To His Guns SOME CALL HIM a Bigot; This Version of Tagak Curley Bears Little Resem- Blance to the One I’D Watched 24 Hours Earlier, Others, a Brilliant Visionary
«our people» HE STICKS TO HIS GUNS SOME CALL HIM A BIGOT; This version of Tagak Curley bears little resem- blance to the one I’d watched 24 hours earlier, OTHERS, A BRILLIANT VISIONARY. stone-faced and dressed in a somber black suit MEET NUNAVUT’S MADDENING in the Nunavut legislature. The MLA for Rankin HERO, THE UNRELENTING, Inlet North, Curley was in top form, unleashing UNREPENTING TaGAK CURLEY. vitriolic criticism of the government for awarding a medevac contract to an Inuit-owned company BY MARGO PFEIFF that possessed neither a flight licence nor a plane. As he has for decades, Curley spat fire, decrying want to show you my harpoon-head collec- the “airline” as a money-grabbing scheme and the “ tion,” Tagak Curley says, scurrying into his government as a stooge. “I want experienced Inuit workshop. Among the drills, saws and files is companies to take the lead,” he demanded, “but I a worn wooden box from which he pulls doz- by getting a licence, owning a plane, buying into ens of brass and bronze spikes. Barbed and gleam- an existing airline and then playing ball.” ing, they’re designed to kill seals and walruses. Cur- A day later, relaxed and friendly, Curley gently ley crafted some himself; others are old, made by cradles his harpoon heads. He says, sincerely, “Real- his father. He’s particularly proud of a large one he ly, I’m just a simple hunter.” And that’s true on sev- made that landed a bowhead whale during Rankin eral fronts. He’s a traditional Inuk – he loves “coun- Inlet’s first modern bowhead hunt, in 2009.
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