada to experience life here. Just like me you are a small fish in a big sea. You are a minority here. You are not native to this part of your country. And just like me you will at some point be the victim of some sort of discrimination for being from the southern part of Canada.

But I have a news flash for you. You are NOT better than me. Please stop treating the people that work in retail like they are second class citizens. If I smile at you don't ignore me. I have no motive for being friendly to you. I work here, I put up with the same crap that you do.
Unlike you I get to leave the north only once a year. I don't get to see my friends and family at Christmas because of the job that I have. I don't get months off in the summer, I get one month a year. I don't get to travel and most of the time I feel trapped here.
Unlike you I have no other job to go back to. I am here because it was a way to make things better for my husband and I. Life here is no cake walk, we miss the little things that we had in the south. Yes we will eventually go back to that lifestyle. but for now we are here. And we try to make the best of the situation.

Remember that the next time I go out of my way to help you find something for your supper. Or when I have to stop doing my job as a supervisor to be your cashier so that you don't have to wait in a line.




Thank you, Megan

Hey Cracker!

As a white person I can honestly say that racism is not something that I have ever dealt with, that was until now. Clearly I cannot not truly relate to someone that has dealt with this type of behavior their whole live but I am certainly getting a taste of it.

If I had known that this is what life was like in the north we never would have come here. It’s stressful to be at work and wonder if your house will be broken into just because someone doesn’t like what you did to them while you were at work doing your job. Or if the next time you tell a kid to get out of the store that it won’t have some kind of nasty repercussion.

In all the blog reading I did before we came to the north not once did I read anything that sent up a red flag. Maybe those people just thought it best to keep the negative to themselves. Or maybe they never rocked to boat so to speak. Maybe they kept their heads down and went about their business so they never saw how it really is here.

I may be painting a broad stroke but most of the people here are just not good people. They don’t trust the ‘white men’. And like I was told yesterday, ‘We stick up for our own’. Very true and if that means lying to get out of something so that they can stick it to the white people you can be damn skippy that they would not think twice about doing it.

We know that entire families come into the store and steal. Kids steal, elders steal, teenagers steal, everyone steals. It’s just a matter is will they get caught.

We have a rule in the store that is if you are a kid that you don’t come in unless you are with your parents. It’s a loose rule and one that can only be enforced if one of the WHITE management staff happen to be standing near the door when someone comes in. The kids know that they aren’t suppose to be in there but you know they try to come in any. ‘But I have money’ they say, ‘I don’t care if you have a million dollars, get out. You know the rule’.

Early this week I told two boys to leave again for like the 100th time, I recognised them because it’s a fight to keep them out. The one has been caught stealing many times. I didn’t know at the time but he had been told that he was actually banned and that if he came back again the RCMP would be called (keep in mind the RCMP is the only police presence here). And you will be shocked to know that he came back again a few hours later and this time Drew saw him. Then all hell broke lose. Drew grabbed on the the kids coat as he went to run back out the door and pulled him into the store manager's office, yelled for me and dialed the cops. This kid is about 12 but he was crying so hard that you would have thought that he was 4.

Oh and on a side note, this is how fucked up it is here. After 5:30 if you call the RCMP, the call gets redirected to Iqaluit, and you speak to dispatch there. After you tell them what you need they then call the RCMP in Igloolik. So even though the station is literally 500 feet from the store it takes 15-20 minutes to actually see an officer.

The night that kids were throwing rocks at our house and I physically went to one of the staff houses (they don’t stay in the station 24 hours a day) I had to come home and dial the phone number to actually get a cop to come to my house. Good thing I wasn’t be stabbed.

Anyway, the whole drama with this kid. The cops show up the kid is screaming like he’s being beaten. Thank god only the small part of the store was opened and not the whole thing because like I said the people here ‘stick up for their own’, more like get involved in things that have nothing to do with them.

They escorted him out but had to pick him up off the floor because he refused to go. What a sad life it is when as a 12 year old you are being taken home by the police.

Things were quiet after that and I thought we’d have a few weeks of peace. Yep a few weeks, as something tends to happen here that often.

