Reaching Remote INUIT Tribes in the Arctic Documentary - Sebastian Tirtirau

[Music] during the last 500 years contact between white civilization and remote tribes has followed two routes both with disastrous consequences for indigenous peoples [Music] today when most tribes are reluctant about contact with outsiders explorer sebastian tirtiro travels around the world asking them what kind of future they want to build sebastian is heading to montreal airport for his upcoming expedition to the canadian arctic where he will meet with the inuit people except for the summertime when the sea ice melts there's only one way to reach the arctic region and that is by plane our destination is ikalwit the capital of the canadian province nunavut and the most important inuit settlement in canada despite covering an area that's similar in size to western europe nunavut has a population of approximately thirty thousand inhabitants what used to be one of the most difficult expeditions is today thanks to modern technology an easy three-hour flight the absence of tiger trees is the sign that we've entered the arctic region since icalwid became the capital of nunavut many government officials and business people come here and quite a few hotels have been developed we struggle to find a place to stay as most of them are fully booked we soon understand why what's what's happening uh there's a international mining symposium so we have like miners from all over the world in the lobby two old friends joshua and natsik are waiting for sebastian [Music] good to have you about four years how are you my friend nice to see you yeah how are you good oh look at that look at that white huh i need this here okay very nice to see you yeah chief i have to say that ecology has changed since the last time i've been here it's about four years since i last came here it used to be a smaller town of about 6 000 people and they say now it's over 8 000 and it keeps growing and keeps growing since 1999 when nunavut became a province of canada the population of iqaluit has grown exponentially today more than a quarter of nunavut's population lives here later sebastian wants to meet with the whole family to catch up with the local news and um we met together the first time and how you helped me and how you helping the community okay okay now happy birthday oh i have to hug you happy birthday it's natsuki's birthday but she's not the only one to receive a gift that's a watch for you that's a watch for me and i don't have one sebastian believes it's polite to bring gifts whenever you visit friends here's what i got for you guys awesome ipod nano you don't know how to use this i do you know how to do this good stuff it's yours my friend whoa thank you it's not all human he wasn't even expecting it when i came in 2005 for the first time in the arctic i arrived in ikalowit and the first family i met was joshua nazi congo they they built me a traditional fursuit to be able to be warm in the expeditions we're going to do together and nazi can several ladies building my parka my caribou park and my caliber pants and the seal skin comics or the boots minus 50 minus 50. as soon as my my suit was finished uh joshua and i went on the ice with the dog's lead he wanted to show me around how a dog's that is is managed is his lead how he would harness the dogs and and what they do in these surroundings to survive when you shoot the polar bears when you shoot the seals how do you bring them in from the water i don't i don't understand when you're very creative no problem i learned very quickly how great and amazing people these people are and how great survivors they are in a very harsh place in my opinion the inuit tribe are the toughest nation that i've ever seen in all my travels around the world when i first came here in 2005 most of these people were still traveling by dogs and although they had ski-doos and snowmobiles they they most of the families had dog teams the ice on the frobishop bay was full of dog teams tied down for each family as i came now there's nothing one of the arctic's best guides lives here in the city her name is mika and sebastian wants to talk to her to understand the reason behind the dog's disappearance this is mika hi the greatest female guide in the whole world i haven't been guiding for five years oh man since last time we came in yeah from where south america wow in the jungle that's where i would like to go but i don't think i would survive what's the cause that there's no more dogs because in 2005 when i came here first time this whole thing was full of dogs down here why there's been a lot of diseases since khalid have become a city a lot of new people moving and many many dogs now different kinds of dogs so every year joshua and i kept losing dogs yeah yeah and that year we took you i had a young team you survived and then after you left they most of them died again so every year it's been like that for the last 10 years but these ones are finally surviving the disease now is this has to do anything with the dog food that they were giving you to feed or or whatever we get our own dog food it's because huskies are or cream meat we call them our purebred they never had contact for thousands of years with other dogs with other dogs and just in the last 10 years there's more dogs than huskies than tim mcs pet dogs that bring the disease from the south just like when we had first contact with europeans uh our ancestors died off of diseases from europeans yes there were two epidemics in the 200 years so it has to do with the coming of the south and the civilization and everything yeah yeah so there's no way that we can i'd like to do at least a few hours of dog sled up here on the bay and come back so there's no way we can find the dog team in the color there's dark team and but they're not inuit okay i'm not interested in recent years