In 1990, Stacey Campbell, a News North journalist, wrote an article that she titled: “Iqaluit Drug Haven”. She wrote that the Iqaluit airport was the main point of arrival for the entire drug being used all over the Baffin Island region, in the Nunavut. Mail was also another tool used by drug trafficker. It was quite easy to find marijuana, hashish and cocaine.
On the top floor of the eight stories building in which I lived, there were an increasing number of drug users. While only a year ago the place was relatively quiet, it was not the case anymore. From my small apartment, I could hear the shouting in the corridor or in the neighbouring rooms and the “OPEN THE DOOR!” ordered by the RCMP police officers.
There were cases of domestic violence, fights, people which I had to step over to walk in the corridor as they were lying down on the floor in their vomit, totally intoxicated. Near where I lived, somebody was thrown out of an apartment in a rather radical way: the door and its fittings were now missing and there was blood on the wall. The place is far less peaceful than last year.
At the center of the picture, a high rise building inhabited by single people in Iqaluit in 1988.
In a nearby room, several drug users met, mostly on Friday nights. Quite often, tension rose between card games. The place had become unsuitable for somebody trying to rest while on a seven days a week shift work providing air traffic services at the local Transport Canada flight service station.
I remember one time when somebody started to kick on my door while I was studying quietly in my room. I could hear him shout: “I am going to kick your ass!” Since I had no idea of what was going on and as it seemed that I was directly concerned, I opened the door.
I then recognized a person whom I politely asked, at least six months ago, to try to lower the noise level. All those months went by and tonight, in an altered state, he suddenly remembered that request. He visibly took my request as a personal insult. He was now under the influence of an unknown substance and was angry.
He was standing in the corridor. Any moderate reaction on my part seemed useless, considering his situation. It appeared that only a quick and radical move would bear some success.
I tried to slowly close the door but he blocked it with his hand. The situation was getting worse. I waited few seconds and tried again, calmly and without a word. In few seconds, if nothing was working, there would only be one solution left. I gently pressed on the door and he totally surprised me by letting go so that in about twenty seconds, the door was closed again.
All this was done in total silence. In my room, I stood few feet away from the door, expecting it to be slammed open but nothing happened. Only that silence all around. After few minutes of having stood still, waiting for the next logical step, I realized that everything was over. What a weird night! This would not have ended the same way in a big city down South.
I can really say that in 1990, Iqaluit was in fact a drug heaven. Moreover, the floor where I had my room was no exception. I was eventually able to move to another floor where there were people with a more balanced lifestyle and the need to sleep once in a while…
There are seven very interesting articles, in the non-fiction category, in this anthology. Published between 2009 and 2013 in publications like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Men’s Journal or Q2U.S, they allow the reader to catch-up on events that happened around the planet.
Those stories received a lot of attention from the medias since they covered popular topics like a mid-air collision between two jets, a jewel heist by the Pink Panthers, a botched covered operation by Mossad, wild animals freed by their owner near a small American city, the son of a wealthy American who suddenly leaves United States for Lybia to fight against Khadafi. The reader can also learn more about Apollo Robbins, the king of pickpockets and, finally, comes the weird story of a film making that started in 2006 in Ukraine and is still not ready today.
Le diable à 37,000 pieds (The Devil at 37,000 feet)
This story presents all the elements that contributed to create a mid-air collision: a new crew recently trained on an aircraft loaded with a modern technology that makes flight management more complicated than anything else; air traffic controllers letting their expectations impear their judgment; tired and under pressure careless pilots; passengers disturbing the flying crew by visiting the cockpit on multiple occasions.
It is paradoxal to realize that the extreme precision offered by modern flight navigation equipment also increases the possibility that two aircrafts hit each other in flight.
Pink Panthers
A popular name that sends the reader back to the movies where Peter Sellers played a distracted police inspector. But the article is about the real thing: What circumstances favored the creation and international development of the multiple groups of thiefs that came to be known as the Pink Panthers.
