Talk:Grise Fiord

"Many died"

Interesting series of articles you're starting, George.

I'm curious about this line: "The resettled families found their first years very hard. Many died." What does it mean, exactly? What did they die of? In what ways were their first years "very hard"? Were they permitted by the government to move to more southerly locales? Is the article implying that the Canadian government is to blame? --Larry Sanger 20:44, 9 August 2008 (CDT)

The CBC has covered Grise Fiord several times in the last year or so. Text coverage of what I remember from the broadcast is sparse. First Nations people receive better, more respectful treatment now than they did 55 years ago. There is still some way to go. The original settlers found their traditional prey weren't available; it was colder; they came from well below the Arctic circle, and Grise Fiord was far above the Arctic circle, with months of darkness. The central Government did not provide meaningful aid, infrastructure support, or make provision to bring the families back south.

One elderly man who was a survivor of the original families was interviewed. I am afraid I don't remember the exact details. I think he was the only original settler still alive. It sounded like he was still traumatized. If I recall correctly his father either died, or was crushed, by being unable to feed his family.

If I recall correctly, many of the original families died of disease and malnutrition. The town is currently visited a couple of times by cruise ships on adventure cruises. So I guess it makes sense for the settlement's official site to soft-pedal the dark early years.

Although I have lived in Canada all my life I never realized how isolated the communities in the far north are, until I started to write about them. Nunavut is comparable in size to Western Europe, or Sudan, but the population there is only a few tens of thousands. George Swan 11:28, 10 August 2008 (CDT)

The plucky Romanian illegal immigrant

(PD) Image: George Swan
Voyage of the plucky Romanian, who bough a boat in Sisimiut, Greenland, and dodged icebergs for thousands of kilometers, in an attempt to sneak into Canada, at Grise Fiord, Nunavut.

I wish I had started to use the webcitation tool when I first read about this. Two or three years ago there was a plucky Romanian guy, who had tried to sneak into Canada, been found, and deported -- who thought out a new plan to sneak in. He traveled to Greenland, bought a small boat, and some supplies, and proceeded several thousand kilometers up along the coast of Greenland, then across the Davis Strait, and south to Grise Fiord. When he was a couple of days away he contacted the harbor master by radio, with a request -- could he try to locate a purchaser for his boat.

Well, the community is visited by those two or three cruise ship, one cargo vessel, with the years supplies for the co-op, and a couple of Coast Guard vessels, and scheduled months in advance. Unscheduled visitors, on one way voyages, were completely without precedence. So, our plucky Romanian was arrested and deported again.

Since the USA is now offering citizenship to brave individuals willing to enlist in the US Armed Services, they missed a chance with this guy. Anyone brave enough to gamble on dodging icebergs for a couple of thousand kilometers would probably be brave enough to gamble on serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I keep my eyes peeled for news of this guy. George Swan 11:28, 10 August 2008 (CDT)