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La Boîte Rouge VIF
Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)
Living Far Away
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Enjoying Living in the Middle of Nowhere

Adamie Philie
May 24, 2017
Kangiqsujuaq

"I'm happy to live here."

Adamie Philie, Inuit

You can live in an isolated environment and remain in the centre of the world. Adamie Phillie was born and lives in Kangiqsujuaq, "the large bay". He likes to go to the dock, near the village, and never tires of admiring the beauty of nature in this Arctic tundra, a real snow desert. On sunny days, the water is calm. Large freight ships come to anchor there. We can see whales. A few years ago, a huge iceberg spent the summer there. Adamie took hundreds of pictures.

Transcript

Kangiqsujuaq Bay is covered with snow. Mountains surround most of the scenery. A few clouds float above the mountains. The remainder of the sky is blue and the sun is shining. At the foot of the nearest mountains, four boats are stored for the winter. A red pickup truck is parked nearby. A young man stands on a riprap more than sixty metres long. He’s wearing jeans, a dark grey kangaroo sweater and sunglasses.

Hello! My name is Adamie Phillie. This is Kangiqsujuaq, our beautiful village. And, uh... I was born here. I've lived here since I was born.

He points in front of him.

And, uh, there, in front of us, that’s the bay... the Kangiqsujuaq Bay. That's why it's called Kangiqsujuaq, because it means “the great bay”.

He moves on the large rocks to be closer to the edge and points to the section of landscape where there’s no mountain.

So well, the bay comes from there, and it goes all the way over there. It's a good, uh, 20 kilometers, here, from our village.

He turns to his left and points in front of him.

So here, in front, over there, in back, where we see the mountains there. That's where the sun sets. So now it’s spring right now. So, the sunset is between nine and ten o’clock. And during the summer, the sun sets at eleven o'clock in the evening. So, if you look behind here, we see our beautiful... our beautiful village there. We have a population of about, uh, 800 people.

He turns 180 degrees and then faces the centre of the riprap. With his back to the camera, he looks at the village in front of him.

And here, uh, it's a nice place to visit, because it's easy, uh, to come here. There's a road that goes to the dock. Here, we call it the new [Inuktitut word]. And, uh... That's because we're in the point, uh, of our village.

He turns to his left and takes a few steps ahead of him, still on the rocks.

So, this is where we come to put our boat in the water. Speaking of boats...We can see here, that there are four boats from the communities. There are some there. And these boats belong to the communities. So, we use them not just to go fishing and hunting, but we bring, uh, students, people who want to go, uh, go boating during the summer. So, we pass through the bay. And we can go pretty far with these boats. They’re rather big. There can be about 20, 30 people, that's for sure. They’re big enough to hold a lot of people, anyway.

He turns to his right and walks a few steps forward. He points slightly to his left.

And uh, speaking of boats, there's a floating platform right next to the boat over there. They use it to put stuff coming from cargo ships. So, the cargo ships coming from the south... One of the ways to get here is when there’s no ice.

He returns to the edge of the riprap.

So, as soon as there’s no ice and everything has melted, from the middle of July until September, late September, maybe October.

He points towards the path taken by the boats and the floating plates.

It's during this time that the cargo ships come here on the bay, but they can’t get close to the village because the water isn’t deep enough. The bay isn’t deep enough. So that's where... That's where... They stay there while the platforms bring the containers, the trucks, all the accessories we have in the COOP stores. Because we have only one store, and everything’s expensive.

One of the reasons that it costs so much is because the things we receive arrive by boat. And it's only during the summer. So, boats come here during only three months of the year, and that's when we receive things, otherwise we receive things by plane during the winter, but it costs even more than by boat.

He turns around and walks a few steps towards the pickup truck on the shore while pointing. He points towards the bay and the shore.

So, for example, we have a truck... our, uh, our pickup truck that's here. This one, we received it three to four years ago, this little red one. And it came by boat. And with that platform there, that’s floating, it goes to the boat that’s in the middle of the bay, and brings it back here. So, uh, the truck we received was on top of a container. So, uh, we receive cars every summer. There are people who buy them and, uh, because it can't make it’s way here, there's another small boat that brings it with a platform coming from there.

So... Uh, that's it. And, uh, as I was saying earlier... getting here is very accessible. Some people come on foot. Some people come on four-wheelers, even by car, just to chill. Because as you can see, the village is just behind, and the bay is just ahead. So, it’s always nature, uh, especially in summer.

He moves away from the camera, returns to the edge of the riprap and looks at the bay.

Nevertheless, we're still in the middle of the tundra. You could say, it's like a desert here, but with lots of rocks and lots of snow because we're in the Arctic eh. So, uh, there's a lot of snow, that's for sure, but we don't have any trees. Even without trees we can make fires, with plants.

And, uh... It's a nice place to come to. And I come here pretty much all the time, because it's easy to get here. There are even whales who come here, especially belugas. And when we see some, we report it to the community, and then we go hunting, even if they're not that far away.

And, uh... I think it's a beautiful nature. I think I’m very lucky to live here, and to be born here because I was, I’m still in love with nature. And it's a really nice place.

So... Uh, that's it. It's, it's always beautiful to see all the surrounding mountains. And I love it.

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