outsiders have started to set up their own dog teams and use them for guided tours of the wilderness these adventures can cost up to three thousand dollars per day which means survival skills can be good business [Music] in many ways iqaluit has become a place where business stifles inuit culture and survival today no one uses dogs for transportation anymore instead the sleds are pulled by skidoos and the inuit rely upon cars for urban transportation [Music] banks hotels and restaurants now hold more appeal than the simple customs of community life and real estate developers have replaced igloos with houses and condos our expectations had been raised we were now looking for work and we were not so much dependent on hunting anymore we were looking for work we were looking what to do or getting into business and and especially in rank and inlet because rank and inlet when the mine was operating it created an opportunity for some people to get into business and even when it closed down it gave them an opportunity to go to other mines elsewhere to go and work the mining industry is currently the largest private employer of indigenous people in canada the arctic region is rich in gold diamonds and platinum but the major stakes are in natural gas and oil in 2009 the u.s geological survey estimated that the arctic holds nearly a third of the planet's natural gas reserves and 13 of the remaining oil in canada 33 of the remaining recoverable resources of natural gas and 35 percent of the light crude oil are located in the northwest territories nunavut and the arctic offshore in 2008 in the beaufort mackenzie basin region alone six new oil exploration licenses were issued for a total work expenditure commitment of 1.2 billion dollars every year new exploitation platforms are being set up and more inuit people are being employed with the arrival of jobs and money there also came a clear tendency to switch from hunting and gathering in the wilderness to shopping at the supermarket here you can find anything including goods the inuit had never even heard about until recently however the prices are exorbitant and there's no way most of them can pay nearly fifty dollars for a crate of bottled water or twelve dollars for a slice of meat it might turn [Music] um foreign many inuit still hunt and fish for their food even here in iqaluit however there's a price to pay especially during springtime when even the most experienced can meet their death by falling through the treacherous ice just a few days ago one of nazi's relatives died in a similar accident such tragedies are a reminder that this is a truly hostile environment for joshua there's only one way to stay safe to prepare well he and his family are getting ready for a few days of hunting and fishing in the wilderness well it's seven o'clock in the morning friday morning we are preparing to go fishing it's it's coldish not too bad it's about minus 25 minus 30 and we're going to have four skidoos and five sleds that we're going to pull to go out fishing this is my favorite event of all the things that i can do here with them and it's exciting now to see how even though they live in 21st century and they live in modern houses with heating and electricity in cars and they have a job they still survive off the land in um in the arctic so um this is something unique to describe every time they step outside the comfortable environs of the city most inuit still wear their fur clothes though they're difficult to put on no other clothes are suitable for the harsh climate here when everything is ready the caravan sets off in search of arctic cha fish along the silvia grinnell river a few dozen miles from ikawit after just a few days fishing we'll move on to frobisher bay to hunt seal [Music] joshua is experienced in such expeditions he knows that low temperature and strong wind form a combination that can push the human body to the limits of endurance though no one is complaining of cold or exhaustion every two hours he has the caravan pause for a snack hot tea and a bite of cake increase the chances of everyone's survival even on the longest trips while such stops are beneficial for the expedition team they're harmful for the vehicles at minus 30 degrees celsius water freezes instantly and even gasoline can turn to ice but joshua has a simple solution for everything [Applause] using the heater he melts snow until it boils and uses the hot water to try to defrost the system having no dogs and having to use transportation living in the custody world today we are regretting and regretting more but at the same time we are gaining this different knowledge we're adapting to a new survival but we have to we have to learn if this doesn't work then we'll have to take the whole engine apart a seriously difficult task at these temperatures but before that it's worth trying once more with the hot water luckily the engine starts and we're ready to set off towards the fishing grounds after a few hours ride we reach the frozen riverbed the first thing we do before even setting up camp is to set the fishing net ily and andrew joshua's boys help him to break a hole in a sheet of ice that's over a metre thick like the good apprentice that he is sebastian does the groundwork himself after half an hour's work they break through the ice sheet while the net is laid out for measurement joshua takes out the magic tool that will help him insert the net under the ice once it's cleaned to make sure it doesn't get stuck he inserts the ice [ __ ] through the hole down into the water it will then float and he pulls the rope to start up the propulsion system the ice [ __ ] will crawl on to the desired distance and then how does he know what to dig on the other side [Applause] he then listens for the scratching of the [ __ ] he marks the spot and bores through the ice to bring the [ __ ] back up so good job