Kugluktuk’s landscape and seascape is dramatically and starkly beautiful--treeless tundra on one side, and endless blue ocean on the other, with many islands visible far off in the distance. The former community of Coppermine overlooks Coronation Gulf which is an arm of the Arctic Ocean; here we’re closer to Russia than to Toronto. July can be very pleasant. When Toronto is dying with 35 Celsius and smog alerts, we are a sunny, clear 25 Celsius. Kids even swim in the ocean here.

Photo: Stanley Anablak   

In early August there are nearly 24 hours of daylight but the seasons change very quickly. By mid-November it is -15C and there are only five hours of daylight. Instead of the sun shining on the blue ocean, the moon shines on ice that stretches to the horizon.

Photo: VANOC

We’re above not only the tree line but also the Arctic Circle. Permafrost prevents anything with deep roots from growing, but there are lots of dwarf willows, cotton grasses, wild flowers, mosses and lichens. The autumn colours--red, rust, yellow, gold and maroon—are awesome out on the wild tundra. In winter there are seven weeks of no sun while the -35 Celsius is bearable if there is little or no wind. It's the wind that's the 'killer.' This is no place for animal rights activists; we need to wear our furs. The sun finally appears on the southern horizon in mid-January. By March 21 there are twelve hours of sunshine and by May 27, a full 24 hours. However, the last of the sea ice does not disappear until about July 12.  

 

There are three churches in Kugluktuk but the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal ones only have services in English and serve outsiders. The Anglican church, St. Andrew’s, has an average Sunday attendance of about eighty but there are a thousand people, almost all Inuit, on its parish rolls. When there is a baptism, marriage or burial, the locals come to St. Andrew’s. Both men and women wear colourful fur-trimmed parkas, and their Sunday best in church is exotic!

The church had been without a full-time minister for a couple of years, so our Inuit parishioners gave us a warm welcome--many smiles, handshakes and hugs--when we arrived. Many of them follow their traditional hunting and fishing lifestyle, and they fill our freezer with caribou, musk-ox, Arctic char and whitefish. Today hunting and fishing involve float planes, boats with powerful outboard motors and snowmobiles. The dog team is passé, except for those who use it as a hobby. These days it's hardly worth it to trap furs, because of the outlay involved (snowmobile, camping equipment, etc.) and the low return for all one's time and effort. The Inuit hunt much more for meat to feed their families and that involves day trips out onto the tundra mostly on weekends.

We are in the process of learning the Central Arctic Inuit dialect called Inuinnaktun. Winsome works for the local school board. We first met as students at Regent College in Vancouver. Winsome's profession is as a university librarian (she used to work at McGill), but in all our travels in the ministry she has worked on-and-off as a substitute teacher for various school boards.

On Sunday we have two services—one in Inuinnaktun and one in English. Many people here love the Lord, and worship with enthusiasm. We are blessed with two organists and four guitarists. In March I conducted a traditional Inuit wedding –bride and groom and all the wedding party in colourful, spectacular, fur-trimmed clothes. I managed the whole service in Inuinnaktun, with the exception of the one line that wasn’t in the Prayer Book. I reverted to English for “Husband, you may now kiss your wife,” much to the congregation’s amusement.

In late November we had a parish mission with world-renowned evangelist, Dr. Marney Patterson, and his family. A startling number of people of all ages responded to his message and made decisions to follow the Lord.  It is interesting to realize that the older people in our church are the first converts in the region to Christianity and it is faith in the Lord which is keeping many people sober and moving ahead with their lives. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real here.

Chris and Winsome Davis have spent twenty years in the North. Before working in the Central Arctic, the couple served the Cree people of James Bay in Wemindj, Quebec.

See also “Inuit youth win ban on alcohol.”