Outside Adventure Grants — Reflections

Dylan

The group at the Arctic Circle

Hunting is a way of life for the Inuit. It has provided food, clothing, and, at times, a large part of their income. Today it provides a tie to the past and reason to spend time on the land. After seeing the prices of food up here — $9 for a pound of powdered milk — I understand why the Inuit choose to take advantage of this free, abundant, and easily accessible source of food. From what we've seen, people here do not hunt for sport. Every part of every animal is used. The scraps from a butchered ringed seal wouldn't fill a one gallon bucket. Despite the Inuit's evident reliance on hunting, they still receive a good deal of criticism from non-northerners who oppose such large scale hunting.

As tourism becomes a larger part of Nunavut's economy it can be expected that outsider's opinions will have more of an influence on how the Inuit live their lives. A hunter that I spoke with said that visitors are often disgusted at the sight of a seal being butchered on the beach. "I tell them to think of the last time they ate a hamburger. I tell them it's not so different, at least this seal was free before he died." I see the hunter's point, but many other people don't.

As it stands now, the Inuit are allowed to hunt in the national parks. The trouble is not many hikers enjoy seeing a hunter walking by with an animal slung over his shoulder. It will be interesting to see how the Inuit handle the issue of hunting as they continue to balance their traditional lifestyles with the need for the economic boost that tourism provides.

Reflections on Leadership

Hope

Leadership is fun but difficult. It is good for us all to get to learn the leadership skills so that it doesn't feel like there is only one leader and that the rest of us are just "along for the ride." I personally find it pretty difficult to be the leader just because I am not used to the responsibility involved, but I still enjoy being leader and feel as if I have learned much about leadership since we started "leader for a day." I can see how it may be hard for Dylan and Tristan to listen to their little sister when we are making plans.