The different Pink Panthers groups have robbed more than 152 jewelry stores since 2002 and pocketed around 250 million dollars. The reader learns that most Pink Panthers members come from the Balkan region and that they operate from Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.
The author uses the opportunity to explain how the Milosevic’s gangster regime was put in place in Serbia, a State transformed into a criminal business: “In March 2001, soon after the fall of Milosevic, we discovered, in a safe rented by municipal civil servants from a Belgrade bank, more than 660 kilos of a 93% pure heroin, valued at approximately 100 million dollars on the street”.
Montenegro is also associated with significant banditry and the author tells us about a meeting he had in that region with a former Pink Panthers. In order for criminal groups to survive and develop, there is an essential collaboration with politicians and the border services staff.
Opération Dubaï (Dubaï Operation)
In January 2010, a Mossad team lands in Dubaï with the intention of killing Mahmoud al-mabhouh. The agents are part of an ultra-secret section called “Césarée”. Although they reached their goal, the mission was somewhat a failure since it was possible to determine very rapidly who were the killers, which embarrassed Israël.
The article recounts the general progress of the operation in Dubaï and enhances the important mistakes that eventually damaged the Mossad’s reputation for efficiency.
Here are some of those mistakes:
1. Agents are sitting for hours in a hotel lobby, thus attracting the staff’s attention.
2. Two members of the team head towards the hotel washrooms, where they change their appearance by using a wig and sunglasses, all this while their physical transformation is filmed by an hotel camera positioned near the toilet’s door.
3. The man in charge of planning the covert operation has a huge ego and does not tolerate criticism or a difference of opinion.
4. Carelessness is shown when the team members are equipped with Payoneer prepaid calling cards. Those cards are mostly used in United States and the Payoneer’s director, Yuval Tal, is a veteran of the Israel’s Defence Force elite commando. While they were at it, why not give a Mossad colored business card directly?
5. The person in charge of the operation greatly underestimates the capacity and will of Dubaï’s police force to find the culprits behind Mahmoud al-mabhouh’s death.
6. Every phone call made by the team transit through the same system located in Austria.
An increase in the number of operations lead by Mossad certainly contributed to the non-compliance with respect to the security protocol. Meir Dagan eventually had to step down and the relations between the Mossad and other occidental intelligence services were impacted.
La désertion des animaux du zoo (Animals)
This is a very interesting account of an incident that made the news around the world. At the end of 2011, in Zanesville, Ohio, the owner of about fifty wild animals killed himself, not without having precedently opened the cages of all the wild animals he was keeping on his private property.
The story allows us to share a bit of the emotions lived by the inhabitants living close to the private zoo. We witness the quick reaction and organization needed to face the lions, tigers and bears that are now free to go where they want in the fields near Zanesville. It’s a very well written story.
Vacances de printemps arabe (Arab Spring Break)
This is the story of a rich American who abandons his wealthy neighborhood to go fight against Khadafi in Lybia. This type of story, told with a humoristic approach, was possibly quite amusing in 2012. But with the departure of numerous young kids gone to join ISIS during the past few years, the tone used in the article is now kind of awkward.
Le roi des pickpockets (A Pickpocket’s Tale)
The article is about the life of Apollo Robbins, a now internationally famous pickpocket that has appeared on multiple TV programs around the world, among them National Geographic’s “Brain Games”.
Un tournage pris dans l’engrenage (The Movie Set That Ate Itself)
Through the account of a movie director’s eccentric behaviour in Kharkov, Ukraine, the reader is made aware of the exaggerated control that a human can impose on other persons. It also shows the easiness with which people are ready to accept a totalitarian control in their life. All this while the movie itself is about the dictatorship lived in Russia, more precisely in Moscow, during the fifties and sixties.
On October 22nd 2015, in Ottawa, a ceremonial service commemorated the anniversary of the attacks that killed two Canadian soldiers in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa: Warrant officer Patrick Vincent and Corporal Nathan Cirillo. Both families were present at the ceremony.
