Inuvik, NWT
Date visited: August 9 2019
After our exciting drive over the remote Dempster Highway, we were looking forward to a little urban in Inuvik. I was also excited to visit the town where my grandfather had worked as a bank manager in the early 1960s.
What we found was a unique town that was high on friendliness. Pretty much everywhere we went, people wanted to talk. We could hardly get away from the guy at the liquor store. It was the same at the shop next door. We took the dogs for a walk on Boot Lake Trail where we chatted with two men and a woman who were having their own little pizza party. The woman wanted us to know there had once been a beautiful gazebo near the cemetary that someone had burned down. And someone had driven a truck through the cemetery. "How disrespectful!" she said, "If that was you, wouldn't you just not be able to live with the guilt after driving over the ancestor's graves? That's how I would feel. I would be so ashamed." We walked along the boardwalk in a residential area and a young guy came over to talk to us. He said "You're looking at our yards and houses. Don't forget that many of us are broken inside. We're just doing the best we can." We felt like idiots. Were we judging? I didn't think so but maybe that's how it looked.
Inuvik means "the place of man" and was traditionally a no man's land with the Dene to the south and the Inuvialuit to the north. When the government needed to establish an administrative centre for the Western Arctic to replace the one in Aklavik that was prone to flooding, the town was established in 1954. The new village was soon flooded with people- the Dene, the Metis and the Inuvialuit -followed by the non-indigenous people who came for adventure and for work. Together they created a community.
Building the town on permafrost was a huge challenge. All the buildings are raised up on pilings to prevent the permafrost from melting. Utility lines run above ground in utilidors. The town thrived economically at first due to the presence of a Canadian Forces base and oil and gas exploration, all of which fell apart in the 1990s. Today its population is just over 3000, about 2/3 indigenous. It does have a bit of a ghost town feel with wide somewhat deserted streets that stretch alongside the Mackenzie River.
We learned a lot about Inuvik when we went to the free and highly recommended talk at the Igloo church which is held several times a week in summer. The speaker was so enthusiastic she almost had us convinced to return to teaching in the north.
Check at the tourist booth for details.
As far as food goes, it's mostly basic fare with a couple fast food chains, a generic hotel bar/restaurant in the Mackenzie Inn, a kind of dodgy pizza place, and Alestine's- an interesting restaurant based out of an old school bus in the owner's front yard. Patons eat in a little log cabin or on it's rooftop patio. The food at Alestine's is tasty and fresh- we tried the bison chili and the fish and chips which I would put in the category of good home cooking. Not amazing or inventive but probably your best option.
We were also told by the guys we met in the park that we could buy some traditional foods at the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation but it was unexpectedly closed.
A welcome surprise was the Inuvik Community Greenhouse which is in a converted arena.
You can visit their website here.https://www.inuvikgreenhouse.com/
Better yet, visit Inuvik.
After our exciting drive over the remote Dempster Highway, we were looking forward to a little urban in Inuvik. I was also excited to visit the town where my grandfather had worked as a bank manager in the early 1960s.
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| Granddad ‘s Bank. Notice the piling it sits on. |
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| One of my granddad's photos from Inuvik. |
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| Inuvik today |
Inuvik means "the place of man" and was traditionally a no man's land with the Dene to the south and the Inuvialuit to the north. When the government needed to establish an administrative centre for the Western Arctic to replace the one in Aklavik that was prone to flooding, the town was established in 1954. The new village was soon flooded with people- the Dene, the Metis and the Inuvialuit -followed by the non-indigenous people who came for adventure and for work. Together they created a community.
Building the town on permafrost was a huge challenge. All the buildings are raised up on pilings to prevent the permafrost from melting. Utility lines run above ground in utilidors. The town thrived economically at first due to the presence of a Canadian Forces base and oil and gas exploration, all of which fell apart in the 1990s. Today its population is just over 3000, about 2/3 indigenous. It does have a bit of a ghost town feel with wide somewhat deserted streets that stretch alongside the Mackenzie River.
We learned a lot about Inuvik when we went to the free and highly recommended talk at the Igloo church which is held several times a week in summer. The speaker was so enthusiastic she almost had us convinced to return to teaching in the north.
Check at the tourist booth for details.
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| Cool reusable bag from the Inuvik Liquor Store which also sold Alberta's Fallen Timber Meadjito! |
We were also told by the guys we met in the park that we could buy some traditional foods at the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation but it was unexpectedly closed.
A welcome surprise was the Inuvik Community Greenhouse which is in a converted arena.
We wandered over there on a chilly August morning mostly just to take a look around. We were happy to find out that not only does this place allow people to grow their own food, it also serves lunch with a small and ever changing menu. Tea and coffee are also available, with coffee from recently opened NWT roasted Barren Ground fair trade coffee from Yellowknife which is also sold on site.
The greenhouse first opened in 1998. Residents must take out a membership for $25 and then can rent a four by eight foot box plot of land for $50 a year plus 10 hours of volunteer time, or a planter for $20 with 3 hours of labour. Elders can rent a plot for free with no community hours.
There were lots of small gardens thriving when we visited. Tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, corn, nasturtiums, pansies, and other flowers were flourishing. Some plots were decorated with funny signs and painted flower boxes. There were community tools on the wall.
A family with a couple of young kids did some weeding and then ate their own lunch at one of the tables set up in the centre of the building. A couple of seniors who volunteer there took a coffee break to get caught up on the local gossip. Soon it was lunch and the government workers from the local college and Parks Canada came by for the daily special. We ordered soup and cranberry bannock along with our cappuccino. Everything is made on site and was fresh and tasty.
There was some cool music playing in the lobby where the food is sold out of the original arena canteen. Trendy lights. Posters for some local events. Definitely a local hangout. We picked up some freshly roasted coffee on the way out and as an amateur coffee roaster, I found their product fresh and respectable.
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This place is unique and it is very cool to see people growing their own food in a place where the growing season is just 46 days long and fresh produce is crazy expensive. We really liked its community feel. As a visitor, you like to get a sense of what it would be like to live in a place and I venture to guess the greenhouse is a place where many transplanted southerners go to feel a little bit of home.
You can visit their website here.https://www.inuvikgreenhouse.com/
Better yet, visit Inuvik.
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