Second Week & Sealift

Even though the second week of school was the first full week (5 days) of teaching, its pace was nevertheless faster than the previous week.  At least, that's what it felt like for me.  The landscape was still without snow but the weather began to feel like autumn.  Coupled with the start of the school year made me think it was already September, not August.  As for transportation, All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) are still the favoured mode for residents.  They're quick and fun to ride.  As for me, I just have my two feet.

            

Every morning on my walk to school, I would be 'greeted' by the sight of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Des Groseilliers anchored in the bay.  With only one anchor deployed, the cold Arctic waters would slowly spin the vessel from left to right.  Looking at the ship made me wonder what it would be like to live and work on a vessel that size.  That question was answered on August 22 when the staff of Inuujaq School were given a tour of the ship.  (More on this in a future post).  Before the Des Groseilliers departed on August 23, several crew members had come ashore to buy things at the Northern Store and Co-op.  It was easy to spot them because of their heavy French-Quebec accents.

            

By the end of the first week, my Grade 10 Social Studies students had finished the first section of the Identity unit.  We continued with the second section of the unit by looking at regionalism and alienation in its basic understanding.  To demonstrate what an individual or group can do when they feel alienated, we looked at the Idle No More Movement and the protests that were held across Canada and in the United States just last year.

            

For Grade 11 Social Studies, my students looked at the feudal system of France in the 1700s and how this form of governance led to calls for radical changes to society.  This of course eventually led to the Revolution of 1789.  Nationalism and national identity played important roles during this tumultuous period, and the ideas of democracy & equality it spawned are still practiced in many countries around the world.

            

My musicians learned drum maintenance, how to set up the equipment, basic drum rudiments, and beginner warm-up exercises that teach drummers to play in unison and with the same sticking.  They may not see it but from the audience's perspective, a uniform drum line looks very impressive.              

            

My Grade 12 Social Studies students were deep into the first unit of the course: Choices.  The first unit is about what it means to be a responsible citizen and the important choices that comes with it.  The textbook is detailed and contains many good ideas, but there are quite a lot of big & complex words that need to be simplified & explained.  Thankfully, my students have me.

            

August 23 felt like an early Christmas because the local movers arrived to deliver the 10 large boxes I shipped from Ottawa on August 1.  The cost of airlifting them was covered by the Nunavut Government.  I was glad to see that everything had arrived in one piece and I spent the entire evening unpacking and organizing.

            

The first snowfall 'after summer' occurred on Saturday, August 24.  Dark grey overcast clouds had rolled into town and sprinkled snow on the top halves of the surrounding mountains.  King George V Mountain appeared to be equally divided into two parts: the top in white and the bottom in brown.  The sight made me think of a cake with icing on top.

            

MV Umiavut

It was Christmas in August for Arctic Bay residents when the first sealift vessel arrived on the 25th.  The MV Umiavut, a multi-purpose container ship owned by NEAS, dropped anchor in the bay, bringing with it many shipping containers and vehicles that had been ordered by Arctic Bay residents.  The town was the ship's third stop in its annual milk run to the northern communities.  From early August to mid-September, the Umiavut will deliver supplies to 13 northern communities.  Due to a lack of a deep sea port, the containers and vehicles had to be lowered onto barges and then pulled to shore by small tugboats.  There, large loaders would lift the containers off the barges and place them on the ground.  The process was repeated several times. 

            

This first sealift is locally known as the Northern Sealift because a large portion of the delivered supplies were ordered by the Northern Store.  The area around the Northern Store was crowded by coloured shipping containers, oil drums, and loaders.  It appeared as if a small commercial port had magically sprung from the ground.  Many locals (including students) jumped at the chance to help offload and stack the Northern's goods in its warehouse because they would get paid for their labour.  Human chains were a common sight.  Later, the empty containers were loaded onto the barges and dragged back to the Umiavut. 

            

Inuujaq School's sealift order also arrived on the Northern Sealift.  A blue shipping container and three very large wooden boxes were delivered to the front of the school.  On Monday, the high school students emptied their contents and brought everything inside.  The school's main hallway was stacked with boxes of various sizes.  They contained anything and everything that a school needs to function.

            

Anna Desgagnes

The 'Christmas' festivities continued on August 27th with the arrival of the MV Anna Desgagnés, a multi-purpose vessel owned by Transport Desgagnés Inc.  This sealift is locally known as the Co-op Sealift because the majority of the delivered supplies were for the town's Co-op store.  Once again, there was a lot of activity in front of the Northern Store as shipping containers were unloaded, emptying, and then loaded back onto the barges.  Several of my students chose to miss class and help out with the sealift because the Co-op also paid for manual labour.  Receiving cash for work is a strong incentive due to the lack of jobs in town.

            

Barges, tugboats, and loaders are used in all northern communities for sealift deliveries because none have a deep sea commercial port.  There have been talks about building deep sea ports in Iqaluit and other communities but when that will happen is anyone's guess.

            

The sealift orders of private citizens came on both vessels.  To offload any freight costs, people sometimes order as a group.  They just need to be ready to sort through everything when the sealift arrives.              

            

With the sealift complete, the price of pop (soft drinks) has dropped significantly.  To clarify what I wrote in a previous post, newer, fresher pop was being sold at higher prices while the prices for the older stocks were much lower.  The Northern & Co-op stores were trying to get rid of their older stocks and make way for the 'new pop'.  The consumption of pop must have spiked several days before the arrival of the sealift ships.

             

And finally, the days of 24-hour daylight are no more.  Night has made a slow but steady return.  When the sun disappears behind the mountains, it sinks further than the day before.