Policemen on motorcycles in Ottawa, on October 22nd 2015, ahead of the ceremony honoring Corporal Nathan Cirillo and Warrant officer Patrick Vincent
As one could expected, major security measures were put in place. View of the ceremony was partly blocked by all kind of obstacles and the crowd was held at a good distance by fences and an army of policemen.
Part of the crowd standing near the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
I was nonetheless lucky enough to find one of the few spots that provided a direct view on the ceremony and the dignitaries.
Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and Stephen Harper shake hands during the ceremony in honor of Nathan Cirillo and Patrick Vincent held at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
Using a Canon 70-200mm f2.8L II USM equipped with an extender, and benefiting from an ideal random positioning of the multiple secret service agents, policemen, soldiers and officers of all kinds, few other photos were made possible.
A first handshake was visible between Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, under the eyes of Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau.
First handshake between the new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial of Canada in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
Few dignitaries who were present at the ceremony: The Ottawa mayor, Jim Watson, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, Justin Trudeau, Laureen and Stephen Harper.
Jim Watson, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and Justin Trudeau, Laureen and Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial in Ottawa in 2015
On several occasions, Justin Trudeau and Laureen Harper were able to exchange a few words.
The new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and Laureen Harper in Ottawa, October 22nd 2015
Four CF-18s flew over the crowd, at good speed. I was lucky enough to take a picture of one of them. For those photographers who could be interested, the camera speed was 1/8000 sec, the focal length 400mm and aperture 5.6.
One of four F-18s over the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper then raised and walk toward the National War Memorial in order to lay a wreath on behalf of the people of Canada.
Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
On the left of the picture below, it is possible to see some of the Corporal Nathan Cirillo’s family members.
Nathan Cirillo family members are sitting behind Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper in Ottawa, October 22nd 2015
A second handshake, more assertive this time, was exchanged between Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper.
Second handshake between the new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 2015
Comforting words were pronounced by a few people, among them the Governor General of Canada and the military chaplain.
The military chaplain at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
The Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, and his wife are shown leaving at the end of the ceremony.
The Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, and his wife at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
A serious handshake was exchanged between the Ottawa Mayor, Jim Watson, and the Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau’s both hands covering Jim Watson’s was certainly a sign that real cooperation could be expected.
Ottawa mayor Jim Watson and Justin Trudeau in Ottawa 2015
Soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, of which Nathan Cirillo belonged, did a march- about under high protection. A commemorative plaque was unveiled at the National War Memorial in honor of Cpl Nathan Cirillo and the same will be done next year for Warrant officer Patrick Vincent.
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Parade in Ottawa, October 22nd 2015
Unveiling a commemorative plaque in honor of Cpl Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada
Luck was certainly needed to be able to catch the arrival in Ottawa of Justin Trudeau as the new Prime Minister-designate of Canada, after the historical Liberal Party win of October 2015.
Like it often happens after a long photography session, there is a last minute opportunity that allows some totally unexpected shots.
Just as I finished packing my Canon 5D MKII and camera equipment, I saw a policeman on a motorcycle who was blocking the traffic on Wellington street. He was giving way to the Liberal Party campaign bus.
The Liberal Party campaign bus with the new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau on board arrives in Ottawa on October 20th 2015.
Estimating that the new Prime Minister-designate of Canada was on board, I took the chance to run back to the Ottawa Parliament. Climbing the stairs two by two, I arrived at the same time as the bus. A Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM was quickly installed to make sure that the photos would be in a wide enough format.
Numerous policemen were taking care of security but I was able to get close enough since there was only twenty or thirty people present, the arrival of a Prime Minister being held secret for obvious security reasons. Few seconds only were needed before Justin Trudeau got out of the bus and turned around to salute the crowd.
The new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau arrives at the Ottawa Parliament on October 20th 2015
He then climbed few stairs, turned around again and showed the thumb up sign.