So I was going about my business working and I noticed these older boys, (I know now that they were 15) were acting a bit shifty as i walked past them. Sadly because of working here I am now on a constant state of watch.

I was going to say something to Drew as I walked by him, but he was on it already. He walked up to the group and asked them if they were in the store with their parents, of course not. Out you go then. As they are walking one kid drops an energy drink out of his sleeve. Drew picks it up, grabs the back of the kids coat and makes toward the office. The kid was having none of it, fighting, grabbing at shelves and clothing racks to slow himself down (all on the security camera).

Drew yells out for me. One other thing that we have also learned here is that if you are going to have an altercation make damn sure that you have a witness that will back you up.

I get to the office the kid is crying so much he’s dry heaving but claiming that Drew was choking him. Drew tells me, stand by the door because he keeps trying to leave. I come in and shut the door and the kids makes for a get away. So I get into a pushing and pulling match with him, I get jabbed with a few elbows. This is in like the blink of an eye. Drew jumps up and pulls the kid back away from me, the kid falls. Starts screaming louder. Punches Drew in the leg. Unfortunately the main store is opened while all of this is taking place so you can just imagine how many people want to get involved. I had to actually tell some lady that is was none of her business. And therefore got told ‘you white people are all the same’.

The cops show up, turns out the kid is actually one of the cashiers kids. At this point I had called one of our local stock boys into the office since i was no match for a jacked up 15 year old and I was pretty shaken up. Drew told me afterward that the mom said some not so nice things to him, very racial. And,’ you always get away with this’. The cops told her that Drew had every right to put his hand on the kid and then quoted some legal stuff. Told her to shut up and then she quit. Ok?

Oh and took him home herself so there were no consequences for his actions. Which is the biggest issue here. The kids get away with too much stuff and no one does a damn thing about it. ie, spray painting the hamlet office and the store truck, lighting shit on fire, ect.

It’s not nice here. And I'm haunted by the words that were spoken to me at the airport when we landed here. It was a man from Pond Inlet here for a visit, a very nice man I might add. A man that Drew and I spoke to often. He told me that I would hate it here. I wish he hadn’t been right.

I miss Pond Inlet.

You suck Canadian North.

Island life

There is some expression about the best laid plans...
Well we never left Pond Inlet like was the plan on July 8th. We went to the airport, we checked in and them we waited, and waited and waited some more. After delaying the plane twice they decided that it was too foggy and rainy and so it was cancelled for the day.
As some of you know Drew is not the best flyer and after spending the night before not really sleeping you can imagine that neither of us was fit to go to work. Thankfully our interim store manager was somewhat normal so he allowed us to go home and sleep for part of the day before coming into work.
Now let me back track slightly. On Tuesday we had dropped off our 10 items of cargo that was going on the plane with us. We figured that it would just make it easier on Wednesday morning since we had to be at the plane for 7. Again a great plan but when the plane doesn't actually leave and all of you stuff excluding your clothing is in a box it does make day to day life slightly challenging.
I am happy that sometimes in life not being completely ready for some does actually work in my favor. In this case we had planned to have a girl from work in to clean the house after we left and had told her to take all of the food that we had left behind. So thankfully even though we didn't leave and had nothing but our clothes at least we had food in the house.
So because we knew that we were re booked for the Friday plane we left our cargo and most of our suitcases at the airport. Yes in the north you can do that and it's normal.
Friday arrives and the weather has gotten worse. They delay the plane an hour and then decide that we will go. So everything including the dog gets put on the plane. We get on, we start to taxi toward the runway and then the flight attendant tells Drew that we probably won't be landing in Igloolik but will try for Pangnirtung. Keep in mind this piece of information was provided to us after Drew has told her that he was a nervous flyer.
Pangnirtung is located in between two mountain ranges and although we are told that it is very picturesque flying into Pang can be a nightmare because of the cross winds. After Drew hears this info the one thread that he was still hanging on to snaps. Granted I wasn't thrilled with the news either.
My lovely husband manages to get the plane stopped and turned around and off we get. Our suitcases and the dog that is, unknown to me our cargo stays on the plane.
I'm slightly freaking out thinking that we are going to get fired and that we will be stuck in Pond forever, I'm never going to see another tree. I'll never see my horse or my in-laws again.
After we all calm down and the plane leaves without us, we repeat Wednesday over again.
The only difference was that I didn't go back to work that afternoon as I developed some type of stomach issue that tied me to the house for four days. Fun, NOT.
Later that day when Drew was back at work one of the people that were on the plane with us that morning came up to Drew and told him that it was a good thing that we got off.
The plane never made it to Igloolik like they said, and it did go to Pang. And the weather was so bad there that the plane was almost flying on it's side and they couldn't actually land. So they went to Iqaluit and them flew to Pond. WTF. I love you I love you and I love you some more my wonderful husband. I think that if I had, had to fly through that I would have developed some serious issues with flying as well.
So after the weekend we try again, you know what they say, third times a charm.
So on Monday July the 13th we make it so Igloolik. But of course, you knew their had to be a but. Turns out that on that Wednesday plane that had our cargo, they told all of your stuff off in Iqaluit and left it there. And guess, today is August the 2nd and our stuff is STILL in Iqaluit. I can't get an answer from Canadian North as to why they won't send my thing here. Granted we did have many weather issues for the first two weeks that we were here. But now it just seems like that cargo is just not important to them so it sits and I can't get answers as to when I might get it back.

