Jesse of the North

Forget Texas, Everything's bigger in Nunavut!

2007-05-23T11:06:00.001-04:00

Take a look at these monsters!

Okay... so the Lake Trout is actually from Kangiqsuk, Nunavik (Northern Quebec) but it's still in the Inuit Nunaat (Inuit Homeland)

I was emailed these pictures this week and it sure makes me miss home. I haven't gone hunting since last spring, and the weather is really nice this time of year. Instead the forecast for Ottawa is in the 30's this week.

Bill Moyers on Media Reform

2007-04-30T21:25:00.000-04:00

Via: VideoSift

This is a great speech. I like this quote:

"Democracy is two wolves and one lamb voting on what to eat for dinner, and Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote."

Let Freedom Ring!

2007-04-14T23:24:00.000-04:00

Via: VideoSift

The video above is a mash up of speeches by Martin Luther King Jr, JFK, RFK, Reagan, Goldwater and Malcolm X. I must say that I'm not a fan of Ronald Reagan, but he says some pretty good things here.

I've watched this video probably about a dozen times and the ending always gives me goose-bumps. It makes me wonder what happened to America since then. How did they go from that to this?

Ouch. My head hurts now.

Kirk Cameron and the 'Atheist's Nightmare'

2007-04-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not religious. I don't think that I'd call myself a true atheist per se, but more of an agnostic. I've studied various religions in my travels, mainly Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and to a lesser extent Hinduism. I believe that every person has the right to live as one chooses as long as it doesn't cause harm to others and as such, I try to be tolerant and accepting of religious people.

There are many religious people that I have a tremendous amount of respect for such as Martin Luther King Jr, The Dalai Lama, Khalil Gibran, and Ghandi just to name a few. When you listen to the works of Handel and Mozart, it certainly seems possible that they were somehow touched by a divine power to create such powerful and beautiful music. When you observe the glories of nature and look into the vast cosmos, it can be easy to imagine some sort of sentient entity out there keeping watch over it all. I realize that religion gives certain people strength and comfort and I respect that. However, I think it's the establishment of churches of men and the compartmentalization of faith that has undone the actual message of most religions. I think that the original teachings of Christianity, Judaism and Islam were indeed very good, but for the most part, I think that those teachings have become so perverted and misinterpreted by Churches, Mosques and Synagogues that I can't bring myself to be a part of the establishment. There are many things that I find fascinating about religion and I don't presume to hold the answers to the mysteries of life, but I find it hard to believe that the only way that I can be a good and moral person is to go to a building of bricks an mortar every week. To me, it seems more of a mechanism of social control rather than a way of fostering moral enlightenment.

One thing I'm not tolerant of is the incredible hubris and close minded dogma of the religious right that seems intent on assimilating everyone on earth and forcing their narrow view of the world on everyone else, especially through the government. I think the video below is a fairly good representation of the mindset of many evangelicals. Personally I don't understand what most of them are thinking really. To me, it seems glaringly obvious that they are cherry-picking arguments and completely ignoring verifiable facts. Ultimately, they're hurting their own cause, but nothing seems to convince them of this.

As Galileo once put it; "I don't feel obliged to believe that the same god that endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use"

And here is a rebuttal:

Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide

2007-04-02T19:31:00.000-04:00

I found this video a while ago and I thought I'd share it here.

I think it's particularly relevant considering that Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has recently decided not to apologize for the Residential schools and actually went so far as to deny the fact that the primary goal of the schools was to destroy aboriginal culture, language and identity and to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering the CPC's history in regards to natives. I guess simple common human decency is too much to ask from this bunch.

Inked

2006-09-28T15:49:00.000-04:00

Another thing I did this summer was I finally got the Tattoo I've wanted for so long.

I first wanted to get this tattoo in 2003, while I was on Easter Island during my trip to Chile. I wanted the Arctic Tern because it is an amazing, small bird that flys from the Arctic to the Antarctic every year. (kind of like when I went to Antarctica in 2001) The only problem was that I couldn't find the Tattoo artist on the island for the week that I was there. I tried getting it again in Hawaii during the Christmas of 2004, but the Tattoo artist I found there didn't have time in his schedule for me. I even tried again in Beijing during my trip to Mongolia in the summer of 2005, but it didn't work out. So earlier this summer, I finally got it done here in Ottawa at a place called New Moon Tattoo. I'm very happy with the end result.