The new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau as he prepared to enter the Ottawa Parliament on October 20th 2015
It was only the second time in the history of Canada that a political party ranking third won an election while forming at the same time a majority government, and the first time that a father and his son had been elected Prime Minister of Canada.
For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada
(Precedent story: the lady who was robbed before my eyes)
A Trans Ocean Airways DC-8-71 and a Sterling Boeing B-727 in Iqaluit (1989). View from the Iqaluit flight service station.
On a 1989 autumn night in Iqaluit, on Baffin Island, Sterling’s Boeing 727 arrived from Europe and parked near the fuel tanks. From the Transport Canada flight service station tower (FSS), we could see the Canadian Customs and RCMP vehicles parked near the airplane, which was unusual. There was something going on as there were many people standing by the rear door of the plane, moving from one vehicle to the other. That was sure a lengthy stopover.
Few days later, on October 2nd 1989, the Journal de Montréal (one of the Montreal newspaper) published the following article: “[my translation] Two Polish citizen who had planned to request asylum in Newfoundland during the technical stopover of their plane on a flight from Gdansk to Vancouver were told on Saturday, by Canadian authorities, that the plane had landed in Canada’s far North”.
The article continues: “[my translation] The two men, whose identity was kept secret, still requested political asylum, said a RCMP police officer from Iqaluit, on Baffin Island in the Arctic. The Polish citizens, who were on a trip to relieve some fishermen on the west coast of Canada, thought they were in St John’s, Newfoundland capital, indicated the policeman in charge, Corporal Gary Asels”.
“The custom officer, using a map, showed them where Iqaluit [in the Nunavut] was located (2100 kilometers north of Montreal). They could not care less, as long as they were in Canada. They were very happy to be here, commented corporal Asels”.
I was told that in order to succeed with their escape from the plane, they had chosen a seat close to the rear stairway of the Boeing 727. They made sure to look like they were sleeping. When the stairway was lowered and the surveillance suspended for a quick moment, the two men just escaped through the stairway and were immediately on Canadian soil.
I am unfortunately unable to confirm today if they have been received as Canadian citizen or if they have been sent back in their country of origin.
(Precedent story: two airline captains forced to delay their departure from Iqaluit)
Iqaluit NWT 1989
Iqaluit, Nunavut, 1990. One day, just as I was getting out for a walk, a young lady came to me asking that I catch a thief who had just stolen her handbag. Such a request coming from somebody living in a huge city would not have been surprising, but I never thought that I would hear that in a small city like Iqaluit. I initially thought it was a joke and wondered where the hidden cameras where positioned but when I turned around, I saw a man running away with something in his hand.
I instinctively started running after the man and, as I was closing in on him, he had a choice to make: he either slowed down and I caught up with him or he kept the pace while going down a slope made of huge rocks with sharp edges. He chose the second option and started jumping from one rock to the other, lost his balance, and fell head first against the rocks.
Still lying down and with blood all over his face, he saw me closing in progressively until I was just beside him. I requested the bag but he refused to give it back. He certainly expected me to beat him up, but I was not there to give anybody a lesson. I waited a bit, until he calmed down. I then asked him a second time to give me the handbag. He finally agreed.
The man stood back up, barely noticing the blood he had on his face. Without saying a word, he started following me while I was slowly going uphill to meet the lady. Every now and then, I turned around to ensure that he was not coming toward me with a knife or a rock in his hand. Once on flat ground, I meet the lady and give her the handbag. Eventually, the thief caught up with us and the lady started shouting at him, using me as a shield in case the man lost his temper. I did not need another crisis now that everything was settled.
When she was done with him, the thief tried to get closer to me. I made sure to keep the length of an arm between the two of us in order to avoid a sucker punch. I had trouble understanding that after such an incident, the man had chosen to walk with us, like nothing ever happened. He finally said his first words: “You run fast, like Ben Johnson!”
