Episode 2 - Rassi Nashalik

Photo: Rassi Nashalik lighting the qulliq. Credit: Radio-Canada/Mario De Ciccio.

Rassi Nashalik was raised at an outpost camp near Pangniqtuuq (Pangnirtung). She describes her life there as beautiful.

"My family, my parents built me a foundation up to ten years old. It was very traditional way of life. Only Inuktitut was our language. We ate a lot of traditional food. Seasonally, we travelled to different camps...We were still using dog teams for transportation. I got to learn a lot." 

In 1964, when she was 10 years old, Rassi was taken from her family to attend residential school in Pangniqtuuq. The Government of Canada had opened a day school in the community in 1956. From 1964 to 1967, the federal government also operated a hostel in Pangniqtuuq.

Photo: Inuit children looking at an outdoor nativity scene of front of the Pangnirtung Day School, c. 1950-60. Credit: Joseph Vincent Jacobson and family fonds / Library and Archives Canada / e011864991.

Pangnirtung Hostel

The Pangnirtung Hostel was part of the Northern Affairs Branch small hostels program, which started in 1960. Small hostels typically accommodated eight to twelve children, and local community members worked as hostel parents.

The majority of the small hostels were located in the Eastern Arctic and northern Quebec, in places like Mittimitalik (Pond Inlet), Arviat (Eskimo Point), Cambridge Bay, Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake), and Qikiqtarjuaq (Broughton Island). However, there were briefly small hostels in Délı̨nę and Tulı́t’a. Most small hostels had closed by the 1970s.

Rassi stayed at the Pangnirtung Hostel for three years. In 1970, when she was 16, she was taken further away from her family, to Churchill, Manitoba. 

Churchill Vocational Centre

When it opened in 1964, the Churchill Vocational Centre was one of only two large hostels in the eastern Arctic. The other was Turquetil Hall in Igluligaarjuk (Chesterfield Inlet), on the western shore of Hudson Bay.

The Churchill Vocational School occupied an abandoned military base. The majority of the students were Inuit, taken from their communities across what became Nunavut in 1999 and northern Quebec. As the name suggests, the Churchill school was focused on vocational training: trades for the boys and home economics for girls.

A few buildings at the Churchill army barracks were repurposed in the 1960s for the Churchill Vocational Centre. Credit: © Manitoba Museum.

Left photo: A young Inuk man works on snowmobile inside a large workshop at the Churchill Vocational Centre, c. 1971. Right photo: Two women paint walls inside a small wooden building at the Churchill Vocational Centre, c. 1971. Credit: NWT Archives/Northwest Territories. Department of Information fonds/G-1979-023: 0540 and 1053.

Rassi and Recreation

Rassi has fond memories of recreation from her time at residential school. She particularly enjoyed sports like volleyball and baseball. In 1970, she and other members of a Baffin Island girls volleyball team travelled to Sǫǫ̀mbak'è (Yellowknife) to complete in the inaugural Arctic Winter Games. 

Photos from the inaugural Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, 1970. Credit: NWT Archives/Sport North Federation fonds/N-1991-060: 0001, 0006, and 0019.

Recreation remained an important part of Rassi's life after residential school. She also passed along her passion for sport and healthy living to her children. 

More recently, Rassi has been reconnecting with her Inuit heritage and culture by learning how to tan hides and sewing different items including mitts and duffel socks.

"I told you a lot what we learned in Churchill, Manitoba. But traditionally, I didn't learn how to do the scraping seal right from scratch and stretch it and prepare it. It's never too late. I start doing that now. I am elder...I do moose hide. I tried anyway. I am learning. I stretch them, I skin them, I flesh them...It takes practice. Never say I don't know how to make it. If you have watched your mom or your aunt making things, traditional clothing, you could do it."

Residential schools were designed to break our ties to our families, lands, languages, and cultures, but these relationships can and are being renewed and revitalized.

If you are a Survivor or intergenerational Survivor of residential school or day school and need help, there's a free 24-hour support line. Call 1-800-695-4419. 

 

Episode Credits

Host: Paul Andrew

Guests: Rassi Nashalik

Producers: Amos Scott, Jess Dunkin

Editor: Jess Dunkin

Audio Engineer: Brandon Larocque

Theme Song: Stephen Kakfwi

 

Episode Transcript

Paul Andrew

[Introduction in Dene kǝdǝ́.]

My name is Paul Andrew. I am the host of How I Survived. This is a podcast about recreation at residential and day schools in the Canadian North. 

In this episode, you will hear about abuse and trauma. 

If you are a Survivor or intergenerational Survivor of residential or day school and you need help, there is a free 24-hour support line. Call 1-800-695-4419. That number again, 1-800-695-4419.

Please take care as you listen.

Rassi

My name is Rassi Nashalik. I grow up in outpost camp outside of Pangnirtung. My father's name is Inusuuk and my mom is named Rhoda and I have 11 siblings.

