CHAPTER 1 THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II Hudson's Bay Company, Pangnirtung Post Journal, 1938-1939, 1939-1940 Wednesday September 28, 1938 We anxiously listen to the news programmes to hear the latest developments on the European situation. Saturday April 8, 1939 Most of the talk is about the serious European situation, but we entertain high hopes for the best. Thursday April 27, 1939 Situation certainly is grave, latest event being conscription in the British Isles. Sunday September 3, 1939 Great Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany today. The whole settlement gathered in the Company's living room to hear His Majesty King George VI speak to his people. The flags were flying. Did the Inuit know that there was a war going on? What was your reaction when you heard about the war? Uqi Kunuk: This happened before I was old enough to Napatchie Noah: I was kind of scared. I thought the Germans remember. My father used to tell us that the HBC [Hudson's Bay were going to come, and I was afraid of being killed when they Company] always knew what was going on with the war, even arrived. before the Americans arrived. He said that people were scared. You were afraid of being killed? Napatchie Noah: Yes, by non-Americans arriving in Iqaluit. Did the Inuit know about the war back then? Were there Germans in the Arctic at that time? Napatchie Noah: Yes, we knew that there was a war going on Napatchie Noah: I heard that there were Germans, but I'm not because the Americans were here. I heard about this. I'm not the really able to say. only one who knew. After the war was over, did you hear about the Russians? Inuit Recollections on the Military Presence in Iqaluit - Chapter 1 Napatchie Noah: I might have heard about this, but again I really qammaq3, in that inlet down there. can't say. Were there any radios at Inuit camps? Napatchie Noah: We didn't have a radio at that time. The only At the time, were Inuit aware that there was a war going on? place we heard any information was at Iqalugaarjuit1. We had no Jimmy Nooshoota: Yes. We knew that there was a war going on communication equipment back then. The manager at and so did our parents. We heard about this even though we Iqalugaarjuit informed us about the war. We had no radios or were children. communication equipment back then. Did you know that there was a war going on before the Americans came? Were the people from the winter camps aware of the war? Jimmy Nooshoota: We had already heard on the radio that there was a war going on before the Americans came to Kimmirut, on Simonie Michael: Yes. My step-father, Tigullagaq, used to work the kind of radios that did not require batteries. Airplanes would for the HBC when I was a child. That is after I came from also drop mail at Kimmirut that was going to the qallunaat4, like Kimmirut because I was adopted. We would hear the news about the traders and the police. the war whenever the wind was blowing through the wind- powered radio in Iqalugaarjuit. The Company owned one of Ooleepeeka Nooshoota: You said that the police would come these. We would hear the news about the war from them. over to your house to listen to the radio while the war was going on. Did they hear better when it was windy? Did I understand Jimmy Nooshoota: When it became time for the news to be aired you correctly? over the radio, the police would come over and listen to our radio because our radio had better reception. Simonie Michael: Yes. When the wind was blowing, that was 2 when it would go on. They tapped on it. What kind of radio was it? Where was the HBC store that Tigullagaq worked at? Jimmy Nooshoota: It was the kind operating on large batteries. Simonie Michael: I think it was about fifty-two miles from Did you understand what was being said over the radio? Iqaluit. It was in Iqalugaarjuit, where people from here go fishing. It was across from Tasiujarjualaaq. You would pass Barnabas' Jimmy Nooshoota: I couldn't. My father worked for the police for quite a while so he could speak and understand a bit of English, 1 In Inuktitut the name for the Hudson's Bay Company’s trading post in Ward Inlet can be pronounced either in the singular, Iqalugaarjuk or in 3 A sod house; also a snowhouse with the top covered by a tent. the plural, Iqalugaarjuit. 4 The Inuktitut word for a white person; singular qallunaaq, plural 2 Referring to Morse Code. qallunaat. Inuit Recollections on the Military Presence in Iqaluit - Chapter 1 just enough to get by. What other qallunaat were there? Were the people scared? Shorty Shoo: There was the HBC manager, the RCMP, and the missionaries. They were the only qallunaat there back then. Jimmy Nooshoota: I did not witness anyone showing any kind of fear even though there was a war going on. Perhaps people did Did the Inuit hear from the qallunaat that there was a war not realize the threat that war brought to people, so no one going on? seemed to be afraid. Shorty Shoo: Yes. I was a child back then. We Inuit knew about this, because we were told. Did you live here in Iqaluit, or did you live in another camp Who told the Inuit about this? when the Americans were here? Shorty Shoo: I do not know who told us. Shorty Shoo: We have lived here since we moved here in 1958. Were the Inuit scared that there was a war going on? Where did you live before you moved here? Shorty Shoo: I wasn't, because I was too young to understand. Shorty Shoo: I'm from Kimmirut. Both my wife and I were born Annie Shoo: I was scared. just outside of Kimmirut. Why were you scared? When were you and your wife born? Annie Shoo: We used to be afraid of airplanes. We would cover Shorty Shoo: They say I was born in 1932. She is a year older than our lights when we heard a plane. That was the first time we me. heard airplanes. Did you often go to Kimmirut when you lived in your camp? Did you know who the planes belonged to? Did they belong Shorty Shoo: Yes. We went to Kimmirut nearly every day by to the Americans? dogteam in the winter. That was the only place to go trading. Annie Shoo: We were even scared by the sound of the plane. We did not know what they looked like. What were your parents' names? Shorty Shoo: Both of my parents were named Pitsiulaaq. Were you young when you first saw a plane? Annie Shoo: Yes. I was a young girl. Did your father trade fox furs or sealskins at the HBC? Shorty Shoo: He only traded fox furs back then. Later on he traded polar bear skins. Inuit Recollections on the Military Presence in Iqaluit - Chapter 1 [Recollections of Qiluja, taken from "Keelooyak's Story (Part IV)", 1975d, p. 61-62] I remember the first time I saw an airplane. I was still single at that time. Some Inuit were saying that there was a war going on and that an army was going to arrive on our land. The first plane I ever saw arrived during the day. A group of Inuit and myself started running away when we got scared of it. We just heard the engine at first and then it appeared quite far from us. When it got closer to us, we forgot everything we were doing and ran for our lives. We went into our homes and stayed there for a short time. One of the men in our camp, Moseesee, wanted to get away with the umiak, so we all got in and fled hurriedly on the water trying to get away from the plane. Moseesee knew an open cave behind where we were going to go clam digging that day and we all rushed over there for protection. The actions we took was Moseesee's idea. He did not want to leave me behind because I was one of the best oarsman on the land. Can you imagine us trying to get away from an airplane with a man-powered umiak? It must have been silly. Then that very night, three Inuit, including me, stayed up all night watching if anymore planes should invade us again. Now that I think of it, that certainly was very silly. The plane we were watching for was already far past our camp. After watching for the plane all night at the open cave where we went for safety, we started walking home because our umiak was useless with the low tide at that time of day. We all forgot to watch it in the excitement although someone told us to. When we got back home, my step-mother, who was an old woman, was dying with laughter. She asked us why we were running away and said she was not afraid of them because they were her friends and that she knew before that they would one day come to our land. She also said the planes would start coming in greater numbers after she had died. I do not know how the old woman knew this, but I found out later that she had an American father at birth.