March 26th - Culture/History Week

There were many great presentations done on this day (the others were on Inuit Language and Inuit Spirituality) but I found the first one to be the most interesting and something that I didn't know existed in Canadian history. The first presenter of the day chose to do their topic on “From the Land to Settlement: The Impact on Canadian Arctic Inuit Families”. These families led a nomadic lifestyle and maintained minimal contact with the Qallunaat (outsiders, mostly white people) Qallunaat means “the man with the bushy eyebrows”. It is interesting that this is what the Inuit people refer to white people as.

The presenter went on to talk about the role of the Canadian Government and how they manipulated these families into moving from northern Quebec to the high Arctic, promising them better lives for their children. Instead, these families lived in deplorable conditions. They had to build shacks with old material from government projects to live in. These living quarters didn't have the proper insulation, and were often very cold. By 1960, they were starting to getting better housing but they still housed quite a few people. The presenter indicated that in 1965, a housing survey was conducted in Baffin Island territory and 1480 people were in 272 tents, 722 people in shacks and 2377 in 448 one-room houses. What was intended to achieve positive outcomes for the relocated families, actually did quite the opposite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Can_high_arctic_relocation.svg

This map indicates the relocation of families from Inukjuak (Northern Quebec) to Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord.  

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2010/08/18/apology-inuit-relocation.html

One of the families who were forced to relocated in the 1950's. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfy9pvOW6aI

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfrigz_inuit-get-federal-apology-for-forced-relocation_news#.UVO0xb_N994
(This is a video of the actual apology issued by the government)

The presenter raised the question, do you think that the public apology made by the Harper government to the Inuit people of Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay was sincere? If you were in their position, how would an apology like this make you feel?

I feel as though this apology was a long time coming. The Canadian Government had made empty promises to these families that were forced to relocate. They were selfish in thinking that it would affect their land claims in the North. People look to the government as a body of people that will always have their best interest in mind but that was clearly ignored in the case of these families. Words only mean so much, but when action is taken and the formal apology was issued, I think this was a step in the right direction for the Canadian government and mending their relationship with these Inuit people. 

On a side note, it is so hard to believe that next class is our last day of presentations! I must say that this class has taught me so much more than I expected it to. I have found that by listening to these presentations I have a much better understanding of Northern Environments that I would have if the teacher was giving lectures each class. It has definitely been my favorite class of the semester and I'm going to be sad when it's over!

Until next time,

Janelle 

March 21st-My Presentation Day!

Finally the day has come, it was my day to present! I chose to do my topic on Inukshuks, which I find to be fascinating structures. What I didn’t know before researching my topic was there are so many different types of these stone structures, but I choose to do mine specifically on what most people are familiar with, the Inukshuk.

The Inukshuk (translation: “capacity of a human”) is a structure that is made out of stone, whether it be a single stone placed upright or a multitude of stones, which in that case, the building of the Inukshuk is generally a community effort. These stone structures are essential for survival in the North. In times when the cell phone didn’t, they served as a great form of communication between travellers on the land. Inukshuks are also a great navigational tool, often built to show the best route home. They also have an astrological significance, as they point in the direction of the North Star. Lastly, Inukshuks are built to showcase good hunting and fishing grounds. These are just a few of the meanings that I focused on as the Inukshuk has a long list of functions. I found out that the destruction of Inukshuks is forbidden in the North, which is quite interesting when you think of how many Inukshuks are probably built. 

I then focused on the "Inukshuk in Action", showing two applications of the Inukshuk. The first was the Inukshuk on the Nunavut flag. It is red in color and represents the Canadian Flag in their culture. The Inukshuk has also recently been used in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic symbol. It was picked as a symbol because of the values of both Canada and the Olympics. It also showcases togetherness and the bringing of countries together. 

I raised three different discussion questions and I will leave them on here for you to ponder over....

1. Do you think that the Inukshuk is a reliable way of navigation? Why or why not?

2. Do you think that it is important that the Inukshuks are kept on the landscape? 

3. Was the Inukshuk properly portrayed in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games?

After my presentation was Josh W., who presented on Grizzly Bears and how they interact with humans. He started off his presentation with a short video, showcasing the "Grizzly Salmon Thief". 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVgpQVTmr3M

The scientific name of the Grizzly Bear is the Ursos Arctos Horribilis. Female Grizzly Bears weigh between 300-600 pounds and males around 500-1000 pounds. Grizzlies can move at astoundingly fast speeds, reaching upwards of 48 km/h. They are considered to be omnivores, meaning they pretty much each anything and everything. 

The number one rule when hunting in Grizzly Areas is to get whatever you're hunting before the grizzly tracks the dead animals. Grizzly Bears now associate gunshots with animals carcasses and are no longer scared of coming right up close to humans. This is a scary fact, one that is showcased in the Salmon Thief video. I know I don't ever want to come that close to a grizzly bear!