Finally, after a short walk, the three of us arrived exactly where everything had initially started. The incident had been dealt with and the lady decided that she would not call the police. She went away after thanking me, the man returned to the bar where he came from, and I was finally able to take a walk in Iqaluit’s peaceful atmosphere, few hours before going back to work at the Transport Canada flight service station (FSS).
(Next story: two Polish asylum seekers in Iqaluit)
(Precedent document: Aviation photography: Rouyn-Noranda aircraft photos during 1986-1988 (Part three of three)
In 1988, I left Rouyn-Noranda for the Transport Canada flight service station, on Baffin Island. Iqaluit is Nunavut’s Capital and a designated port of entry to Canada for international air and marine transportation. Located at the crossroads of both polar and high North Atlantic air routes, Iqaluit airport can handle any type of aircraft.
I had to learn new tasks linked to ICAO responsibilities toward international air traffic crossing the Atlantic Ocean, as well as continue to act as a flight service specialist (FSS) and provide air traffic services.
The departure would be made from the Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau international airport. I decided to bring my .357 Magnum revolver with which I had been training for several years. Official papers authorized me to carry the gun from my home to the Montreal airport. Once there, I headed to a counter where an agent gave me another document allowing me to carry the revolver in the Nordair Boeing 737 leaving for Iqaluit.
There was no stipulation that the gun had to be left in the cockpit. I went through the security zone. The .357 Magnum was in a small case, in an Adidas sport bag. The bag was put on a moving strap, like any other hand luggage, in order to be checked by a security agent. The bag was not open by the agent; he looked at the screen, saw what was in the bag and that was it. I thought at the time that he might have received special instructions that I knew nothing about.
I was a bit surprised at the easiness with which I could carry a gun, but having never tried it before, since I was not a policeman, I concluded that it was the way things were done when all the papers and requests had been filed accordingly. The screening process being completed, I went outside and walked towards the Boeing 737.
A female flight attendant was greeting all the passengers. I presented her my airplane ticket just as I was ready to board the plane and she immediately asked me if the gun was in the bag I was carrying, and if it was loaded. My answers being acceptable, she invited me to go to my seat.
Once comfortably seated, I placed my Adidas bag under the front passenger’s seat instead of the elevated compartments along the aisles. I wanted to be able to see the bag at all times. The airplane took-off and it was a smooth flight to Iqaluit.
Three years passed and came the time to be transferred at the Transport Canada flight service station in Québec City (CYQB). The world had certainly changed during those three years isolated up in the Arctic. In 1989, Marc Lépine got known for the massacre, with a firearm, of fourteen women studying at the Montreal Polytechnic School.
I headed to the Iqaluit RCMP office in order to fill the appropriate documents that would allow me to carry the gun back to Québec City, a gun that would be sold few months after my arrival at destination. The police officer signed the papers and told me that the revolver would be kept in the Boeing 737’s cockpit.
I asked him, in case it was still allowed, if I had the liberty to carry it in my bag and put it under the front passenger’s seat, like I did for the inbound flight. He looked at me and clearly did not believe a word I had just said. But that did not matter. The gun would travel in the cockpit with the pilots and I would claim it once at destination.
When I think again about this story, almost thirty years later, I realize how the world has dramatically changed. There was a time where I could head to the Montreal international airport with my family to watch the landings and takeoffs from an exterior elevated walkway opened to the general public. From this same walkway, chimney smokers would negligently throw away their still smoking cigarette butts in an area where fuel trucks were operating.
The airport’s management eventually forbid the access to the outside walkway after having received too many complaints from passengers who rightfully claimed that their suitcases had been damaged by cigarette butts thrown from the walkway…
(Next story: Iqaluit and the old American military base)
In order to give an impression of a very busy day in the Port of Quebec, during Spring 2015, I used a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM. A zoom is very useful to achieve some special effect in photography.
The apparent chaos in the photo is created by numerous details: first of all, the viewer has to read numerous words that have very different impacts on him: POLICE, CANADA, OCEAN, Sécurité Maritime, Maritime Security, GRC, RCMP, MEGA, Sea Tel, and part of the word Coast.
