The Battle at the Mad Trapper Bar
Northerners; we tell stories. Our northern stories are our wealth & our identity. They are about independent, hardy people full of character.
Inuvik
The Road Less Travelled: The Dempster Part 2
When a Canada 150 project resulted in a road linking Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, the shores of the Arctic Ocean were newly accessible. So too, then, were my plans to drive the length of the Dempster Highway.
The Road Less Travelled: The Dempster Part 1
As the Alaska Highway became more accessible and faded from myth and legend, The Dempster Highway, for me and many others, became the new Holy Grail. It enticed us with the promise of adventure, of unseen vistas.
Ice road woes (and whoas)
I was driving back to Red Deer from Calgary the other day and got a speeding ticket in a blinding snowstorm. The cop told me there is a law in Alberta that states that speed limits are reduced to 80 km/h when winds exceed 70 km/h. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that I’d …
Read the land
As long as I remember, I’ve travelled throughout the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Coast with my dad. We travelled all over during different seasons hunting or trapping different animals.
Deals with the Anaatquuq
As a musician, you put yourself out there in the public and you have to be ready to appease your fans. That means answering questions after the show. The most common question I get is, “How long have you been playing?” Well, I’m here to tell you, I don’t know. It seems music has always …
Chain of demand
I arrived in Inuvik for the first time in early July 1972. What first struck me as I toured the town was A) the 24 hours of sunlight and B) how closed off the town felt without a highway. It felt like even more of a no man’s land when I looked at it from …
A Tuk load of memories
I was back home in Inuvik this summer and I took the opportunity to drive to Tuk for the first time. It always hits close to the bone whenever I am there. The first time I went to Tuk, I was 12 years old. We were whaling at East Whitefish Station at the mouth of …
No blues for this bootlegger
One afternoon, in the mid-70s in Inuvik, I was looking for some oddball thing for my vehicle. I looked almost everywhere and then I decided to go see John, a local who owned one of the taxi companies. I can’t remember if he helped me out or not, but I remember I stayed for awhile …
To ‘Looks Like a Caribou’ and back – Part 6 of 6
Driving the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. (located on Kugmallit Bay of the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean), is no big deal..
Celebrating 30 years of northern art and artists
First Nations artists and performers, from across the North, will gather with artists from around the world for the Great Northern Arts Festival on July 13–22.
Third Time’s the Charm
My friend, Lucy (not her real name – she asked me to call her that), is no stranger to adventure. The daring Ontario expat, who has called the Yukon home for the last decade, has twice answered the call to cycle the Dempster Highway – a rugged expanse of terrain stretching from Dawson City to …
The Dempster Highway: Past, Present & Future
There are two ways to Inuvik: either fly Air North, or drive the scenic route – the 735.5 km of the Dempster Highway. East of Dawson, branching off of the Klondike Highway, the Dempster begins. It follows the Klondike River valley, heads through the Ogilvie Mountains and crosses the Blackstone, Ogilvie and Eagle Rivers. Then …
Leonard Linklater: Voicing the North
When Leonard Linklater was growing up in Inuvik, NWT, there was one radio station on the dial. The CBC. Through the airwaves, Indigenous voices carried messages and music. “Louis Goose, Les Carpentier, they were all on the air! I was used to hearing Indigenous voices. Not a lot of them – the main broadcasters were …
Take the Gwich’in Language Challenge
Take the Gwich’in language challenge. It’s a challenge from Norman Snowshoe, the former Gwich’in Tribal Council vice president. He said, “If you learn one Gwich’in word a day, at the end of the year you’ve learned 365 Gwich’in words.” Jacey Firth-Hagen, 23, jumped to the challenge. She started a social media based movement, called Speak …
An Ice Road Adventure
When I saw the post on Facebook from local Dawsonite Sarah Lenart, asking for two people to join her and friend Jeremy Herndl on a trip to Tuktoyaktuk from Inuvik via the winter ice road, I was elated. The ice road follows the Mackenzie River delta channels, and eventually ends up on the Arctic Ocean. …
Journeys That Open the Heart
Whitehorse musician and adventurer Thorin Loeks is off on another journey. On June 4th, Loeks started to hitchhike from his home just outside of Whitehorse up to Dawson City where began a cycling trip. His initial plan was to bicycle south to Montana. There, he was going to switch his bike for a paddle, and …
For the Love of Northern Art
Every year for 10 days, northern artists and art lovers gather in Inuvik, a small town of 3,400 in the NWT, to celebrate culture and creativity. Entering its 28th year, the Great Northern Arts Festival features almost 60 artists from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Running from July 15 to 24, the activities …
Showing Torontonians What’s Happening in Old Crow
photos from Old Crow, Yukon Territory, and Inuvik, Northwest Territories from youth workshops held by BYTE
Thanks Dr. Jim
It’s been a month and a half since the Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner Jim Zheng passed away. Those who he helped will remember him fondly, and those who depended on him to help manage ailments will be wondering how to manage the void he has left in their lives. “Dr. Jim,” as he was known, …
Honouring the Bounty of Scotland
Up on the Alaska Highway, in the bright boîte called Tonimoes, attached to the SKKY Hotel, a quiet ritual takes place every Tuesday. Informally known as Scotch night, the weekly event “honour[s] the bounty of Scotland with the frugality of a Scot,” according to the Tonimoes website. In other words, you can get a really …
A loppet runs through it
INUVIK Contrary to what some wise guys in Whitehorse believe, there are trees in Inuvik, N.W.T. and its annual Top Of The World Ski Loppet will run through it April 9. “We are just at the edge of the treeline so we have little trees,” says Rita Kors-Olthof, president of the Inuvik Ski Club. “It’s …
Muskrat love … Inuvik-style
Residents of Inuvik love their muskrats so much, they named a jamboree after them. Muskrat Jamboree is a celebration of spring and one of its highlights is … muskrat skinning. “They trim them from the hind legs and open them up,” says Gerry Kisoun, vice chair of the organizing committee. “Our ladies can skin them …
Tropical paradise north of the Arctic Circle: Inuvik Family Centre to open April 2
INUVIK The newest vacation hot spot in the North could very well become Inuvik. On April 2, the Inuvik Family Centre will officially open its doors to the 7,000 area residents who are looking for a chance to frolic in the leisure/lifestyle pool with a swirl pool and lazy river. It looks a lot like …
Tropical paradise north of the Arctic Circle: Inuvik Family Centre to open April 2 Read More »
