The people of ‘On Thin Ice’

Here are vignettes of some of the people featured in “On Thin Ice.”

Caroline Cannon
Caroline is a testament to how one person can stand up to a massive corporation. She is the face, and the name of a lawsuit filed in Point Hope to keep Shell Oil from drilling in US federal waters off the coast of Alaska.
This year, the lawsuit was finally dropped – so it would be easy to make the argument that Caroline lost. But consider this – the lawsuit kept lawyers busy, and Shell from drilling for years when oil was above 100-dollars a barrel.
By the time the suit ended – oil was at 45-dollars a barrel and there is no way Shell or any other oil giant can make money in the Arctic with oil at that price.
It was also difficult on Cannon. Point Hope is a small village, -around 900 people. Many of them whole-heartedly embrace what they call “responsible development” and wanted to see Royal Dutch Shell succeed off the coast, because in the end it would mean revenue sharing and lots of cash.
So she got used to the dirty looks, biting comments that came with territory. In her mind a spill in the Arctic would devastate the native way of life. And, that is something she can’t live with.

Steve Oomittuk
Steve was the first person I made contact with in Point Hope, Alaska. An Inupiat, who lived almost all his life in the small town – the only time he left, took him to Barrow, Alaska for school.
Quiet, - soft-spoken like so many of the Native Alaskans. He is a fountain of knowledge when talking about his village.
Centuries ago, he told me, various villages would go to war against each other. Steve says that Point Hope’s population was decimated in the mid-1800’s by a fierce war. With few men of hunting age left –the village suffered through a miserable winter with little food.
Sometimes Steve, or Stevie as he is known in Point Hope, looks older than his 53 years. It’s been a hard, harsh life –hunting, whaling, serving as the village mayor and the tribal chief.
He is a perfect example of many of the folks I met in the town. They carefully put one foot forward, into the future – but want to keep the other one firmly planted with their tradition and culture –in the past.
But life, and the climate is changing so much, so rapidly here – Stevie wonders if that is possible.

Ned Aray, Whaling Captain
We met Ned Aray at a potluck dinner for the Barrow, Alaska Whaling Captains. Whaling Captains hold a place of honor and prestige in indigenous communities in the Arctic.
They are community leaders –and spend weeks out on the ice looking for bowhead whale. It is that meat, and blubber that will be distributed among the community and keep people going through the long winter months.
Whaling season was just beginning. We heard Ned’s crew was going to be ‘breaking trail” –and we wanted to tag along. Breaking trail means carving a path for snowmobiles and sleds to make it out to open water –where the whale are. That open water is called the lead.
At first, he was skeptical –but once we got permission from the Barrow, Alaska Whaling Commission it was game on.
We rented snowmobiles, and bounced, jostled, and zipped along about nine miles out on the sea ice.
It took hours –and I would be lying if I didn’t admit I was freezing once we got there, and knew we had hours to work –then make the ride back home.
But Ned was patient, in his polar bear and wolverine parka –warm as can be in -20 Celsius, weather. The scene was amazing, and Ned’s attention to detail telling us how they set up camp, get through the frigid nights, was amazing.
We were rewarded –a bowhead whale popped its head up in the distance. To Ned it was a welcome sight –and foretold of good fortune. To us, it was a trip we will always remember.

Russell Watson
Rusty is one of these easy-going type of guys, and is as likeable as anyone I met on the North Slope. When I asked what it took to survive working in the oil industry in the Arctic, without missing a beat Rusty said, “a good wife, and a good marriage.”
Sounds like a simple equation, but the job keeps you away from home about half of the year.
Almost all of the work on the Alaska Pipeline in the town of Deadhorse, has to be done in the winter –when the permafrost is frozen solid. Permafrost, is just what it sounds like –ground that is supposed to be permanently frozen. Moving a massive rig that can weigh two-million pounds, takes rock solid terrain –so even the slightest hint of a thaw in permafrost will gum up the works.
Rusty says the worst days –are those where it is -45-F, the wind is blowing, and remember in the dead of winter there is NO sunshine –darkness around the clock.
No mountains, no trees, and when the snow blows Rusty says it’s easy to get lost. He’s been working in the Arctic 27-years. By now, he knows when the greenhorns pile off the bus, who has the right stuff and will make it –and who will wash out, and give up and head home.
Make no mistake –ask anyone why they come up to this patch high above the Arctic Circle and the answer is always one word –money.