It is also suggested that if you are attacked by a Grizzly Bear, it is best to lie face down while covering your head with your arms, and to try to stay as still as possible. I feel like this would be the last thing that anyone would be thinking of doing in the heat of the moment. I would be tempted to run away from the darn thing (obviously not a good idea!)!

http://env.gov.nu.ca/wildlife/resources/speciesmanagement/grizzlybear

Grizzly Bears in Nunavut

We then ended off the class with a game of Jeopardy! 

My questions were:

Name one of the importances of the Inukshuk.

What does the Inukshuk stand for?

What does the red color of the Inukshuk on the Nunavut flag represent?

And the daily double question....

How many "stones" are in the Inukshuk in the Olympic symbol?

My sources for information and pictures include:

-Book: Tukiliit – The Stone People Who Live in The Wind by Norman Hallendy

-http://www.uqqurmiut.com/Territory%20of%20Nunavut.html

-http://web.poptower.com/winter-olympics-2010.htm

-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Inukshuk%2C_Whistler.jpg

-http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/archives/story.html?id=4a5f5edd-04ed-40fe-80e4-a2a49b61b789

-http://www.soci.ubc.ca/fileadmin/template/main/images/departments/soci/Admin_Files/Socihead/Sojourners/ Vol_1.pdf#page=69

-http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/archives/story.html?id=4a5f5edd-04ed-40fe-80e4-a2a49b61b789

It feels so great to finally be done my presentation! I was a little nervous presenting it to the class but overall I think it went pretty well and now I can sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the presentation!

Janelle

Liquid Galaxy! March 21st

Wow, what an honour it was to be one of the first student groups to explore the prestigious and newly constructed 5th floor of the Wallace Building! I did a little research prior to class as I had never heard of the Liquid Galaxy before and what I found was a great learning tool that was developed by engineers at Google in their spare time. Yes, you heard that right.. SPARE TIME!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atV2foTBbyE

I believe that this interactive experience is an excellent learning tool that can be used in all aspects of work and studies as it offers an in-depth look at our surrounding world. I also find it quite amazing and am humbled by the fact that the university is only place in Canada that has one of these machines. It definitely puts the university on the map as far as this technology goes!

We explored a few different places while looking at the Liquid Galaxy on Thursday. One of our classmates is from Hong Kong, as so she showed us around different buildings and was great tour guide of the city!  I would of liked to of done my own exploring on the Liquid Galaxy but I had to jet off to work so I'm hoping I can get the chance to go up there again in the near future! 

Until next time,

Janelle

March 19th- Ice Hotels, Family in the North and Inuit Women

Ice Hotels! What a great topic! The presenter started off the day by explaining what exactly an hotel was. An ice hotel is made of ice and snow, more commonly referred to as "snice". They are generally kept at -2 and -7 degrees celsius, which is a lot warmer than I expected them to be. 

The presenter focused on three main ice hotels, the first one being the Jukkasjarvi Ice Hotel located in Sweden. This ice hotel opened up in 1990 and is 64,000 sq feet with a capacity of 100 overnight guests. All ice and snow is taken from the nearby Torne River and after the ice hotel has melted at the end of the year, it flows back to the very same river. This is a such a great use of the environment and I'm so happy to see that the people behind the project care enough about the environment. 

 Jukkasjarvi Ice Hotel Room (http://www.icehotel.com/uk/Magazine/Articles/Art-Design/ICEHOTEL-23---Art-Suites/)

The next location was the Hotel De Glace and is located in Quebec. This ice hotel is a popular wedding location in Canada and the building of it costs approximately $350,000. I did a little research online and the cost of staying at the ice hotel was much lower than I expected it to be (It was around $700/night in one of the theme rooms). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe5FgFOkxkI

This video includes a short tour around the Hotel De Glace. 

http://www.hoteldeglace-canada.com/Fond%20Ercan/fond_ecran_1_800x600.jpg

The beautiful hotel!

Lastly, the presenter focused on the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel, which is the most northern ice hotel. It is known for its ice sculptures and its different themes each year. According to its website, this is the 14th year that the Igloo Hotel has been built. This year's theme is Scandinavian literature, which I found to be quite interesting as we had learned about Scandinavian fairytales at the beginning of the semester and you could see the resemblances throughout browsing pictures in the Igloo Hotel. 

http://www.sorrisniva.no/page.jsp?ref=igloo-hotel&lang=en

This presentation reminded me of when I went to Las Vegas at the beginning of January. Although I've never slept in an ice hotel (but let me tell you, that's going to be added to the bucket list now!), I got to go into an ice bar with my boyfriend in Vegas called "Minus 5". It was a pretty cool experience and there's actually quite a funny story behind us going in there. We didn't pack jackets for our trip and with it being pretty cold outside we wanted to go somewhere to warm up. This particular venue provided us with jackets to go inside the ice bar and it was actually warmer inside the ice bar than it was outside, which I found to be pretty ironic. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKT_LYWO_IQ

Here is a look inside the Minus 5 Ice Bar in Las Vegas.