good job once the [ __ ] has pulled a wire between the two holes the net can be easily set okay joshua i learned to have great respect for him he's extremely organized and he not only takes care of him and his family while we go but everybody involved even the foreigners and the visitors and so forth you know what i remember the best and you could tell him in 2005 when i first came and we went on this on the ice on the floor bishop of the dogs after about two hours he stopped he made me tea with some very long dry dry rusts very dry bread and we dipped in the tea the two of us and we sat there it was the best memory i have i love it i was very very cold and very very afraid of the cold and he really took good care of me hey early in the morning we go to check the nets one set a net needs to be taken out two or three times a day this time a few arctic char have been caught each weighing around eight pounds foreign [Music] when the wind picks up the ice particles in the air create two halos that circle the sun if we want to reach our destination by sunset we'll need to pack up and head for phrobisha bay for the seal hunt [Music] [Music] although transportation is now motorized these vehicles cannot tow such heavy weights up steep slopes the heavier sleds are tied to two skidoos but even so they often need an extra push if any of the skidoos hit the rocks and break down then we'll be in trouble our loads are too heavy and cannot be carried by fewer snowmobiles and this will bring our progress to a halt in these low temperatures it's vital to avoid serious effort and excessive perspiration which could lead to exposure fortunately there are many of us here and together we can get the snowmobiles back on track [Music] [Music] we finally arrive in the right spot for joshua these expeditions aren't just about hunting for food they're also a good opportunity to teach the youngsters how to survive in this desolate harsh environment halle joshua's grandson will see an igloo built today although they're sleeping in a tent now building an igloo can be vital out here the snow has to be perfect not too hard and not too soft the blocks are laid close together so they support each other me joshua is building using the snow from inside the igloo itself since this method requires minimal effort the upper layers must be set in a spiral so that the blocks support one another [Music] once the last block is in place the structure is solid [Music] building an igloo is a tough job that can only be done by experienced hunters it's april and the ice on frobisher bay is starting to melt which makes hunting extremely dangerous joshua tests the ice with a metal rod and shows us which way we need to go this tiny boat though hard to carry around on such uneven ground is extremely useful both in case the ice breaks and for retrieving seals after their shot as we come closer to the area where the ice has thawed we make noises that are transmitted through the thin layer of ice seals are curious creatures and will swim to the surface to see where the noise is coming from this is the perfect moment to aim and shoot once the seal is shot it will float for a short time joshua jumps into the boat and races to catch the seal if he isn't fast enough the seal sinks under the ice and he's lost [Music] back at the tent joshua is cutting up the seals nothing is wasted everything is used from the fur to the intestines i want to be able to go down to down on the land and live the way i want to live with no restrictions with no rules and hunt all i want and do all i want and enjoy life the way it used to be we want to be giving a room to to live the way we would like to peacefully with our environment we inuit are not forceful people the only force we use is to survive where did you find it [Music] [Laughter] hmm [Laughter] [Music] the following day joshua and natsik invite lots of people to their house [Music] [Music] [Music] and it's a deeply held inuit belief that survival is only possible when food is shared any hunter that has a good catch invites people for a meal [Music] many kinds of meat are served today some caribou meat is being cooked for visitors but people here prefer meat that is raw and frozen whale skin is cut into small pieces and is even given to children stomach is eaten raw with the half-digested grass still inside it since this environment is poor in vegetation the inuit had to come up with resourceful ways to get vitamins from their food in order to avoid diseases like scurvy during the feast malaya napsick's daughter and alexia her niece are rehearsing some traditional throat singing pieces passing on their songs is one way to keep their culture alive [Music] [Music] do [Laughter] foreign that's dry too in the evening once the guests have left natsik cleans the fat and fur off the sealskins with an ulu knife again oh yes oh yeah like thick skin but it's it's so soft it's amazing i think you're going to like the film we are going to show you and the whole world will know when native congo and joshua congo is they will visit you for autographs they will they will i want to see those people they will bring you gifts from all over the world you know the only gift i want from anybody is friendship great stuff is managing the family business a car repair shop her employees are doing a good job here where vehicles are tested to their limit okay and i have to filming [Music] after work she goes to the senior citizens club where she volunteers from time to time this time she brings sebastian with her during his previous visits many inuit asked him for bibles in their own language he found out that a long time ago the canadian bible society printed bibles the inuit language although they never made it out here to the community instead they lay forgotten somewhere in a warehouse some 60 years ago the senior citizens club was the community itself