So that is thankfully the only drama in life right now. The new store is somewhat the same as the last, same shit different pile. Not sure about how long we will be here considering we thought we'd be in Pond longer but we will carry on here until we hear otherwise. I would really love to be somewhere with trees but as those are highly sot after postings we may have to wait sometime to get one.

I am happy to report that we are now working 35-37 hours per week instead of the 50-55 hours that we were working in Pond. This alone has lowered the stress level. People are friendlier here. And for reasons I have haven't figured out yet, there are more white people here.
After seeing mostly native people for the last 5 months it is sometimes odd for me when I see a white person.

We took the big truck out to the flow edge on Wednesday and collected some goodies. There is still ice in the bay but in the last week or so you can notice a visible change on the amount from one day to the next. Hopefully by the time the fish come in we will have our rods back and we can attempt to land a nice big char.

We can drive to the flow edge here in about 40 minutes. In Pond it was a few hours to the flow edge and only via 4 wheeler or snow machine.

Beach jewels

Although I miss the view we had in Pond, I actually like the new house better. still four bedrooms but all one level and more square footage. And it is literally 75 feet from work. This detail will be greatly appreciated come the -50c weather that they have here in the winter.

On the right you can see a sliver of blue, that it work. And that is the truck we drove to the flow edge.

Phew, it was a big write today. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer, but I have to say I do not miss the heat that you guys are having. I am quite happy to be boiling hot when it is a balmy 15c here.

The moon has returned after being away for 3 months. The beach is now a 30 second walk from the house. We still have ice but it should be gone within the next week.

P.s As I was about to post this Drew called me from work to say that our stuff was coming to the house.

Seeeeee You!

So it would seem that you are all well overdue for an update. Sorry again I didn't realize that I didn't write at all in the month of June.

This is our last night in Pond Inlet, now don't worry nothing major happened. Well not overly major, we are being transferred to a store in Igloolik. It's a community about an hours plan ride south of here, and about the same size.

We actually found out about this transfer at the end of May and we have just been waiting for a fly out date ever since. The date was pushed back twice and now we a finally going.
We are a little grey on what roles we will have at the new store so that you will have to find out later once I know.

Work has been very stressful for the both of us lately. This stemming for a number of things. Our store manager went out on medical leave over a month ago, when he left we had thought that he'd only be gone a week. We can't keep staff and the staff we do keep seem to just come and go as they please. Too tired, too hungover, too drunk, no babysitter, I stayed up all night, I have a headache. You name it we have most likely heard it as an excuse.

My fingers are crossed that this move will put things back on a normal track. I am very much missing my two days off and missing the day off with Drew even more.

So I am keeping this very short. I have many pictures that I haven't posted on facebook but I will share them with you but you will have to wait until we get settled again.

I have one more suitcase to pack and then I'll get some food into me, shower than bed. The flight leaves at 7:30 tomorrow morning and I have a feeling that neither of us is going to get much sleep tonight just from the anticipation of what is to come.

