Sunday Lazing

Hello Everyone,
Just a couple of photo's of Baker today.
Take Care
CG

Land of the Midnight Sun

Hello Everyone,
Well, we're 2 months from the longest day of the year. I don't know what time sunrise and sunset are, Its becoming increasingly irrevelant. The other night we had a late frieght plane and I was out at 1:00 am and the light in the north was bright and very much like you'd see 30 minutes before sunrise. Its like that to the north all night now. I took these photo's tonight at 11:00 pm. The day begins around 4-4:30 am and until around 11:30 pm you could read outside if you so wished. Its not direct sunlight out at these times, but it is bright enough to see across the lake with details. Sorry about the quality of the photo's, I've never been good at low light photography and neither is my camera.
Take Care
CG

Do Not Proceed

Hello Everyone,
If you scroll down past this post you will encounter photo's that may be disturbing to some, so be Warned. Yesterday a Grizzly Bear that wandered into town until he was met by one of our hunters. These photo's are of the front yard of the hunter who killed the animal. This is essentially all that's left, All the meat is in the freezer, the entrails fed to his dogs, the skin drying to be treated, and the skull is a lawn ornament. Don't complain about those stupid little gnomes your nieghbour has, you never know who'll move in next :)
The Bears are very active and aggressive this time of year, as last weeks warm temps have brought some of them out of hibernation, and they wake hungary. Its not dangerous you just have to be aware, and keep inside town limits, if your unprotected.
Take Care
CG

Warning----Graphic Material

Damn, I love this Town. Just when I have nothing left to write about and find this whole blogg thing tedious, this town delivers something great that I'd never have encoutered down south. Bet ya haven't walked past this on your way to work :)

CG

Just Like Admiral Byrd

Hello eve ryone,
Another day off and another dog race. The temp today was above zero so this time we ventured out to see the race close up. I love the photo of Christopher with the finishing flag, it reminds me of those going to the poles. Hope you enjoy the photo's.
In 2 more posts I'll have made a 100 postings to this site.
Take Care
CG

Todays Dog Race

Hello Evryone,
We had some early dog races today on the lake, Once across, about 20 miles in 1.5 hours. Four teams participated, three good one's and one young confused team. One of the photo's shows one of the mushers getting off his Kamitik to chase his dogs to the right direction, it didn't work, you'll also notice how spread out his team is in comparision to the other teams.
Take Care
CG

Last Monday the town started to clear snow around buildings and on roads in preparation of a spring thaw, they might have acted prematurely as we had two blizzards last week, here are some 0f the results, BTW my BBQ had no snow on it on Monday.
Sorry for the rare postings however we're having alot of trouble with internet up here. as soon as things get better, I'll be posting more, but for now its this and the dog race.
Take care
CG

Just another Note

Hello everyone,
Well we just got through another Blizzard and have another coming tommorrow. There's a bad flu wandering around town that caused the closure of the Health center (i hope that makes sense to you because it doesn't to me). But so far we are mostly doing well. Thank-you to everyone who recently sent care packages, they are all well appreciated.
We wish everyone a wonderful easter in all those Southern locals that are getting such nice weather.
Take Care
CG

Nunavut's Schools

News story About Nunavut's Schools. click on this link for the story
This article has just been released and is discussing the educational systems failing in regards to the Inuit. Its a very dificult thing for a outsider to discuss due to the cultural differences. However lets endeavor to cover a couple of the obsiticals here.
First, life isn't the same here as down souh, the history is different, the people are different and life is different. Very few of the adult population have recieved formal education inside a school's and those that have were forced to participate in English RC only schools. Those who were formally educated are no different than those who weren't, meaning looking around town you'll find formally educated success's and failures at the same rate as "Non-educated".
Schools don't treat truancy as that big of a deal here. From what I've heard from locals it is very important for children to attend the first day of school, school officials will follow up through the summer with locals attempting to ensure every child will attend the first week of school. The schools recieve funding based on beginning of year attendence, I wonder if it would help if they recieved funding based on end of year attendance?
Children are needed here to assist with some daily functions. Brothers and sisters act as babysitters, they assist with shopping, etc. Some of the absences are at the parents need, So the parents need to be convinced of the importance of education. At the store children are not allowed in the store during school hours, however when questioned the answer is invariably, I'm on a spare.
Last year, this town graduated 2 people from grade 12. This is a large community by northern standards, so by logic I would say Nunavut would have been lucky to graduate 100 grade 12 grads last year. Some of these individuals go on to persue further education, some need time away from school, but I don't think alot of them jump up and say, now I can work for the government, at least I hope they don't.
What is the northern answer? When people look out thier door they don't see a difference between the educated and the un-educated's house's, and even if they do notice difference, the more common answer is "that person has been blessed by God", which is the result of previous education attempts. I honestly believe you need to see local successes in order to gain local inspiration. Unfortunately when the system doesn't fail and we graduate a post secondary eductaed Inuit, they are over-qualified for most northern positions, there aren't alot of places they can work in their own community. At the Northwest company we are Canada's largest private aboriginal employer, but we struggle to get local populations into local management, and we've been in some of these communities for 300 years. I don't think the teachers are at fault, there is only so much they can do, Any Ideas????
Take care
Cg

Little Boys' Dream's

Hello Everyone,
Well, Here's a couple of photo's from the last couple of days. We seem to have finalized our summer plans as of today which is good news, It looks like Melissa weill be going to Ontario in early July, while I go to Repluse Bay to relieve the store manager while he's on Vacation. Repulse Bay is to the north of here within the Arctic circle, which I am greatly looking forward to. I will be going while the Polar Bears are on the land and with thier young, so that should be interesting. Also this is the season for community whale hunts, so hopefully I'll be able to witness one of those as well. When I finish the relief assignment I'll join Melissa in southern Ontario in early August. So good news all around.
Take Care,
CG