Moving on Up (storey 22 of 40)

We will be moving yet again. This move will take us to the Arctic Ocean and into the domain of the “Eaters of Raw Meat.” Coppermine which is now called Kugluktuk, is located on the Coronation Gulf, this is part of the Northwest Passage. Kugluktuk means the Place of the Moving Waters.

Coppermine (Kugluktuk) is the most westerly community in the newest Territory in Canada called Nunavut. Nunavut was established on April 01, 1999. Located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and mouth of the Copper River this village of 1,200 persons is 15 km from the “Bloody Falls”. So named for a massacre from a battle that ensued between the Dene and the Inuit over hunting and fishing grounds and probably the theft of women.

Stories of the horrors that follow the ancestral enemies of the Dene are many. As actual memories dwindle, legends grow. Every culture has its “Glory Days.” It was rumored that as late as 1948 a family group of Inuit had eaten the hearts of two priests. In fact two Inuit hunters, one of them a Shaman did indeed kill two Priests, whether they ate them or not I have no idea, this occurred in 1917 and is a documented crime. The two Inuit were sentenced to death, but had the death sentence overthrown because the courts decided that there was undue provocation from the priests.