Kayaks return to the Arctic

December 05-January 2006

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Glen Brocklebank

We took seven days in October 2004 and turned our school gym in Chesterfield Inlet into a huge workshop, making ten kayak (qayaq) frames. None of the students had ever made a kayak before and many had not worked with the power tools we used on this project. The students broke themselves into groups of three to six and worked together in mixed groups to complete the kayaks.

The project was awesome, seeing them all work together and seeing how proud they were when they finished. It was a great moment. Currently, we have a kayak hanging in every classroom in the school. Before we started this project, there were no kayaks in the community.

In May, we finished the ‘bones’ of the kayaks. Then we spent a week in the gym covering them with nylon, coating them with varnish and then getting them ready for the water. Each kayak had a traditional animal name, such as nanuq (polar bear), or qinalugaq (beluga whale), which the students decided themselves.

Our first day out on the water was fantastic. The kids were excited to paddle boats that they had made themselves, but before we let them goof around and paddle, they had to perform a wet-exit. This meant that we needed to flip the boats over with the kids in them and they had to get themselves out and up for air. They were all afraid, even the big, tough, cool kids. But after a little chat and finally just counting down for them, they all did it without any problems. After they had proved themselves, all we heard was “Can I paddle now?”

We’ve had a lot of people from the community coming to watch and everyone is really proud of the kids because kayaks are part of the culture that has been lost for a long time. Some said, “kayaking makes me feel like a real inuk”, which is great to hear.

A big thanks is due to Joe Matuska of AquaBound Technology for providing us with paddles and PFDs. When they arrived last winter, the students unpacked them and spent half an hour pretending to kayak in the classroom. It looked like Christmas! The ice covering the lakes was 7-8 feet thick, but I thought some of kids were going to go chip away a hole big enough to get one kayak in the water so they could start using the gear.

If you could see the smiles on their faces you’d know what a big deal this is for them.

© Glen Brocklebank is a teacher in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut.