January/February 2008

University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

I’ve lived and worked in rural Alaska for the past twenty-eight years, and I’ve never read a more accurate, sensitive article about Alaska natives. Tony Hopfinger got his historical facts straight and also perfectly captured village life in the twenty-first century.

Alaska has the highest suicide rate of all the US states, and rural rates are twice the Alaskan average. Many of the suicides are young males who, like Mike Weyapuk, are caught between two cultures and don’t really feel like they belong to either. I’ve seen countless youth, who loved their lifestyle while growing up, lose hope in the future soon after high school. Often they have to leave their villages, their families, their way of living to find a job, or a spouse who is not a relative. Those who stay become just as isolated. Before television was brought to the villages, people were always visiting one another. Neighbours would frequently drop by to talk, play cribbage, take a steam bath, or just hang out. After television, everyone seemed to hole up.

I sincerely hope that the same innate ability to adapt and innovate that helped Alaskan natives survive for thousands of years will also secure a positive future for them.
Ron Perkins
Alaska Injury Prevention Center
Anchorage, AK

Go West!
Reading “Camels in the Arctic?” (November), in which Franklyn Griffiths gathers Inuit impressions of climate change, gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own similar experience last year in the Yukon. As an intern with the Arctic Athabaskan Council, I heard First Nations elders, hunters, and political representatives speak knowledgeably and eloquently about the land. I’m sure Griffiths would agree: some of this must filter down south if we are to tackle climate change.

I’m disappointed, however, that Griffiths writes as if the Mackenzie River were the Canadian Arctic’s western boundary. The Yukon First Nations are, just like the Inuit, trying to find a balance between their traditional practices and the modern Canadian lifestyle, a task made all the more difficult by climate change. According to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, the Yukon is warming at one of the fastest rates in the world.

One of the objectives of the land claims agreements signed between the individual Yukon First Nations and Canada is to foster a relationship whereby the former can contribute to the national identity. Climate change could, ironically, further that objective by prompting us to study the traditional knowledge and adaptation strategies of Yukon First Nations people. Take it from me, a guy who apparently looks like he “grew up on the cement and would trip over a tent pole”: they are ready to teach us a thing or two.

Michael Fleischmann