Yes Mistress

Well folks we made it. Yesterday was the official end of our three month trail period. I'm guessing we passed probation since I has to remove myself from a very cosy nest of a bed this morning and go to work. Being the month of May also brings a few other mile stones, May 19 was the day that we landed in Pond and started life all over again.  And May 21st being our 4th wedding anniversary
This was a means to an end, and although some days I question the wisdom in this choice I know that it was the only way to remove the negative fog that surrounded our lives.
Sadly this month also brings with it a not so great milestone, one year ago on the 20th we had to say goodbye to one of the greatest best friend a girl could ever has. Sierra had been my dog for 10 years and was about 15 or so, after many years of ongoing health issues we had to finally let her go. It's not something I'll ever get over and it brings me to tears whenever I think about her.  I miss her every day.

For this past week I have been playing role of stand in post mistress. It is very common here for people to just up and quit. No rhythm or reason just because. My last co-worker in the office quit because 8 hours of work a day was too many hours. Yah I know, I don't get it either. I am happy to say that her replacement is a god-sent so I was happy that she decided to move on. And the second post office girl went home for lunch one afternoon then called in and said she wasn't coming back, um ok?
Most of the time here mail is fairly slow. Sometimes it really does earn the nickname of snail mail, but it is still the cheapest way for things to come here. It also feels like sometimes the airline that fly's the mail here holds it hostage when they come after not really bringing you anything for a few days then suddenly you get 50 boxes and 6 bags.
Being a supervisor I must take up the slack when needed, so I have been in the post office every morning, sorting mail, filling boxes, scanning packages and dealing with customers. It certainly does help the morning pass quickly.
It is a juggling act to work in the post office while still keeping an eye on the cashiers and the office. Some days I do feel like I am getting pulled in many directions. Megan can you help me is something that I hear at least 15 times a day. Being a supervisor in a retail situation is something that I was not prepared for but I'm hoping that I am dealing with it. I sense that I am liked in the role so I'll take that as a positive thing.
Happy to say that my parka has been put away for the season. The roads are muddy and the ground is emerging from it's blanket of what seems like permanent white. Fishing will be starting soon, too bad Drew doesn't actually eat fish. The Arctic char is a things that some people would give a pretty penny to get their hands on and he will be able to go out and catch them for free.
In case you are wondering, our sleep pattern has returned to normal. Cardboard on the window, blackout curtains and a sleep mask are wonder things. It is still quite possible to stay up all night if you don't shut the curtains and keep an eye on the clock.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Victoria day weekend.

F*&k you Amazon.ca

Originally written on April 28th.

 I guess I owe you all some sort of update or at the very least a pop in to let you know that we haven't been eaten by a polar bear.
Since my last post there has been an on-line shopping catastrophe. On April 8th without warning Amazon.ca cancelled all free shipping to remote locations. Instead they now offer shipping at the ridiculous price of$29.99 per order plus $9.99 per pound. As much as I enjoy receiving packages in the mail that is nor a fee that I am willing to pay. I am regretful now that I waiting to order a few things from there that were a little on the pricey side such as a new digital good quality camera, and dog food.
In the same week of the Amazon fiasco the community ran out of dry dog food. This is not as big of a trauma for us as Tia eats mostly rice and hamburger as her staple.  The dry food is just extra and a bowl is down if she feels extra hungry. The lack of dog food here is because of a big dog sled race that was to start on April 14th. As you can imagine when you have a sled dog team of 6-8 full grown working dogs they eat a lot of food. The white owners buy food (the natives feed their dogs seal meat) by the case not just by the bag so they came in and bought up all of the extra food. Not very considerate but as I have quickly learned here if you like something in the store you buy as much as you can afford because the stock levels are unpredictable. We will eventually get dog food but at a cost of over $140 per bag if flow in it won't be until the August sea lift before the stock is refilled. No dog food and no amazon leaves us now searching for a cost effective alternative. Walmart seems to be the next best choice if you can say that with their $100 flat rate shipping fee to remote locations. Oddly though that rate is to ship to your home. With a $50 rate if shipped to a Canada Post. There is no home shipping here. I sent an email to Walmart asking about this but I have not heard back from them. clearly I will have to suck it up and pay the $100. I figure if we order 10 items it will at least some what justify the shipping fees.
As it was the sled dog racers didn't actually leave until April 27th. They were waiting for a few more teams to show up. The last teams snowmobile broke down on the way here had to wait to be rescued. If your thought was, huh, snowmobile? Why not use the dogs? I had the same thought until someone pointed out that the dogs would need a rest before starting a week long race to Arctic Bay. So they couldn't pull all the way here and then race the next day.

