Posts Tagged ‘Louie Kamookak’
Remembering Louie Kamookak (1959-2018)
The official obituaries I will leave to others. I feel driven to remember Louie Kamookak as my friend. Louie is well-known now as the foremost 21st-century champion of Inuit oral history – that history which, in 2014, led searchers to discover John Franklin’s long-lost flagship, HMS Erebus. For decades, Louie dedicated time and energy to…
Read MoreGjoa Haven features Amundsen, Kamookak, Martin Bergmann
Voyaging Out of the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada, September 2018: Day 4: Gjoa Haven The little kids stole the show. Five to seven years old, they emerged in pairs, jigging out into the centre of the high school gymnasium. Within seconds, we visitors were dabbing at our eyes. These innocents were dancing so intently,…
Read MoreSave Rae’s Clestrain with actions in Orkney and the High Arctic
Arctic explorer John Rae, who died in 1893, is alive and well in the news. The BBC reported on July 5 that the Orkney Islands Council is conferring the Freedom of Orkney on that Stromness-born explorer, albeit posthumously. Bravo for that action! Here’s hoping it draws attention to the ongoing drive to fund the restoration of Rae’s…
Read MoreThis Canadian moment symbolizes achievement & reconciliation
Here I stand on King William Island in August, 1999. Matheson Point. Behind me is Rae Strait. Three of us were about to cross that strait — Louie Kamookak, Cameron Treleaven, and I — to see if we could find a cairn built in 1854 on Canada’s Arctic coast. We were bent on honoring the…
Read MoreHunter-historian Kamookak joins voyage to Franklin’s first-found ship
Can’t wait to travel again with Louie Kamookak! He’s the Inuk historian who pointed the way to Erebus, the first-found ship of John Franklin. Louie will revisit that site in September while sailing Out of the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada. You can find out more about this looming adventure by going here. I’m excited because…
Read MoreGjoa Haven highlights this Adventure Canada voyage
DAY FIFTEEN — Gjoa Haven The people of Gjoa Haven welcomed our on-board Inuit singers as if they were rock stars. Come to think of it, they ARE rock starts. Susan Aglukark has an international reputation and following, so the screaming was no surprise. But young Kelly Fraser was also accorded a tumultuous reception. This…
Read MoreMeet Louie Kamookak: champion of the Inuit oral tradition
Wonderful to see that my friend Louie Kamookak — Inuit historian, Franklin expert, and public speaker — has set up a website (click here). I’m looking forward to catching Louie in Ottawa on April 12, where he will participate in a panel discussion about Franklin and the Inuit oral tradition. It will be hosted by…
Read MoreChasing history through the Northwest Passage
Voyaging in the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada. We’re going to do it again next August. Photos by Sheena Fraser McGoogan. DAY THREE: Gjoa Haven Monday, Sept. 7 Exhilarated. The word surfaced again and again as people arrived back from Gjoa Haven. Were they excited by the zodiac ride through choppy waters? No, one woman…
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