(For those that may be wondering; it says Immiqutailaq, which is Arctic Tern in Inuktitut.)

Beautiful British Columbia

2006-09-14T14:16:00.000-04:00

Well I'm back from the West Coast. Sorry for not blogging, I've been a bit of a hermit. But I'm still around, I've been in Ottawa for a while now, and I made my way to Cortes Island, BC for a bit. I adore that place. The weather was perfect, it was extremely relaxing. I went boating, swimming and sun bathing at the lake. I did get sunburnt, but I was able to get a tan out of the process. It was Meredith's first time to BC. (besides the Vancouver Airport) She enjoyed it too. My uncle owns a pretty nice ranch on Cortes Island, I helped him clear half of the 10 acre lot when I was going to high school in Campbell River. The first 5 acres of the place is a big meadow, a row of apple trees, a garden, the house, a few sheds, the VW Westfalia Van where I slept, sheep pens, a chicken coop with 30 chickens, and a barn. The 5 acres in the back was kept as old growth rain forest with a system of trails and a stream. It's really a beautiful place, and it's incredibly natural.

Here are some pictures of the place and of Cortes Island:

Apartment found!

2006-04-18T13:20:00.000-04:00

Well! I hope everyone's Easter long weekend was enjoyable. I enjoyed mine, I flew down to O-town and found an apartment with Meredith. I'm excited to move down, the apartment we found is great; it's right downtown, walking distance to everything, hardwood floors, lots of storage space, reasonably priced... It's basically perfect for our needs.

Anyways, I'll leave you with some pictures of the new place, so here you go!

June 30=Freedom!

2006-03-27T13:56:00.000-05:00

Whoa, okay, so I haven't been posting much in the last few weeks, but I've been busy.

Seriously.

Work has been a bit crazy, It's always crazy this time of the year. Year-end reports... budget crap... strategic planning... All very fun things... Also a couple weeks ago I went to a meeting about the legacy of the Residential school system, hence the last post. That was a pretty emotionally intense meeting.

There's been a lot of personal reflection on my part since that meeting. I heard stories of what happened in these grotesque schools from some of the survivors, I won't repeat what they said on here, but I can tell you that some of the stories were pretty horrific and actually made me feel ashamed to be a human being. It's hard to describe, I knew bad things happened in those schools, but to hear about it first hand... it was different somehow. It was kind of traumatic learning about all that ugly stuff in such a short period of time, it's a very emotionally heavy subject and all the nasty problems that have stemmed from these schools and the monsterous teachers are pretty overwhelming. Big questions were posed and I'm sorry to say that I don't have all the answers to them. There were a lot of moments when I was extremely uncomfortable being at that meeting, the urge to just leave and never look back was very strong. My instincts told me to go, some of the things I heard at that meeting made me want to tear my skin off with my bare hands. I don't like feeling such strong emotions like that, it's just much easier to block that type of thing out. But I couldn't leave. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I ran away from that.

Hmmm, I'm getting dangerously close to rambling, but I'm not sure exactly how to express into words all the intensity from that gathering. In some ways, there are things I just didn't want to know, but I think it was important for me to know to better understand all the pain up here.

ANYhoo... The long and short of it was that it was a difficult meeting.

I did manage to go out hunting soon after the meeting was over, one good result of going to that thing was that I met several other Inuit youth who had grown up in similar situations as I did. That actually gave me some comfort. I borrowed a coworker's snow machine and went across the bay and into the mountainous valleys, we were all pretty surprised that the snow on the other side was almost immaculate compared to our side which thawed and re-froze in February causing everything to be icy. It was gorgeous, I was so glad to be out there dispite the fact that the wind picked up late in the afternoon. That dropped the temperature down to -35 from -12 right when we were heading home. That was a bit cold... I got a bit of frostbite on my cheek and nose and my contact lenses even began freezing at a couple points, So I was driving home across the bay with my hand over my face and one eye closed. We didn't see anything the whole day, we did some ice fishing and only caught small ones, but all in all, it was a great day. I would have loved to have taken pictures, but unfortunately my camera doesn't work well in the cold.