I started first time going to school was when I was 10 years old. I was relocated from our village to Pangnirtung. That was in 1964. That was my introduction to English speaking and learning the language.

Paul

In November 2022, Rassi Nashalik and I met in a teepee at the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation camp in Yellowknife to talk about her experiences of recreation at residential school. 

The Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation is an urban Land-based healing program. The camp is a place where Indigenous northerners, including residential school Survivors and intergenerational Survivors, can access cultural programming and culturally appropriate care, including traditional counselling. 

Rassi is one of three women who started the foundation in 2017. Today, she remains involved as an Elder advisor. 

I’m proud to say Rassi is a friend and former colleague of mine from CBC North. We met in the mid-1990s. We had a buddy system at CBC North. Rassi was assigned to me as my buddy. To this very day, we call each other “buddy.”

I began our conversation by asking Rassi to describe her life before residential school.

Rassi

It was beautiful. My family, my parents built me a foundation up to 10 year old. It was very traditional way of life. Only Inuktitut was our language. We eat a lot of traditional food. Seasonally, we travel to different camps. That's why I said it was very traditional because we were still using dog teams for transportation. And I get to learn a lot. Since I could remember to do the chores. And you learn by watching your parents, what they do around their way of life. 

I don't really remember my grandparents that much, but I do from my father's side, my grandpa and my step-grandma. My mom was an orphan and her parents died when they were really young, so they were raised by her aunt's family. So I really remember my grandpa was getting old and he was the leader of the camp. And then when he got sick, he had to stay in Pangnirtung. And my father took over on the leadership of the village at that time. So I really remember my parents who taught me a lot. 

Paul

What kind of survival skills did they teach you?

Rassi

My mom was our seamstress. So she made us a lot of clothings like, seal qamiks and baby seal outfits for a little parkas and knits. I don't remember having so much modern clothings. 

My dad didn't have sons that he could teach at that time who could help. And he took out some other family's sons. He taught a lot of young boys. But when I turn about seven and eight, in that age, he start taking me out, which was like in springtime when he goes out for seals in spring, when it's not so cold. So I get to mind, look after the dog team.

I was so scared first time. He had to tell me everything what I need to do while he goes after the seals. Because he had a very, very strong, healthy dog team. He had about 15 dogs, very big ones, and they obey him a lot. That's why he was telling me, if the dogs start doing this, you have to grab the whip and just stand beside them. I looked around a lot. I watched my dad going further, further away. I was so nervous that I'm gonna fail my dad and he'll lose the seal. But I try my hardest to keep them calm. I didn't really have to because he trained them. Sometimes he goes alone. He leave them behind. They know when to go, when he shot one shot. The dog knows it's time to go, he goes to him. But the first time when I had to look after the dog team, it was scary. 

I learned a lot about seasonal stuff. Like in the wintertime even, we had to play outside when it's really cold out, and we would be pretending that each little children were dogs and one was the owner and they would use this real whip and that's how we learn. Like the guys learn how to have their own dogs, even the little childrens were the ones to train them before they actually go on working as a dog with the dog owner. We had little qamutiks and they would pull us around all over. All over town or all over the village or go on the trails. And we were the ones who kept the puppies growing up, and it seems like we were training them.

And in the springtime it was always fun because, we get to go hunting with my dad, me and my cousin. We're the ones to go with my dad and the other kids will go with their dad.

And about traditional stuff. In the wintertime, we would collect ice. We'll go uphill to the little lake with the sizzle, or even scissors would do. We would chip away the ice for drinking water. And we did that. We just go and like I said before, the minute we are old enough to do chores, we do them. 

We do a lot around the house too. Give me that, give me this, like our mom was always busy because she had so many kids, and mine knew she had her own duties: to feed us, to clothe us, to sew and keep the house, our qarmaq, which is our sod house to keep it warm. And for all day or two, our dad would be gone. Mom is responsible for the whole thing around. She looks after little puppies. If there's little puppies, she feed their mother. They made a little shelter for them outside if it's in the wintertime. They had so much responsibilities. The mothers so much never ending. They had things to do while their husband is out hunting to feed us, to feed the community. 

My dad was a really good hunter and he fed a lot of families, sometimes the whole town because in those years, we share a lot. We eat together and we call people to come into our house or our qarmaq, and we eat together. And even the animal like say seal, there's some parts that are for women only, and they had a pail, they cut up really nicely. The guys would butcher the seal. They cut up the meat only for women, and the guys eat around the butchered seal on the floor, but the ladies and their children, they eat out of big, big, big, big bowl.

And that's how it was sometimes. I forget it, that it was so special. 

Paul

In 1964, when she was 10 years old, Rassi was taken from her family to Pangnirtung to attend residential school. The Government of Canada opened a day school in Pangnirtung in 1956. From 1964 to 1967, the federal government also operated a hostel there.

