Elders Return To Ennadai Lake

On September 7, 1985, two charter planes left Arviat (then Eskimo Point) for Ennadai Lake. The first plane carried Inuit who would prepare a camp; the second carried a CBC television crew and 36 elders who were returning to the place they had been relocated from in the 1950’s. Although not everyone agrees the reason for the relocation, it was said to be as a result of starvation and disease.

"From what I have gathered from various sources," he says, "starvation was approaching us, although some of the people at Ennadai lake were living quite well. Hard times came once in a while, but nothing very drastic. I don't believe that many people had much advance warning that they would have to move. Some of them found out the same day they were to be moved. When we returned to Ennadai recently, we stopped at a traditional camping spot where, the elders told us, a vehicle came to pick us up one day-we were told we had to move. The people had to pack so quickly that many articles were left behind.

"We were moved to the Henik lake area. That was when the real trouble hit us. I guess it was new for some of the people. The hardest time for them was between Ennadai lake and the coast. I think the idea behind the move had something to do with a change in caribou migration patterns, which meant that the caribou were farther away from the Ennadai lake area. I think the government wanted the Ihalmiut to move to the coast so that we might become fishermen and make ourselves useful."

(David Serkoak, Inuktitut Magazine, Winter 1985)

Over a two week period relocates reconnected with their former homes, visited the places they had lived and camped, and, in some cases, found items that they had left behind when they were relocated.

Ennadai Lake camp, 1955 (Photo credit Geert van Steenhoven)

Women and children at Ennadai Lake, 1955. The three women (left to right) are Mary Anowtalik, Elizabeth Nutaraluk, and Ookanak.
The child on the right could be Tom Owlajoot (photo credit Geert van Steenhoven)

Elders arriving at Ennadai Lake (photo credit Gabriel Galy)

Map showing the location on Ennadai Lake in relation to other Nunavut communities.