Last week our oldest employee was honored with a commissioners award for being an outstanding volunteer. This lovely man clearly does not seem ever sleep except when Drew sometimes finds him napping in a back corner of the store so I can understand the award. After working all day he then goes and hosts the radio from 8pm- midnight Monday to Friday and then again for 4-6 hours on the weekends.
Not sure if I've mentioned this before but since everything here communication wise is done via satellite we only have one radio station. This station is manned by members of the community who seem to have no formal broadcasting training. If someone isn't available to work then they broadcast CBC and CBC north. Years ago I worked in a barn where the owner would have CBC on while we worked. I enjoyed listen to CBC. I find that some one the stories that they air are very interesting. Unfortunately the downside to an almost pirate like radio station is that if someone comes into work during the English CBC program, BAM off it goes and the local person plays what they want (normally some kind of junk dance music) or talk in Inuktitut, very frustrating some mornings when there is something particularly interesting being broadcast. I do at least get to hear the news in English via CBC North out of Iqaluit, usually...

The temperature is getting warmer here and things are slowly melting. We have been in winter mode now since November between here and Ontario so Drew and I are both looking forward to seeing what Pond looks like without all of the snow.
I am jealous of all of you southerners with your +15 weather. It's a balmy -14 today.

Reality check

I think to live in the north you need to have a certain amount of humor.
Oh look it's a leg of a rabbit laying in the road, how nice.
I like that headless seal you have on your porch.
It's rush hour, waiting to cross the road after four snowmobiles, three ATV's and a truck go by.
The kids next door, knocking on the kitchen window yelling 'hockey'? while you are eating dinner.
Random loose dogs following you home because whatever you have in your grocery bags smells like something they would like to eat for dinner.
The neighbors running their snowmobile into your house in the middle of the night because the throttle got stuck.

Sadly with the humor also comes the tragedies of the north, the things that people just don't talk about. Rape is a common occurrence here. And with such a small number of people in the community the raper and the rapist as bound to run into one another at some point after the assault. Unlike the south, the majority of the time nothing is ever said or done about it. It's accepted as something that just happens. It's a shocking reality of life in an isolated community.
I had heard about the drug and alcohol abuse and the suicides that plague life for the natives of northern Canada but not of the other equally disheartening issues that make up life here. Domestic violence is also a common occurrence here as well, more so of women beating up men instead of the other way around.

Life here is not for the faint of heart.

There are not many opportunities here for young people, as an outsider looking in I will admit that I have no clue what it must be like to grow up here. I see bright young people that don't finish high school because they need to work to help feed their brothers and sisters. Or young girls with two or three children in tow and no possibility of any future other than to have more children and remain on social assistance. 
Getting pregnant and having children while still a teenager is also common place and again something that just happens. While I am in awe of how the community gathers these girls up and helps them make the best of the situation, I am bothered at how pointless it all is. I may be old fashioned in thinking that to have a child so young is destroying any future that you might have had, but here that really is what happens. I get a sense that with the amount of pregnancies here there is also high rates of adoption. It is normal to hear someone say, I have had five children but some were adopted out or my parents adopted them so they became my sibling instead of my child.

My hope, our hope while here is to influence a few young people to, as cheesy as it sounds, reach for the moon. Post secondary education is free for the native peoples here. I want to encourage someone(s) to take advantage of it.
Education opens up so many doors. Although I have a spotty post secondary record, I have been, I have expanded my brain. I wish I could go back and tell myself not to take the opportunity of school for granted. I like to learn, I should have applied myself more. But I can't live in the past, I must take what I have in this brain of mine and move forward.

Life is like a map, there will always be many roads to take to get to happiness.