Secondly, there are numerous vertical lines of all sizes that interfere with multiple horizontal lines. The BUNGE silos, in the background, are themselves vertical lines, but much larger than the others.
The compressed perspective obtained through the use of a zoom gives the viewer a feeling that all the objects are close to each other. We are left wondering how the captain can manoeuver his boat with such little space available.
What is really happening in the scene: it is a very quiet day, where almost everything is immobile. There is only one boat that has started to move and the captain has all the space needed to leave the Bassin Louise and head toward the St-Lawrence Seaway without being concerned with any serious obstacle.
For other boat or ship photos posted on my website, click on the following link:
(Precedent story: acquisition of an Inuit sculpture in Inukjuak in 1982)
Canadian eskimo dogs in front of a house in Inukjuak in 1983
When I was working in Inukjuak (CYPH) in Northern Quebec as a flight service specialist (FSS) for Transport Canada, in 1982-1983, I liked walking along the Hudson Bay coast. One day, I got for company a big Canadian eskimo dog belonging to an Environment Canada employee. The dog had found a way to free itself from its leash and I took advantage of his company to explore the coast.
It was not and still isn’t frequent to witness unattended dogs on a territory inhabited by Inuits. During summer, the latter normally carry the dogs on nearby isolated islands along the Hudson Bay and Ungava coasts. Naturally, the Inuits come back at regular intervals to feed them. This was still going on in 2013 as it serves multiple useful purposes. According to an Inukjuak Inuit with whom I was discussing recently, the island allows the dogs some freedom of movement since they don’t need to be tied all day long to a short rope. Also, the dogs are more comfortable on the islands since there is far less mosquitoes.
In 1982, I heard rumors according to the fact that dogs left free might be brought down, but I did not witness such a thing. Local policy was such that stray dogs would not be tolerated because they presented a threat for the population. Of all that has been said concerning dogs that were brought down for the most diverse reasons, the recurrent story is the allegation of massacres of Eskimo dogs during the fifties and sixties. The documentation found in this respect states that about one thousand dogs were brought down during those two decades, most pointlessly, in the various villages along Hudson Bay, Ungava Bay and Davis Strait.
An interim report about the investigation on this subject was handed in 2009 to the Makivik Corporation and to the Government of Quebec by the retired judge Jean-Jacques Croteau from the Quebec Superior Court. We learn of this report that the RCMP as much as Sûreté du Québec police forces had participated in the elimination of sled dogs during those years, by interpreting in a personal and fairly restrictive way a law dating from 1941 and dealing with “The Agricultural Abuses Act“. When it was created, this text of law aimed at creating a system of non-responsibility for a person who would shoot down a stray dog according to specific conditions stipulated in the text of law. Reference was made here to actions taken against stray dogs attacking sheeps and farm animals.
A Canadian eskimo dog (Jordan) in Inukjuak in 1983
The police quickly made excessive use of this section of the law to apply it on a territory which was not targeted by the law. I can make a mistake, but I believe that nobody ever observed an Inuit sheep farmer on a farm in the Arctic. The most important events occurred after the RCMP gave back the responsibility of the territory to the Sûreté du Québec. That police force showed a complete misunderstanding of the Inuit culture. According to the proofs presented in the report, policemen arrived in a village without warning and killed stray dogs, chasing them even under houses, without having taken care of verifying if the dog was sick or dangerous. We find in the report the testimony of two Kangiqsujuaq Inuits asserting having seen two policemen arriving by seaplane, and without saying a word to whoever it is, begin to chase stray dogs through the village. Thirty two animals were eliminated and the policemen left the village without giving explanations.