The next presenter up was my friend Courtny, who did her presentation on families in the North. She started out with a definition of family groups.

Family groups are:

• An important social unit in Inuit Culture
• Usually groups of 5-6 people
• In the past, between 6 and 10 families would live and hunt together.

In the winter, these families would stick together and hunt, and when summertime rolled around they would divide up in order to follow the hunt. Often, relationships between other non-relatives would occur and this is how band began to form. These bands shared a strong sense of community and food was always shared among everyone. 

Looking at the past, a promise of a spouse for their son was often made to another family. These men would sometimes go to other settlements to look for their future wives. This is very different from the way that marriage takes place nowadays. People are now able to choose their own spouse.

Children in Inuit families were highly value and this illustrates the high regard of arranged marriages and traits that were held in high regard included generosity, mildness and gentleness and a bad temper was often frowned upon. 

Courtny raised a good discussion question, asking "From your personal knowledge, what pressing issues surrounding family do you believe are present in today's Northern Environments? How is this impacting family life?". I believe that with kids leaving the community to go to university and the westernization are a pressing issue that families in the North are faced with. This overall affects the family dynamic. 

The second discussion question raised was "If possible would you be willing to go back in time and live a traditional Inuit family lifestyle? Why or why not?". Personally, I don't think I would make it a week living a traditional family lifestyle. For one, I would not be able to eat the food that they eat (such as animals off of the land) and I also think that I am so accustomed to the way of living in Manitoba, that it would be hard for me to adapt to the traditional lifestyle of the North. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB4JGUzve6M

A video of a traditional Inuit family in the Arctic (1959). 

The final presentation of the day was on Inuit Women. Inuit Women play a crucial role in the group, have most of the the responsibility, yet they never share equal power or influence in a family. Without women, families just wouldn't function as well as they do. Traditionally, Inuit women were responsible for all main aspects of child care. They show an incredible amount of warmth and affection for their children and raised both the boys and the girls. The men taught the boys to hunt and the women taught the girls to hunt. After modernization, women started taking on more of the man's role as well. They continue to seek more power for themselves and this has caused a complication in the relationship between Inuit men and women. The change in Inuit women over the years is similar to women in our very own culture, in that we used to be responsible for the same things such as childcare and cooking/cleaning around the house. Similary, women are getting out the world and trying to make a name for themselves!

Hope you enjoy the images/videos of the Ice Hotels as well as the Ice Bar! I think they are absolute breathtaking and I found this to be the most interesting presentation of the day!

Until next time,

Janelle  

March 12th- Arctic Winter Games, CDN Gov't and Arctic & Inuit Games

Another class, another day of presentations! 

The first presenter focused on the Arctic Winter Games, which is the presentation I have chosen to blog about. The Arctic Winter Games are an international biennial celebration of circumpolar sports and culture. They were founded by the Governor of Alaska, as well as the Commissioners of the Northwest Territories and Yukon, as were to serve as a place where athletes could come to compete on their own terms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Winter_Games).

The purpose of these games includes:

• Social exchanges with other countries
• Athletic competitions
• Respect for all nations, athletes and spectators

The grand prize, the Hodgson Trophy, is the highest achievement that one can get at the games and is given to the nation that shows the most spirit. 

There are many mainstream activities that are included at these games, but I found it the most exciting to learn about the not-so-mainstream ones. 

In the One-Foot High Kick, the athlete takes a running approach and jump up in order to kick the target. The athlete must then also land on the ground with the same foot that they kicked the target with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcyEDFw-S9U

This particular event reminds me of high jump in Track and Field, you have a similar run to the pole, but only in this even you are kicking up instead of over a target. 

There is also the knuckle hop, which looks to me to be the most physically demanding of the non-traditional sports. The athlete propels themselves forward along the floor, using only their knuckles. It makes my hands hurt just watching the videos of them doing this! The person who can go the farthest is declared the winner. 

I just don't know how they can do that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=u-EgxF_5pYM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZT1SSR3xt4

This video is from the Rick Mercer Report and showcases the games that I have mentioned above. I like that the Inuit have taken mainstream activities and incorporated their culture to form the Arctic Winter Games, where these cultures can come together, be showcased and celebrated! 

Until next time,

Janelle

March 5th & 7th- Poster Presentation Week!

On both Tuesday and Thursday of this week we presented our posters that we had done. Some students chose to do it on what they had already presented in their powerpoints, but others chose to do it on completely different topics. 
The poster was to "stand on its own" without needing a lot of text. The maximum words allowed on the posters was 200 words. I found this a difficult task, but after completing my poster I felt that it was able to get its point across without being to wordy. 

