27 August, 1997

We spent our first day in Resolute preparing our equipment and waiting for the arrival of the Louis S. St-Laurent. The Camp is quite comfortable and Helen, the Inuit cook, is especially talented.

Resolute is a community of about 180 permanent residents, mostly Inuit Indians. Air service to the town is on Tuesdays and Saturdays weather permitting, however, it doesn't look like it will permit for a while. A blizzard is predicted for tomorrow. Winter has arrived in the Arctic early this year.

When I walked through the one room air terminal yesterday, I noticed that a sign on the wall was written in two languages. After the evening meal, I asked Helen about the writing. She explained that it was Inuval, symbols introduced to the Inuit's by a French missionary at the beginning of the century. She told me that prior to that time her people had no written language and their history was conveyed through stories. She also said that Resolute was a relocation camp, established by the Canadian government, for the Inuit Indians. This story sounded very similar to the plight of the Native Americans in the US.