Gallant's Lounge

Here we are again! For the third summer in a row, I am in Nunavik.

This year is special though. For the first time, I come to Kuujjuaq working in my field, as a journalist.

This will change the identity of the blog a bit. Instead of writing about things I found interesting during my stay, I will focus on the things I reported on.

Every two weeks, I will post a compilation of my reporting for Nunatsiaq News, the archival newspaper for Nunavik and Nunavut. But, I will go into more depth about every stories, adding a few more details that did not make the cut in the newspaper.

For this first post, here is what you can expect.

A Nazi weather station discovered by Inuit.

A magician from Nunavik to Canada’s Got Talent.

Using martial arts to heal.

An Inuit-focused recovery center opens in Kuujjuaq.

A Quebec minister faces Nunavik leaders on Inuktitut revitalization.

A Nazi station, and who discovered it.

A Nazi weather station, on Canadian soil? Just this was enough for me to start investigating this story.

I first heard about it before leaving for Kuujjuaq. I told my dad that I was looking for stories to write. He then told me about a Nazi weather station that was built in Northern Canada. He did not know where it was exactly, but it peaked my curiosity enough to go check.

Right at the tip of Labrador and Quebec, the weather station was definitely placed in Inuit territory. Which means I needed to research this further.

I found an article made by Canadian Geographic back in the 80s. The writer was the Canadian Armed Forces historian Dr. Alec Douglas.

He with a team of researchers had travelled to the Kurt Weather Station in 1981, after discovering its existence in official Nazi documentation.

Turns out, after travelling by boat, and helicopter, they found the weather station had been altered. Someone came before. In Douglas’ article, they were perplexed; Who had discovered the Nazi weather station before the government of Canada had?

They found that two clues were left behind, a bullet cartridge marked British Dominion, and a circle of rocks.

What’s funny is that in the article, Douglas considered that Inuit were the ones that first came. But due to the fact that some of the weather station’s wires were cut, he believed Inuit did not have the technology to cut them.

Now, I was sure that the people that actually discovered the weather station were Inuit, and specifically from the town of Killiniq.

Killiniq was a small Inuit community that was disbanded by the government of Canada back in 1978. The story of Killiniq is, in itself, a very complex situation that has displaced hundreds of the years.

But in terms of the Nazi weather station, I knew that if I had to have answers, it would be from someone who used to live there.

I contacted the only person that I knew who was from Killiniq, who referred me to Sophie Keelan. After a few exchanged messages, she told me that her husband Micheal Keelan had gone fishing in Martin’s bay, and encountered the weather station back in 1977.

30 minutes later, I was on the phone with him, and he would tell me all that I needed to know about who discovered the station…

Micheal debunked both clues that the historian found on site.

Turns out, the British Dominion cartridge was normal use since the rifles they used for hunting were provided by British military. The circle of rocks is also normal since it is how hunters and fishers keep their tents from flying away.

Mystery solved, the site where the Nazi weather station was built was a known Arctic Char fishing spot for the people of Killiniq.

We may never know specifically who found the station, and when exactly. But I guess that is the open-ended conclusion that this story is giving.

Click here if you want to read the full story on Nunatsiaq News.

And here are a few archival pictures taken by the Nazi submarine team that travelled to Canada during World War II. All the images were provided by the Canadian War Museum.

Magic Ben, from performing in Kuujjuaq to Canada’s Got Talent

When I found out Magic Ben was going to perform at Canada’s Got Talent’s semi-final, I was so excited for him.

I first met Benjamin last year, during Kuujjuaq’s annual festival Aqpik Jam. He was performing in front of a crowd of kids, just outside of the venue. He would dosmall tricks with cards, in a very tight circle with his spectators.

Now, he has a Youtube video of his performance at CGT hitting millions of views.

When I heard the news, I immediately sent him a text for an interview. Even with the little time he had, he still managed to nudge me into his schedule.

The most interesting part of my interview with him is how he had to adapt his magic to television.

He mastered the close proximity type of magic. But due to cameras, he had to find the new angles so that his tricks weren’t spoilt by television.

Unfortunately, Ben did not make it past the semi-finals. But, his career has still exploded beyond anyone’s expectations. He is now pretty much booked for the foreseeable future, set to travel the US and Europe.

You can read the full story here.

The fight

This story came to light when I met my friend Anthony Kauki last year. He told me about his path in MMA and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and why he does it.

During my winter semester in Journalism school, I had an assignment called a photo essay. The point of this exercise is to tell a story through a series of photos.

I hit him up, and ended up joining him at one of his BJJ and kickboxing sessions at the H20 Gym, in Ville-Émard, Montreal.

I pitched the story to Nunatsiaq, and later interviewed Anthony about his path towards healing.

The one hour long interview was very moving to say the least. In the article, I go into more depths regarding that.

Here it is.

But what was also interesting to me was his traditional tattoos. I would like to focus on the ones on his temples.

And yet again, I believe Anthony explains it best, so you can hear him for yourselves.

Isuarsivik Recovery Center, cutting edge in Nunavik

The Isuarsivik Recovery Center is an initiative led by Inuit, for Inuit. They take on guests that need to overcome addiction, and help them with traditional Inuit ways.

In the past few years, they have been building a brand new building, atop a peak that overlooks the Koksoak river. Definitely the best real estate Kuujjuaq has to offer.

This week, they are doing their official open house, and I had the chance the visit the building earlier, and what a building it is.

It pretty much has state of the art architecture, with Inuit values and practices in mind.

The large circular rooms are called qaggialuk in Inuktitut, and they serve as a safe space where people can speak in a circle during group therapy.

There is a daycare and a classroom, because the recovery center actually hosts the guest’s family as well. This comes as part of their cutting edge program, where family plays a big part in recovery. So, the children are sure not to miss school when living there.

The project cost over $50 million. From what I have heard since knowing about this project, the board of directors had to move mountains to get the funding from multiple sources.

During my visit, I spoke with the Executive director Etua Snowball, who gave me a good overview of what is to come for Isuarsivik.

Read here

Quebec minister visits Kuujjuaq to talk

When I first saw the press release, I was doubtful

“Quebec’s First Nations and Inuit Relations Minister Ian Lafrenière invites media representatives to a public dialogue on the revitalization and promotion of Indigenous languages.”

The event was small, and there were about 50 people present.

The actual “public dialogue” was interesting, because the whole purpose of it was for the minister to hear the complaints and insight on the revitalization of Inuktitut.

All the prominent leaders of Nunavik were there, and said their piece. But one man took the lead, that man being Zebedee Nungak.

For those who don’t know him, he was a signatory of the James Bay Northern Quebec Agreement, and has been dealing with the government of Quebec’s shenanigans for nearly 50 years.

I can’t really do justice to his words, so I will let Zebedee speak for himself on this.

If you want to know more about Zebedee’s work for the JBNQA, here is a podcast I made on the topic.

Northern Perspective: The Agreement that Changed it All

A lot of concerns were brought up during the dialogue. Lack of infrastructure, lack of exposure, erosion of the language, erosion of knowledge. Most of it was shared in Inuktitut, which was great to hear.

Overall thoughts on the exercise? Positive.

Usually what happens when a government official shows up in Indigenous communities is to ask for advice after already having a bill. They rarely consult the communities prior to creating a bill.

In this instance, Lafrenière is visiting all Indigenous communities in Quebec solely to seek knowledge about Indigenous languages and the importance of conserving them. And that has resonated with some of the leaders in Nunavik.

You can read the full story here

That is it for this week everyone! This post will probably be that most packed of the summer since I had to pick articles from a two month period.

Expect a post like this every two weeks.

Have a great week everyone!