Other than that I've pretty much been keeping quiet, back to the whole 'work, eat, sleep, repeat' routine, but it won't be for too much longer. I've given my boss notice, on June 30, 2006 I'm going to be a regular citizen. After that, I'm going to be a free man! I can't wait.

The Residential School System in Canada: Some facts

2006-03-03T13:44:00.000-05:00

"I want to get rid of the Indian problem. Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed."

Quoted from Duncan C. Scott, head of Indian Affairs, 1920.

I'd like to take some time to talk about the Residential school system in Canada that was in use between 1892 and 1996. They were operated by the Government of Canada in cooperation with the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, United and Presbyterian churches. The common objective of these schools was to assimilate aboriginal children into Euro-Canadian society.

I'd like to point out that I'm not personally religious. I respect other people's right to religious beliefs as long as they don't try to impose those beliefs on me. I can acknowledge that religion has several positive aspects to it and I can understand how it can give people comfort. I am just unable to trust religious establishments by and large. These are my own personal beliefs and I expect them to be respected. Anyways, on with the post.

I think it's important to note that not all Residential schools in Canada were horrific and there were some people involved in the school system that had good intentions for the aboriginal children. But the fact remains that these people who had good intentions were the minority. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse was widespread in these schools and there has been little done to reconcile these gross injustices.

There are a lot of misconceptions concerning the truth of these schools and the goals of these institutions. By and large most people get their information on the history of the residential schools and the present legal actions from incomplete sources, a headline here and there about churches going bankrupt and the rampant substance abuse and suicides among the survivors, but very few actually know the full truth behind this issue and the full extent of the damage caused by these schools. Here are some facts about the Residential school system in Canada:

Canada's Indian residential school system began officially in 1892 but many features of this system had been in use since the 1600's in the early days of the Christian missionary infiltrations into North America.

From the beginning, the schools showed systematic problems. Often, the education offered by these institutions was inadequate to the needs of the children. Physical, emotional and intellectual deprivation with occurrences of disease, hunger and overcrowding were noted as early as 1897.

Physical and sexual abuse was extremely common in these schools, as were mortality rates. In some cases 50% of students would die in these schools.

The federal government never had a formal policy in place to refuse family allowance payments, however former Inuit students have said that their parents were threatened with the loss of these payments if they refused to send their children to these schools. Around Canada, the missionaries regularly used legal force to remove aboriginal children from their families. Parents were threatened by guns, jail sentences and withholding of rations if they refused to release their children to the authorities.

The children were only allowed to see their families for a total of 2 months in the year. Speaking any native languages was severely punished, sometimes by having their tongues stuck to frozen fences, getting strapped, locked in a closet and/or ridiculed. They were given uniforms, individualism was discouraged, they were forced to adopt a new religion and were referred to by number instead of by name.

In 1920, Duncan C Scott made it mandatory for Indian Children to attend residential schools.

The goals of this school system were primarily to eliminate aboriginal language, culture and belief systems in Canada and to oppress aboriginal students physically, emotionally and spiritually. The practice used was based on complete separation from the family and culture for up to ten years or more, ensuring that these children as young as 4 years old would not know their own people, culture, languages and law.

By 1945, almost 10,000 students were enrolled in residential schools in Canada. Only slightly over 100 were enrolled in grade 8 and there was no record of students enrolled beyond grade 9.

Over 40% of the teaching staff in 1950 had little or no professional training.

The schools typically only spent 2 hours a day on academic subjects. The focus was on learning English or French as well as Euro-Canadian values and culture. Aboriginal boys were limited to learning practical training of agricultural skills, where girls were taught how to do crafts and household duties in an agricultural context. The curriculum prepared Aboriginal students for their "expected future existence on the lower fringes of Euro-Canadian society" (Barman, Herbert & McCaskill, 1986, p.6)

Students were being neglected, supplied with alcohol, pornographic material, female students were becoming pregnant, and the spread of STI's among the students were reported. (source: "A Brief Report of the Federal Government of Canada's Residential School System for Inuit 2005, David King. p.6")

$800 million and over 100 years was dedicated to assimilation in residential schools, but only $350 million and 10 years has been dedicated to healing.

