Kapitaikallak’s abiding legacy
Inuit and Québécois celebrate Capt. Joseph Bernier, Wilfred Caron, and the enduring ties connecting Pond Inlet to the people of L’Islet-sur-mer, Quebec.
MONTREAL — When Rhoda Ungalaq took to stage at a Quebec City music festival a few years ago to perform an Inuktitut song that her mother taught her, she was astonished to find a Québécois man jumping up on stage to sing the song with her.
She discovered that her song, Ilititaa, is actually an Inuktitut-cised version of an old and well-known French sailors’ song "Il était un petit navire," or "There was a little boat."
This is just one example of the long history of contact between Inuit and francophones in Nunavut, as the legacy of the great Arctic explorer, Capt. Joseph Elzéar Bernier, becomes better known.
Ungalaq’s mother had learned Ilititaa from her mother, whose common-law husband was Wilfrid Caron, a Québécois sailor who travelled with Bernier.
Caron was a member of an expedition that sailed around the Eastern Arctic from 1904 to 1911. Its leader, Capt. Bernier, was Caron’s uncle.
Wilfrid Laurier, then Canada’s prime minister, asked Bernier to undertake those voyages to assert Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic.
Afterwards, Bernier organized three private trips to Pond Inlet, between 1912 and 1917, to establish a trading post at Igarjuaq, at the foot of Mt. Herodier not far from the present-day site of the community. From 1922 to 1925, Bernier also carried out the first annual patrols of the Eastern Arctic.
"Bernier’s voyages aren’t well-known. But for those 20 years, when he travelled in North Baffin and around the Hudson Bay, he was recognized everywhere," said Stéphane Cloutier, an Iqaluit resident and Bernier buff.
"We know about the history of the Hudson Bay Company and about the whalers, but, here, there’s a hole of 20 years."
Bernier well-remembered
Back in 1996, Cloutier stumbled on these past encounters between Inuit and francophones by chance, when he introduced his mother, Louiselle Bernier, to Iqaluit resident Mary Cousins.
Cousins is one of Caron’s granddaughters.
"And she asked my mother, "Are you related to Capt. Bernier?," Cloutier recalled. "She began to tell us stories about the captain, that the people loved him."
Cloutier discovered that he and his mother are distant relatives of Bernier, and come from the same region in Quebec.
But, before 1996, Cloutier never gave much thought to those links.
"Inuit put me on the track of Bernier," he said.
Intrigued by the stories, Cloutier, who works for Iqaluit’s Association des francophones de Nunavut, dug into the story of Bernier and Caron. He visited the small community of L’Islet-sur-mer, home Quebec’s maritime museum, which is named after Bernier.
But Cloutier found the museum didn’t have any displays on Bernier and his northern voyages, although many of the seafarers’ descendants still lived in and around L’Islet-sur-mer.
With the support of the francophone association and the Nunavut government, Cloutier visited Pond Inlet last year. There, he learned how Bernier, known as by his Inuktitut nickname, Kapitaikallak, was still remembered for his openness and generosity.
"Kapitaikallak helped in a big way. He taught us about rifles. He showed us that by using the binoculars we can see things from far away. He did help.
"But people did not understand that the land had been claimed by the government. Inuit learned about this much later. He had warned the people of the change that is coming in the following years," Nutaraq Cornelius told Cloutier.
From stories still told in Pond Inlet, Cloutier heard how Bernier treated Inuit as equals and how he respected Inuit for their ability to survive in the Arctic. He wore Inuit clothes, and relied on Inuit guides for assistance.
Bernier left behind barrels of sweet maple syrup when he left Pond Inlet. He was also known for handing out great quantities of pilot biscuits, which helped Inuit get through the hard times.
"We’re in the year 2000," Nutaraq Cornelius told Cloutier. "It’s true, these events happened a long time ago. But even after these many, many years, you can still see the Kapitaikallak isn’t forgotten today. We still remember him. We know about him."
Wilfrid Caron’s descendants
From 1912 to 1922, Wilfrid Caron stayed in Pond Inlet, looking after Bernier’s trading post and raising a family with Panikpak, Ungalaq’s future grandmother. During these years, Caron lived like an Inuk.
"He spoke Inuktitut like an Inuk, He ate like the Inuit. You have to eat igunaq to be accepted. He ate everything," Cloutier said.
Caron, who Inuit called "Quvviunginnaq," even made up his own pisiit, which he sang at festivals.
"People say Quvviunginnaq did everything like Inuit. He even participated in the traditional games like asaaraq and tigluit. Inuit used to drum-dance, and Quvviunginnaq also learned from Inuit how to drum-dance. He participated in the Christmas celebrations and when he danced to the rhythm of his own drum he would shout as loud as he could "taqajualuugama," ["because I am so very tired]," Cornelius told Cloutier.
After Cloutier contacted the southern descendants of the Bernier expedition’s members, they began to dig up precious mementos, photos and items of Inuit-made clothing.
Caron’s descendants were ecstatic when they learned about their Inuit relatives. They sent up a photo of Wilfrid so that his Arctic offspring could see their what grandfather and great-grandfather looked like.
"These descendents of Wilfred Caron are like a gold mine to us," Martin Caron told Cloutier. "It’s so important for us to know we have relatives in Nunavut."
Museum exhibit
These mementos and memories provided the basis for an exhibit devoted to Bernier and his voyages. It’s called Ilititaa, after the French song that passed through three generations of Inuit.
Last July, the exhibit, funded by the governments of Nunavut, Quebec and Canada as well as the francophone association, opened at the Bernier maritime museum in L’Islet-sur-Mer.
Its opening inspired a festive reunion between Inuit and Québécois descendants of Caron, Bernier, and other crew members, made possible with travel assistance from the Nunavut francophone association and the Canadian North airline.
The two groups held a joint concert featuring the songs and entertainments that Inuit and Québécois would have shared in their get-togethers many years ago.
Family members gathered at Bernier’s summer cottage, located on a nearby island. As they looked at old photos, Caron’s descendants — from the North and South — were amazed at the resemblance between Caron and his son, the late Lazaroosie Kyak of Pond Inlet.
This exhibition will travel to Iqaluit and Pond Inlet next year.
A sale of cards featuring photographs and art from the Bernier period will help pay for travel costs and more studies into this little-known chapter of Nunavut history.
Cloutier said it’s a "beautiful example" of collaboration between Inuit and francophones.
"We were already working together 80 years ago," Cloutier said.