and there were no homeless people on the streets today there is much homelessness in ikarwitt and some of them gather here in the shelter to eat and socialize soon this shelter won't be able to meet the needs of the community considering the growing problem of homelessness in iqaluit today when i was growing up i don't remember anybody being homeless and before that there was really nobody homeless people took care of each other people knew each other so they had the support systems 1955 there was only 67 people here not so long ago 50 years ago you know like a lot of changes happened abruptly over the course of 50 years up north we went from hunting and gathering when i was in a little boy hunting and gathering living in igloos to all of a sudden 20 years later we have houses where traveling um some some communities had radio telephones and tv television news foreign real fast growth i don't think there's anywhere in this world where there's been that kind of growth in the sense of nothing to establishing in 1955. here we are not too long one generation we're seven thousand in khalid alone it's it's crazy and yes it creates obviously there's gonna be social impacts the federal government started uh what's called the residential schools so a lot of us had to go there was no schools in the communities but they built a school in a place called chesterfield inlet the government of canada together with the catholic church decided to civilize the inuit the first step was to destroy their nomadic style of life by killing their dogs and taking their children to residential catholic schools once settled the inuit were much easier to control unfortunately rounding up hunter-gatherers and forcing them to live in settlements has been tried in many countries never with much success whether it was going from hunting and gathering to a wage economy or going to school but while in school going through some unpleasant things like sexual abuse or emotional physical abuse it had a better impact on our lives later on with the older generations there's been a lot of apathy why for so many reasons when you think about residential school how they were abused and you there's unfortunately when things happen in life if you don't stop at their cycles um certainly with residential school survivors they were abused physically mentally emotionally and because those people did not deal with it they were ashamed of what happened to them they when they came home later on what did they turn to drugs and alcohol to deal with it and when they're in that state they're doing exactly what was done to them in a sense so that cycle is happening if i were to ask or western people any other race to come and ask them a question in my own language and force them to to answer me with the right ques answer would they they had always been that policy federal government policy that our life was not good enough so we should become like white people more and more young people young generation loses the touch with the land and the knowledge of the land i'm wondering if these young people the young children of of the inuit will be able to know what the old people are knowing now in 10 or 15 years from now it's going to be a very very interesting chemistry to see if the older generation is teaching the young generation to survive like they did before and if the young generation accepts this knowledge and continues to survive by it in recent years more and more organizations have been attempting to provide meaningful alternatives for the young in order to keep them away from drugs and alcohol one such project is the annual skills competition [Music] is after a long period of enforced civilization it seems that the government strategy is actually working a couple of generations are forced to adopt a new lifestyle and later ons take it up for themselves willingly [Music] like here in colorado especially in 20 years from now it'll be one chaotic life because of the middle age people are bearing children that has that are fas fasd and at that time we will have many many of those children as adults in a chaotic lifestyle [Music] we'll never forget the past because it's part of who we are but we need to look at where are we today where do we want to be we're we're not going to go back to our own way of life but what we want to do is ensure that our identity remains as inuit proud to be inuit so it it's going to be a huge difference i can see it growing again inhaling as an example it will double again in 10 years halle belongs to the new generation will he choose to return to his traditions or will he decide to pursue the western path for the moment he's not thinking about such big questions he's just passionate about hockey before leaving sebastian wants to visit the museum in iqaluit that's how i looked in my first year here my first you know inu one clear sign that something is disappearing is when it becomes an exhibit in a museum more and more inuit come here with their children to see things that they experienced while growing up in their communities in this environment i think that eventually if you don't know how to survive off the land and when you go into an expedition they will suffer in the in the future because there's no way you can compare this to a place like los angeles or seattle or san francisco this is a very special place that you need to know to survive [Music] in the next episode sebastian visits the nafe tribes in the south pacific islands of vanuatu [Music]

Channel: Life That Matters

Views: 319,144

Rating: 4.7898865 out of 5

Keywords: inuit tribes, tribes in the arctic, sebastian tirtirau, tribes documentary, exotic travel docuemntary, remote tribes, hunting seals, travel documentary, eskimo tribes in canada, inuit tribes in Canada

Id: nugPRn7x6-w

Length: 49min 33sec (2973 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 07 2020