Maureen Pokiak
Maureen makes up the other half of one of my most favorite couples that I met in the Arctic.
I first met Maureen when photographer Andrew Smith and I sort of barged into her home after making a two-hour drive on an ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.
After kicking off our big filthy, snowy, icy boots in the hallway (a trademark of life in the Arctic) we sat around the table and Maureen whipped up an array of food.
Caribou (my favorite) salted fish, musk ox stew, and Beluga Whale. I will tell you more about the food later. But this was Maureen at her best. Proud of who she is, her family, and the Arctic community she calls home.
Maureen moved away from her life in southern Canada 40-years ago to be a teacher in the frontier. She admits she was naïve back then, and didn’t know what she was getting into.
Two years later she married James –an Inuvialut. Maureen kept on teaching, but also now she spent time hunting in the bush with her husband, and cleaning and preparing whale meat for the long winter.
Maureen has adapted better than just about anyone to this harsh world. She is used to the frigid conditions, -and is an expert cook. She retired from teaching but is still and outspoken proponent of making sure kids graduate from high school. Once the winter ends, the sun comes out and it gets warmer –kids want to be anywhere but in a classroom. Dropouts are a big problem.
As the community grows –job are expected to come to the village. And without a high school education Maureen says Tuk students won’t be able to compete.

James Pokiak
James is half of one my favorite couples that I met while in the Arctic. James is Inuvialuit –and lives in the town of Tuktoyaktuk, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Ask him if life in the Arctic is hard, and he gives a slow nod, and says, “..I would say harsh – It’s a harsh existence in a harsh environment.”
He’s been married for 38-years, and raised three children of his own. Now, as is the case among families in the high north, he is taking a hand in raising his grandchildren. To him, it is imperative that they learn how to live off the land.
He makes his living as a hunting guide. Sometimes, it is big prey –such as polar bear, or musk ox. Sometimes it involves fishing, or ducks and geese.
He and his wife, Maureen, for years took at risk teens in the bush to learn how to hunt and fish. We need more people like James. He is convinced if you look hard enough you can find the good in all people. James is of the belief that if you take these kids out into the wild, teach them to hunt and fish that they feel a little more human and a little closer to nature.
James knows the environment is changing. He is aware that more and more people want prosperity –and better jobs. The little town of Tuk – as it’s known is at risk of changing –rapidly with a new road coming in. James is aware he truly may be a voice in the wilderness hoping the keep his cherished culture, and way of life –alive and well.

Vince Sharpe
Vince is an interesting study among people living in the Arctic. He has made, and lost many fortunes. Vince first struck it rich in the oil industry, and as a much younger man in the early 80’s he bet the industry was there to stay –and it wasn’t.
Vince has some great stories – He first came to Inuvik, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, in the 1960’s with three dollars in his pocket. He went to the local government and asked for money for hotel until he found a job. Instead, they gave him a one way ticket home and said, “we don’t want any bums around here.”
That lit a fire under Vince –he got a job the next day and never looked back.
Vince remembers when the Inuvik was a collection of wooden sidewalks, and mud streets. Workers would come in from the oil camps and punish a bottle or two –and that always led to fights. He said the usually the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would let the fights play out, “..unless there was a knife, or someone was giving a boot to the guy.”
One sad chapter –Vince says, is that oil workers used to treat the indigenous people very poorly. Vince is glad that has changed. Inuvik is much more integrated and that is better for all involved. As for Vince he is riding the crest of success once again, --still waiting for that next oil boom.

Mark Ivey
If you want to be a climate researcher, I guess it makes sense to do much of your work at ground zero for climate change. Mark Ivey does just that, spending months out of the year working near Barrow, Alaska along Alaska’s North Slope.
The day we were supposed to meet Mark, -the facility was socked in by a blizzard. Massive snow-drifts kept us from reaching the researching site located just outside of town.
I thought it would take days to clear a path – but, I don’t live in the Arctic and didn’t realize you have to be able to cope with a sudden and severe blizzard.
Mark and his team, including two locals from Barrow measure what he calls aerosols in the atmosphere. Not the kind of thing that makes Lemon Scented Pledge come shooting out of the can – in this case aerosols are pollutants. These pollutants tend to build up in a circle above the Arctic and have been given the name “Arctic Haze”.
It’s a tough place to work –in fact it is difficult to just keep the facility up and running. But it did make Mark a member of the so-called 100-degree club.
He lives in Albuquerque, NM – so he has left Barrow when it is -20, landed back home at 80-F – and there you have the 100 degree difference.

The people of 'On Thin Ice'

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