Currently in Canada there are over 87,000 residential school survivors who live with the legacy of this cultural genocide. But when you take into consideration that these survivors grew up in complete isolation from the family structure and surrounded by all this aforementioned ugliness for their entire childhoods, the children of these survivors must live with this ugly legacy as well. Until reconciliation is achieved and Canadians acknowledge the truth of our country’s treatment of native peoples, and the perpetrators of these vile acts are brought to justice, the cycle of pain, hate and isolation will only continue to fester in aboriginal society.

This is an ugly reality, but until this issue is resolved, it’s unreasonable to expect aboriginal communities to become healthy self sustaining communities. This issue will not just go away by itself. Until meaningful reconciliation by the federal government and the church is made, there will continue to be an unsightly stain on the Canadian flag. We are human beings; we have the fundamental right to justice. The truth must be known.

I’d like to leave you with a speech given by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce at Lincoln Hall, Washington, DC in 1879, where he argued for the same liberties granted to American Citizens.

“Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country. They do not protect my father’s grave. Good words do not give back my children. Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises.”

***
(Source: The Legacy of Hope Foundation)

Just a bit of stress...

2006-02-13T10:41:00.000-05:00

So I've been a bit stressed out lately...

Ok, that may be an understatement, but I'm trying my best to keep it together.

With work, family, crappy weather and Meredith so far away all the time, It's been a struggle to keep my sanity intact. I told my boss a couple weeks ago that I was planning on moving this summer. I was pretty nervous about that, but it actually went surprisingly well. He understood that I needed something new, and he actually offered to extend my contract by a few months instead of a full year to help me out financially and so I could move in say June instead of April. I told him that I'd think about it. It's been strange working since I told him that I'm leaving though, I am happier knowing that an end is in sight, but trying to finish a year and a half worth of projects can be a feat. I hope I can get as many of the The projects done as possible before I leave.

Hopefully my stress level will be at a manageable point by next Sunday for when Meredith comes! I can't wait. She'll only be here for a week, but oh well, she has school, there's nothing that can be done about it. I'm excited. There's not a whole lot to do here, but just having her around for a while, I'm sure will make things seem better.

I went hunting over the weekend with a coworker, it didn't go that well since the weather was bad and our snowmobile broke down. So basically we went out, broke down, spent about 20 mins fixing the machine and retreated back home... Still, it was nice to get some fresh air I guess. I would have taken some pictures, but there was a white-out (where it's overcast and snowing, making everything completely white, thus making it impossible to distinguish the sky from the ground, or bumps... Lots of bumps) and my camera doesn't work in the cold anyways. I did get a kickass buffalo curry dinner out of the deal though, so I guess I can't complain.

I haven't been up to a whole lot on account of this town being a hole... But I've been watching a bunch of movies lately... I watched the soviet cinematic wonder that is The Cranes are Flying. (Letyat zhuravli) Awesome movie. Period. Released in 1957, Directed in by Mikheil Kalatozishvili (AKA Mikhail Kalatozov) the same director that made Soy Cuba. (I am Cuba) One of the main things that struck me about the Cranes are Flying was that though the story deals with a very brutal war during which 20-30 million Russians were killed, there is no demonization of the Nazis, and though there is a lot of intense patriotism and Ideology, (the genre of the movie is considered soviet realism) It still manages to be very humanistic and anti-war. The story follows two young lovers, Boris and Veronika from right before the onset of the German invasion of the Soviet Union until the end of the terrible war. The movie is an amazing illustration of what is sacrificed for war and it leaves out all the glorified propaganda that is so common in the west. There are no scenes of cliched military sensationalism, instead it shows men painfully saying goodbye to their wives and family to fight and die in the mud. Basically it shows what war does to regular people. War is devastating, you'd think that would be pretty clear, but obviously a lot of people *cough* Americans *cough* around the world have some pretty misguided views about it. The bottom line is this movie is written well, superbly acted, visually stunning and expertly directed and filmed. One of the best movies I've ever seen.

