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Eugene Niviatsiak

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“The areas around the channels were considered cool places. They were known as cool places. Now they are just as hot as inland areas.”

Donald Uluadluaq

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“[One] thing is the timing of the seasons. They don’t connect anymore. We used to know in what season something would occur. For example when your feet would sink through the snow, you knew when the aujaq (summer) or upinngaaq (spring) would happen. Using our traditional knowledge you would know what was going to happen when, but you just can’t predict anymore. People like me are confused. In the early fall sometimes there will be a freeze of the lake and the ponds, and then after that it would take several weeks to have the ice finally safe enough to travel on."

Philip Kigusiunaaq

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“Traditionally we have used snowdrifts as a guide, especially when we are travelling in the dark. We would check the drifts occasionally to make sure that we are heading in the right direction to return to our iglu. Now it is disorienting because they are not pointing in the direction that they were pointing in before.”

Tony Otuk

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“The intensity of the wind has increased. Sometimes we worry about our cabins and belongings being blown away. These days things have to be secured. The wind is getting stronger than we used to experience before.”

Henry Isluanik

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“When you were camping out in an iglu, we would have the iglu by the lake. There was this constant cracking of the ice. It was non-stop and very loud like thundering. You don’t hear that anymore. It might do that once in a while but during those years you heard it all the time.”

John Nukik

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"Today we don’t seem to be prepared for the changes that affect everyday life. People are dying of exposure and they are not prepared for the unpredictable weather."

Jacob Ikinilik

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“I have a strong respect for the people before me who were experts—especially at predicting the weather. Just by observing the sky and the clouds they were able to know what the weather would be the next day. And they were always accurate in their predictions. But today someone may make a prediction of how it will be by observing, and you might think you are right because you are observing certain signs, but because the weather changes so suddenly now, your prediction is more often wrong. It might be a very nice calm day and then you would get a storm.

John Avaala

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"I have noticed from my younger days, as a hunter, especially the winters, there are extreme weather changes during the winter. The extreme cold followed by days of warmth."

Therese (no last name given)

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“There’s no dramatic change, but in winter the hides, when you bring them inside the house, then they used to have moisture built up. Today, they are very dry. Even when you stretch them they are not the same as it used to be. The climate seems too dry. Even sealskin is harder to manage and we keep seal skin outside to make them whiter starting in March. Not today. We have to do that in February and they are not as white as they should and they are really dry. Back then, we used to travel by qimuksiq. I remember we used to travel far. We had to prepare our hides in April.