The Town

Our home in Whale Cove. Well, only the right unit is ours

The most common sound these days is the roar of snowmobiles. I thought it would take a little longer before I heard those again since leaving Shamattawa over a year and half ago. But the snow has started falling since the beginning of October, and it will stick around right till the end of the school year. This however gives the town the classic look of a Tundra environment most people are used to, the checkered pattern of white snow and dark rocks. Of course lack of trees and the ever present wind creates the pattern as it constantly blows snow off the rocks.  

Western view of the town

I am going to use this post to talk a little more about the town and its infrustructures, perhaps a more thorough introduction to Whale Cove. The place of course is known as the hamlet of Whale Cove. What is a Hamlet? It is a sttlement smaller than a village, which I only learned about after moving up here. There are about 350-400 people here with Inuktitut being the main language. The main employer here is the Hamlet office, which is similar to a tiny city hall, or a band office in small First Nation communities. It basically runs most of the operations in and around the community. There aren't many jobs around here other than maintaining the infrustructures, delivering water to houses, and emptying sewage from houses. I see those two trucks around town regularly. I believe they make daily runs to every household. 

Whale Tail, western view of the town

The next biggest employer is the Co-Op store in town. It is the only store here, for everything: produce, groceries, furniture, ATV's, ammunition,... The Co-Op is also the place where you'll buy gas voucher, before driving a few hundred meters to the actual gas pump. Gas is relatively cheap here, $1.10/Litre

Full service Gas station

The CO-OP, town's only store, for everything!

Our school, Inuglak school, has about 150 students. We have about 30 students in thigh school, grades 10-12, and 120 or so in lower grades. There are 9 teachers, and about 5 teacher assistants, who mostly help out with the lower grades. The school here teaches all subjects in Inuktitut up to grade 4, and then switches to English from grade 5. It has a nice gym which is used for after school activities every day as soon as the classes end and goes right through 11, or 11:30 pm. We, the teachers, offer programs from 4 - 6, and the hamlet offers programs from 7-9:30 for kids, and 9:30-11:00 for adults. The school programs include: soccer, floor hockey, badminton, ping pong, archery (with the help of RCMP officers). The hamlet has floor hokey, volleyball, soccer, and basketball. So the gym is by far the busiest building in the community.

Ping pong practice at our school gym

I have noticed most kids and adults are very athletic and skilled when it comes to pretty much any sport. There are organized tournemants almost every other weekend. I have watched soccer and floor hockey tournemants, as well as taking part in the volleyball tournemant, which by the way our team won! There is also an ice rink, which becomes operational as soon as the temperature drops about minus 20. It is a natural rink, meaning it is covered with dirt, and will be flooded once it is cold enough. It looks pretty big, but unfortunately no heating, bitter cold for spectators. The good thing about the ice rink is that it will free up a bit of space and time for those who want to use the gym while less crowded. I may get more playing time then!

The arena

Next to the ice arena is the community centre or the hall, as it is more commonly known. This is where there is weekend bingo for adlults, weekend dances for the kids, and any other ceremonies and celebrations. It is pretty small, but does the job for this community. If the event is too big, then they'll use the school gym instead.

Town hall

The arena on the left, and the town hall

As with every where else, we have a clinic and an RCMP detachment. The clinic has two nurses at all times, as well as 5 local staff. It seems to be busy every time I visit the place for one reason or the other. There are also only 2 RCMP officers at any time. I guess this is a good thing, as it can only mean less problems up here!

The Clinic

RCMP detachment

Even though this place is much smaller than Shamattawa and other northern communities, it has its own Wildlife and Conservation Office. I guess the main reason is protecting people and polar bears from each other. Whale Cove is on the polar bear migration route, and the bears come around quite frequently starting this time of the year. It wont be long before we start seeing their tracks on the snow in and around town.

Coservation and Wildlife management office

In fact the polar bear hunting season begins November 1st. less than two weeks from now. There are usually 6 tags available for Whlae Cove each year through a lottery system. Any one who is interested, which is everyone, include their name in the draw. The lucky family has less than two days to get their bear. If they fail to get one, they can have their name in the draw again for another chance. This goes on until either all 6 tags are used or the season is over. I was told the season lasts only 6 weeks or so. And I was also told that most tags get used whithin the first week or so. The lucky family that gets picked, drops everything and set out on the land in hope of getting their bear. Bear hunting season is supposed to be the biggest event of the year, and although I have reservations about seeing a magnificent and at risk predator killed, I am looking forward to the experience. I know its meat and especially its skin is valuable to my local friends, and it is also important to them culturally. But I do hope some day there will be more benefit to them having the bears alive rather than dead! One of our local friends promissed to take us on the hunt to expereince it first hand, if his name is drawn. I guess I get to finally use a sick day or two after so many years of not getting sick!

The thin layer of soil, and berries on the rocks. You can almost peel it off the rocks!

Well, this was a short and brief outline of life and some of its activities in Whale Cove. I am going to end this blog with a few shots of my favorite local fruit, the arctic cranberries. I am delighted to see they last the longest of all berries and preserved perfectly under the snow until next summer.

Cheers!

My favorite snack around here, arctic cranberries

Endless supplies of berries before the snow fall