I also watched the movies Water and Munich, as well as Ingmar Bergman's Smiles on a Summer Night, Jean Renoir's The River, and Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth, (I'm now fully convinced that David Bowie is in fact an alien) which were good in their own right, but this post is getting kinda long and it's getting close to lunch...

So yes... I hope you enjoyed my ramblings for today. You can carry on with the rest of your day now...

Apartment shopping: The thrill of the hunt

2006-01-25T13:12:00.000-05:00

So I'm moving... Yes, I mean it this time. I'm getting myself out of the arctic for a while and finding an apartment in Ottawa for about a year. I'm not sure exactly about the details, I'm probably going to go on EI after my contract ends this April and take it easy and travel for a while. I'm a little bit aprehensive about taking the plunge like this, but hey, I'm young, this is when I'm supposed to do things like this. Right? ...Right!

I'm going to be moving in with Meredith (my girlfriend) I want to get into the Inuit art scene and I think Ottawa is a good place to start. This is what my heart wants to do, so now all I have to do is fully convince the rest of me. Personally I'm excited, I've been stuck up here, toiling for 2 years now. I've saved up a bit of money. I figure that when you're making a life decision, your happiness should be an important determining factor. I'm not happy up here most of the time. Ottawa will be a good base for me, I think. The Inuit art scene is established, it's much cheaper to live in than Nunavut, the weather is much nicer, it's cheap to travel from and Meredith is there. I can't wait to do it. I just have to tell my boss...

Iqaluit is a rough town to live in. You need big teeth to survive here sometimes, or at least thick skin. It's a highly political town, with a lot of inner tension most times. I'll always be able to come back and start again in this town. Anyways... there are a thousand reasons why I want to leave this place... So that's it, I'm going to stop rationalizing it, I've decided.

I'm excited! I love apartment hunting.

More later.

Daydreaming with Rainer Rilke

2006-01-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

Not all that much has been going on these days, I've just been trying to get back into the swing of things at the office and getting used to being in the arctic again. I did become a proud owner of a microwave last week thanks to a coworker that's moving to Calgary today. I can't say that I'm not a bit jealous... It isn't particularly that she's going to Calgary, I mean I like Alberta and the west in general, but It's more that she's actually leaving Nunavut. She's just picking up and leaving this evening. I miss that feeling... I wish I could just sell all my crap and move, start anew again, it's an exhillerating feeling.

Anyways, I've been spending my spare time reading these days. As I said before, I'm still reading the Time Traveller's Wife, but I've also been getting into the works of Rainer Maria Rilke. It's some pretty amazing stuff. I loved it immediately. I can't and won't claim to know much about poetry, or literature in general, but I really like the writings of Rilke.

For those that don't know, Rainer Rilke, was a Prague born poet from the late 19th century. He lived in a very interesting time in Europe, Everything was changing, new ideologies were forming. his poetry is beautiful, it flows very well with undertones of meloncholy. Here's a snippet from the Duino Elegies:

"Sing, in your lovelorn

longing, of the losers.

Make their dark fame glisten.

Sing of those whom you are

nearly moved to envy in the

purity of their despair:

hearts more loving in their pain

than many never broken.

Sing again-and yet again-

your altogether insufficient

praise of them.

The hero lives!

His ruin is but a pretext

to be born again."

In other news... I've been thinking about the upcoming election and dreading the increasingly real possibility of a Conservative majority. This Blogger pretty much captured my sentiments, but the whole thing boggles my mind. I refuse to believe that the majority of Canadians are actually conservative. It can't be, they can't know what they're getting themselves into. How did it come to this?