The report states that the Northern Quebec Inuits were never consulted as to the impact of the law on “The Agricultural Abuses Act”, a totally inappropriate law for them, not taking into account their ancestral rights. The Inuits depended completely on dogs for transportation, to go hunting and fishing. We can read the following passage, in the last sections of the report: “after 1960, the actions and the behavior of the police force went too far. Nothing was to be understood. The officers demonstrated a total lack of consciousness with regard to the fundamental rights of the Inuits, their culture and the importance of dogs for their subsistence. The behavior of the officers, which could not be ignored by the provincial and federal civil administrations, had a damaging effect on seventy-five dog owners and their family, compromising their capacity to meet their needs in food “. No help was offered by the authorities to compensate for the loss of dogs.
The judge finally noted that he had no other choice than to declare that Canada and Quebec did not respect their fiduciary obligations towards the Inuits. I imagine that monetary compensations have since been offered, unless this report was only the first step in the process aimed at establishing the responsibilities and some future compensation.
(Next story: the UFO invented in Inukjuak in 1983)
This is where we worked and lived in Inukjuak in 1982. One of the buildings holds the Transport Canada flight service station.
Note: It is only an out of the ordinary true life story. Normal relations between Whites and Inuit are entirely peaceful. Besides, we all know of situations in the southern cities where whites have tried to shoot people. The following story therefore presents an unusual and rare case.
In a Northern Quebec village named Inukjuak,in 1982-1983, the buildings layout was simple. On top of a nearby hill was the whole village, populated overwhelmingly by Inuit. Down the hill, near the airstrip and Hudson Bay, were the few buildings where Environment Canada employees and Transport Canada flight services specialists (FSS) could be found. There were only Whites living and working in this area.
One evening during winter` 82 -` 83, someone knocked on the door and entered immediately without waiting for an answer. It was the auxiliary police officer. He was an unarmed young man who occasionally helped the unique village policeman. He told us that the policeman was absent from the village and that he must fend for himself. He urged us: “Lock your doors and turn off the lights, do not go out unless it is essential, as there is one Inuit armed with .303 caliber rifle who wants to shoot white people.“
It was, of course, a complete surprise for everyone. It was easy to deduce that the shooter looking for Whites would choose the easiest solution and head towards our buildings to shoot somebody at random. Not wanting to be a sitting duck, I went to my room and grabbed a locked suitcase that had been sleeping for months on a shelf. I took out a Remington Classic 700 BDL Bolt Action and loaded the magazine.
We established a plan, with the other two persons in the house. Two of us would have to get out and head toward the flight service station, where there was an unarmed FSS female employee working alone. Chances were that she was not aware of what was going on. One of us would bring her back home and the other one would then complete her night shift at her place, since the station could not be left unattended.
While we would be gone, there would be one person left in the house with a gun to protect himself if necessary. This employee had just arrived in Inukjuak. I still remember his reaction when we were getting ready to leave. I can hear him say: “But what is this crazy place?“
We closed the outdoor floodlights and headed to the flight service station with our weapons. Walking in the dark, crouched like soldiers during wartime, we arrived at the Transport Canada building where we found the employee occupied at her normal duties, completely ignoring the possible presence of a nearby shooter. I took her place to complete the night shift while she returned home accompanied by an armed employee.
Once alone in the operating room, I shut the lights while keeping a small lamp to illuminate the console radio frequencies. I lay the rifle flat on a counter, the lock removed for faster use if needed. The radio console was located opposite a large window: it left us totally exposed to anyone who would decide to shoot through it. I therefore had to stay away from the normal working position, except when responding to radio calls, until we received fresh news about the shooter.
Twin Otter inbound for Inukjuak on a very windy day in 1982.
The improvised night shift ended without incident in the station, but I learned that multiple shots were fired at a vehicle traveling near our facilities. Projectiles pierced doors, but luckily they did not hit the vehicle occupants. Within hours of the event, a tactical response team of the Sûreté du Québec arrived in Inukjuak and controlled the shooter.
Even if this story took place decades ago, I still remember very well the atmosphere on that evening. When untrained civilians must load firearms to potentially use them against another human, it cannot be forgotten.
