Westworld Saskatchewan

32 w E S t w o R l D | s u m m e r 2 0 1 5 liz bryan, (polar bear) istock lifejackets before stepping into rocking 10-pas- senger zodiacs to visit Inuit villages, where the locals in traditional wear entertain us with songs and drums and the peculiar Arctic art of throat singing. We visit abandoned trading posts, lonely monuments and drab Nunavut hamlets full of pickup trucks and ATVs. We land on islands and rocky shores to hike through the frozen treeless tundra to see arctic birds, herds of muskoxen and the relics of ancient ule (ancestors of the Inuit) houses. We enjoy wild zodiac cruises, our flotilla of tiny boats dwarfed by the high striped cliffs of Prince Leopold Island or the overhanging gla- ciers of Icy Arm. We see polar bears and an Arctic fox, glorious sunsets and ferociously stormy skies, and northern lights (to the south!) – not very colourful but enough to evoke a "wow." On the north side of Bellot Strait, zodiacs take us to the old Hudson's Bay Company's trad- ing post of Fort Ross, which operated from 1937 until 1948 on Nunavut's Somerset Island. e buildings on this bleak and stony shore sit small against giant cliffs and the wind blows hard and icy. Kept open as an emergency shelter, the store has primitive bunks, a table and even some sup- plies for the shipwrecked or the benighted. ere is an official guest book to sign, but some visitors have scrawled their names and messages on walls and bunk supports. Looking just like a prairie homestead, the abandoned trader's house nearby still has wallpaper on the walls, a kettle on the stove and a few homey items. But what a desolate place to make a home! Nearby, piles of reddish rocks cover the graves of several Inuit who had lived and worked here. For everyone, of course, the highlight of the The Franklin graves on Beechey Island's Erebus Bay. there Melts the world? Is the ice really melting? Is global warming a cold reality? Our trip through the Northwest Passage certainly seemed to answer these questions with a resounding "yes." The weather for September was unusually balmy, there were sudden storms and more pack ice in the channels (caused by ice calving off the glaciers), the birds had migrated early (there were no snow geese on Jenny Lind Island) and we had a first-hand view of receding glaciers and melting ice caps. If we hadn't noticed such things, then a sobering talk by Shelley Wright, professor of Aboriginal Studies at B.C.'s Langara College and one of the Adventure Can- ada specialists on board, would have enlightened us. Wright's new book, Our Ice Is Vanishing: A History of Inuit, New- comers and Climate Change, was launched one evening aboard the Akademik Sergey Vavilov, the first time a book has been launched on a boat in Arctic waters and a volume sure to convince. The science is overwhelming, but there is more than that in this 420-page hard- cover. Wright has taken a broad view, encompassing Inuit tradition and knowledge, Canadian history, law and international politics, sover- eignty and resource extraction. The alarmingly rapid climate change is felt most forcibly in the Arctic, and the Inuit people are the canaries in the coalmine. Wright is a warm and compassionate woman who has lived in the Arctic for 10 years, where she taught at the Akitsiraq Law School in Iqaluit. Her book is infused with personal knowledge and love for an imperilled region. Available in print and e-book formats; McGill-Queen's University Press. Passengers leave the mother ship for a kayak cruise in Icy Arm.

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