Most people in Canada dislike the politics south of our border, There are very few people that I've come across in Canada that think George Bush is a good president or that his ideology is beneficial to anyone except the wealthy elite. We see all the time what the Right is doing to our neighbors and we don't like it. But then why in the hell are we even considering electing a right-wing nut job in our own country?!? It doesn't make any sense to me at all. Is our collective memory that short? Do we not see the clear ideological parallels between the conservatives and the republicans? Religion in Nunavut is strife. Most communities up here are basically run by the church, in one of the communities I lived in, most people went to church three times a week. (It was kind of scary sometimes since I was usually the only non-religious person) So obviously the populace up here at the moment is against same sex marriage, abortion, and basically anything secularist that the Tories have so skillfully attatched themselves to like some sort of hideous leech-like creature. It's quite clear that the Conservatives are anti-gay, which is a popular sentiment up here unfortunately, but what they don't realize or at least let themselves realize is that thier policies are also anti-aboriginal. I think it's a pretty safe bet that if Harper gets into the PMO on Monday, we, the aboriginals in Canada can say goodbye to the promises made in First Minister's Meeting in Kelowna.

So yeah, it looks to me like Canada is in a lose-lose situation politically. The Center is corrupt, the Left is unorganized. That leaves the Right with a clear path to majority control of the country... I, for one am dreading the next few years, looking for work abroad has never looked better.

I guess we'll see what happens on Monday.

Do I have to go back?

2006-01-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

So I'm not going to lie to you, living in Iqaluit is tough. Somedays I can barely stand it. So when I left this Christmas, I was pretty happy. I had a great Christmas break, I relaxed in Northern Ontario with Meredith and her family. It was really fun, it was a simpler trip than I'm used to, but it was still worth it.

Still, I had to come back after two weeks, it hardly seems fair. I had to leave Meredith at the airport once again. I hate doing that. Over Christmas I got the Time Traveller's Wife Which is a book about a man who travels through time against his will and the woman he loves who has to stay behind, I just started reading it, the story is a bit strange, but it's actually a good book so far. I've really been able to relate to it.

Being in Wawa gave me a sense of nostalgia. I had been there once before in the summer of 2002. I was passing by during a bus trip from Kelowna, BC to Cheyenne, Wyoming up to Winnipeg then to Ottawa. It was quite the trip, there were no specific plans, I just chose some checkpoints and some vague dates and improvised the rest. Barring the upper respiratory infection I got in Cheyenne that kept me bedredden in a cheap motel for a few days, it was a great trip. I love that type of freedom. Just me and the world. No work, no routine, doing whatever I please, on my own time. I can't really explain properly what exactly travelling means to me, it's my life, it's what I know best. Having a secure job definitely has it's perks, but it does make me feel kind of trapped and I don't like that. How can I be happy sitting in my office day in day out when a memory of a thousand places I've been and would like to be flashes into my head everytime I close my eyes?

I miss the excitement and anticipation of the flight to somewhere completely unknown to me. Imagining what it's going to be like, how the people will be, how I'll dress for the weather. I've been to some far off corners of the globe already and my wanderlust is still not satisfied. Not too many people like flying commercially anymore and for good reason really, but I actually feel comfortable in planes for long stretches. I took my longest flight in one sitting this past summer. Beijing to Toronto direct. 20 hours baby. One hour of which was spent sitting on the tarmac because the runway on which we were supposed to take off from needed repairs. I don't mind planes and airports that much. I once spent 4 days in the Vaanta International airport in Helsinki thanks to a misplaced passport and lack of money. I was 17, it was an adventure I'll never forget. It's these types of adventures that I want to live again. Sure, being a responsible citizen has been ok, but my place is over the horizon.

I'll figure out a way to get out there again.... I think my inner gypsy is going to wake up this spring...

2005-12-20T14:48:00.000-05:00

Yeah, um, don't mind me, I'm just playing around to get the feel of this thing. If you were wondering though, I took this picture in Victoria, BC last Febrary in this historic building that was being renovated. I'm not sure what the story was behind it, but I thought it was kind of neat. You're more than welcome to come up with your own story about it if you like...

2005-12-19T11:37:00.000-05:00

So, obviously I've decided to give blogger a go. We'll see if I actually find stuff to post, which I haven't been doing much of recently, but I refuse to accept that I have nothing to say. I must have something to say...

Well I think I'll be posting pictures of my new apartment, it's nothing really spectacular, but hey, it's mine for now and will be my sanctuary for the next while anyways.

I'm sure I'll come up with something in any case, so stay tuned!