In Tuesday's class, we presented our posters to our classmates in a conference-style set up. One person would come up to your poster and you would explain it. I enjoyed this style the best as I found it was the best way for everyone to learn about each topic, however after an hour of giving the same spiel I felt like it was losing its meaning towards the end. In Thursday's class we went and looked at each poster individually and then gave feedback, which we will be receiving back in the near future. Overall, I felt this was another great way to learn about each topic and I really enjoyed this learning style!

I have attached my poster, which I used to the text boxes and pictures to form an Inukshuk :) 

Janelle

Reflection Post

Wow, time sure does fly by! Can't believe it's already Reading Week. What a relief though, I just finished four midterms over the course of a week and a half so it is a much deserved break from school :) I thought I would get this reflection post done right away so I could enjoy the week away from school work.

I have to admit, it has taken me awhile to get used to blogging, but I find this style of learning to be much more beneficial than writing a paper. I feel like I am able to learn extra about the topics I choose to blog on as I generally do additional research of my own after class for my blog.

One topic that I haven't yet discussed is the aspect of a presentation that I haven't understood or viewed as controversial. My classmates so far have chosen pretty neutral topics so if someone in the future were to write about something controversial then maybe that is something that I could address in a post.

I like to blog the topics that I feel I have learnt the most from. So far, I have chosen topics that I had no little background knowledge of and I find this beneficial when it comes to my learning and progression and this course, as well as my degree. 

My favorite part of the blog experience so far has been adding videos and pictures to my posts. I feel that they add to what I am typing, and are a good tool of really getting the point across.

Overall, I feel as though the blog has been going well. I am keeping up to date and I am always happy with the posts I make. It has been an enlightening experience to date and I hope you all continue to read my blog throughout the semester as I'm sure there will be great posts to follow :)! 

Until next time,

Janelle

February 12th- Aurora Borealis and Traditional Hunting Tools

Another thing on the bucket list.. See the Aurora Borealis, or more commonly referred to as the Northern Lights!

The presenter started off the day with describing what the Northern Lights are. They are lights of green, purple, pink and white that dance in the icy skies on the North. There are many legends and myths behind these lights as signals of changing weather and signals of impending doom. There was a long held belief that sunlight was being reflected off of the polar ice caps to create the Aurora Borealis but actually, energized particles entering earth's magnetic fields from the North and South Poles make up the aurora. The best time to see these astounding acts of nature are between 10pm-3am daily, and they are best seen in late fall, winter and early spring. 

I truly hope to be able to see these in person someday. I find it so amazing and surreal that the Earth that I am apart of is capable of such beauty 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcfWsj9OnsI

A beautiful time-lapse video of the Northern Lights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc3FxNXjBs0

The Northern Lights in Finland.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/northernlights

So beautiful!

Joe was the second presenter of the day and chose to do his topic on Traditional Hunting Techniques and Tools in the Arctic. Hunting and trapping techniques throughout the region have remained quite similar. Trapping became very extensive during fur trade, especially for the Arctic Fox. To catch one, the traditional Inuit would build an igloo structure out of rocks and leave a hole at the top, and once baited, this would become the trap. When hunting for wolves, the Inuit would take a knife and cover it in layers of frozen seal blood and this would cause the wolf to bleed to its death. Caribou were a vital part of their hunting and they would use everything from their skins, bones, antlers and meat. When fishing, the lure was the most prominent tool used. The Inuit would craft many different lures using various bones, shells and antlers. Seal Hunting was the largest and most important aspect of the Inuit diet. The hunters would use their dogs to track down seals through their breathing holes. Once the seal resurfaced to these holes, they would would spear it to death with a tool called a "unaq". 

Joe raised two good discussion questions. He asked "What are the positive and negative aspects of the traditional techniques?" and "Does the invention of the rifle and new techniques help or kill the Inuit culture?". I feel that there are many positive aspect of the traditional techniques, including the fact that the Inuit can live so close off of the land. They aren't using anything high-tech to catch these animals and that definitely makes it a lot cheaper for them to hunt. The negative aspect of the traditional techniques could be that it takes quite a bit longer to catch the food than it would be to use a rifle, or a modern-day tool. I do worry that the invention of the rifle is helping to "put a nail in the coffin" of the Inuit culture. The Inuits need to continue to implement both modern day and traditional techniques so that the older techniques are not lost. 

http://naindians.forsyth.wikispaces.net/Inuit

An "Unaq"

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Large_male_arctic_char.jpg

One of the most common types of fish fished for, the Arctic Char

I hope that you have enjoyed reading up on these two presentations! I could of posted a thousand videos of the Aurora Borealis and would never get sick of looking at all that beauty! 

But until next time..

Janelle