Life in a Northern Town
Author: Jennifer Jozic Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
Imagine your mother popping outside for a moment, chipping off some ice, putting it in a pail and then coming back inside to boil the ice for tea. Or think of what would it be like to eat seal meat for your supper, or ride a skidoo to school. Perhaps you might like to go out hunting for caribou or muskox with your father or uncle? Activities like this can be everyday occurrences for people living in the North.
Most of the northern lifestyle, however, should seem very familiar — going to work or school, attending church, drawing pictures, grocery shopping, hiking and biking in the summer, and sledding and playing in snowbanks in the winter. Northern communities have phones and television. Increasingly there are also computers with internet access available. There is usually a baseball diamond, a swimming pool or a soccer field around as well.
This section will offer some discussion and examples of what life can be like for people living in the North. It includes many pictures, some of them dating as far back as one hundred years and others that are only a few years old. Watch for the dates and compare how things have changed over time!
Comparing Towns in the North
It is important to realize that the North is not one place. It is actually a huge area that encompasses more than half of all of Canada and is made up of many parts. Some parts of the North can be near forests, while others are on the coast of the sea. There are a handful of small cities like Yellowknife and Whitehorse where buildings look very much like the ones in southern Canada. Most northern towns and villages are much smaller.
Northern communities have a few things in common. They are usually comprised of native and non-native people living together in towns of a few hundred residents. Getting in and out of these towns can be very difficult but, unlike in the south, winter is generally the easiest season in which to travel. Skidoos can speed across the snow very quickly and ice roads can be constructed for trucks. In the summertime there is no snow and therefore it is more difficult to get around. Sometimes it is possible to travel by boat to other northern communities. To travel from northern communities to southern Canada, however, almost everyone uses an airplane.
In general we can think of the North as being divided into two types of places:
- There are towns where there are trees and these areas are known as the boreal forest. Sometimes people refer to it as living “in the bush.”
- There are also towns that are above the treeline where trees can no longer grow. This area is known as the tundra.
The climate in the Arctic is unique. The winters tend to be long and harsh. In late December it stays dark for most of the day and on December 21st (the winter equinox) it stays dark for the entire day. By contrast there are weeks in the summer where it is light outside almost all the time. On June 21st (the summer equinox) the North experiences a full twenty-four hours of sunlight.
People in the North
As is the case everywhere, family relationships are very important in the North. Children learn how to keep house, hunt, fish and sew from their parents. Older siblings help with younger brothers and sisters. Grandparents may live with parents. Many communities greatly respect their local ‘elders’. Elders are older people who provide leadership and pass along the oral history and spirituality of their people.
Northern communities rely on hunters to provide most of the food for the community. Much of the character of a Northern community is influenced by what is hunted, trapped or fished there. Some of the animals used for food include bears, moose, caribou, seals, salmon, Arctic char, Arctic fox and walrus.
Towns in the North often have people from different backgrounds sharing the same community. For example, people from five distinct cultures inhabit the Mackenzie River Valley:
- The Inuit form a majority on the Arctic island.
- The Inuvialuit, descendants of Inuit and European parents, populate the mainland Arctic coast.
- The Dene is an Indian nation living along the Mackenzie River Valley.
- The Métis are of mixed non-Inuit Native and European parentage.
- Non-native Canadians who moved north from southern Canada to seek work and enjoy a northern way of life form the fifth group.
It should be noted that ‘Indian’ is an incorrect term that is widely used to refer to many First Nations people in North America. Because many First Nations legal rights are based on agreements using that term, however, it is occasionally still a necessary word. Indian bands and reserves provide a structure for many local communities and towns.
The Inuit, Dene and Cree
The word Inuit translates into English as ‘the people’ and the language they speak is called Inuktitut. Traditionally Inuit people lived mainly on the tundra and used igloos, tents and dog sleds. They moved around a lot (or migrated) to follow animals that they hunted for food.
The Inuit still hunt these animals today, but now their methods are modern. Instead of dogsleds and spears they use skidoos and guns. They also fish with modern fishing lines and nets, all of which are composed of man-made materials.