The Pangnirtung hostel was part of the Northern Affairs Branch small hostels program, which started in 1960. Small hostels typically accommodated eight to twelve children, and local community members worked as hostel parents. 

The majority of the small hostels were located in the eastern Arctic and northern Quebec, although there were briefly small hostels in Délı̨nę and Tulı́t’a. Most small hostels had closed by the 1970s.

Rassi

You know, I was very close to my family. My family was very close to each other. Family, family, family, and it was hard. It was really, really hard. We had to live with young couple who were Inuit too, which was a good thing because we spoke the language in home setting, and the only thing that I remember so well, when other kids are bothering me, using words that weren't very good. My mom's advice always comes to me and say, Don't fight back. Especially you didn't start it. Don't fight back. Especially you didn't do anything, just go away or don't say a word at all. Those kind of things. 

And also, we didn't really play outside anymore. Only recess time. And I used to think about our village. I wonder what my friends are doing. Some of my friends didn't come because their parents didn't want them to come. Those years, it wasn't really like we were grabbed and put it in the boat. At that time, I think that time the government talked to our parents and some parents refused to send their kids. So I thought about my family because it was beautiful, but being ten-year-old, I always say that was part of my journey and I became independent quickly to think for myself.

Paul

Rassi stayed at the Pangnirtung hostel for three years. In 1970, she was taken further away from her family, this time to Churchill, Manitoba.

Rassi

There was no high school in Baffin region. A lot of us from Baffin and Nunavik, Kivalliq, they all sent us to Churchill, Manitoba, which was called Churchill Vocational Centre. That was something else. Like we just stayed there for whole ten month out of the year. We never went home for Easter. We never went home for Christmas or any kind of long weekends. We just lived there for three years. We just went home for summer. 

Paul

When it opened in 1964, the Churchill Vocational Centre was one of only two large hostels in the eastern Arctic. The other was in Chesterfield Inlet, on the western shore of Hudson Bay. 

The majority of the students in Churchill were Inuit, taken from their communities across what became Nunavut in 1999 and northern Quebec. As the name suggests, the Churchill school was focused on vocational training: trades for the boys and home economics for girls.  

Rassi, how did you spend your spare time when you were at residential school?

Rassi

You know, it was so much fun. I learned about physical education at that time. We played a lot of sports after study periods, which was from seven to eight, I guess. We were studying in the dorms. We play a lot of sports, neverending, like it was our choice as individual kids. We play a lot. I learned how to play volleyball, which became my very favorite thing, favorite sport, and also baseball or fastball. Those were my favorite ones. I tried basketball. I was too short and I couldn't run around all the time chasing the ball. I decided to drop out on that.

Paul

Was that everyday? How much time did you spend on recreational activities?

Rassi

It was every day. Every single day. Like from Sunday to Saturday. Right throughout, and we were even take part–get this one–we came here for first Arctic Winter Games in 1970. We played volleyball. We had a team from Baffin Region and we came here. We stayed at Yellowknife Inn. They just kind of pile us in one room, so many girls all over the floor, and I don't remember playing so much, but we lost all the games. But that was, that was a good one. 

Paul

Did you do anything other than sports, like music or crafts?

Rassi

Well, we learned how to sew in the classes. We learned how to cook. We learned how to be the waitress. They taught us everything. We cook and learn how to set the tables like modern way, like white man, white way. We'd never use, like traditionally we don't use knives and forks, and they even taught us how to serve on the right side. We learned how to knit, we learned how to make things. We learned how to read the patterns to make clothings. This is during the day at school.

Paul

How did recreation and sports contribute to your life, Rassi? Did they contribute to your life?

Rassi

To myself, healthy lifestyle. I think, when you do a lot of activities, we never actually think that way when we are actually playing sports or do other things that it's good for us. We learned that in Churchill that it's good for you if you keep being active, eat well, do all the activities you like to do. And I passed this on to my kids, to have a healthy lifestyle in both eating well and physical education. 

Paul

Was recreation a way to cope with being away from your home, your parents, your language, and your way of life?

Rassi 

You know, I never really thought about it that way because it was my own interests really. I love to keep playing sports. Like either we’re playing sports, we go out and watch the boys basketball games. We were even cheerleaders, some girls, for our boys volleyball, basketball, and hockey. If we are not playing, we’re out there singing our hearts out, yelling and screaming for the boys.

Paul 

Like you said, there was a lot of people from that big region that were there, so were, were you guys allowed to speak our language? 

Rassi 

Oh yes. We were allowed. That really helped because a lot of us that went to Churchill, Manitoba, I think we all spoke our language. Some didn't really speak that I knew of. They'd rather speak English. But a lot of us in my age group, we were all in the same dorm, dormitory, and we will be roommates. There'll be about four of us or six of us in one room, and we all spoke our language. 

Paul 

You mentioned 72 here in Arctic Winter Games. You guys were probably talking to each other during the games in Inuktitut.

Rassi

We would be, yes, we would be. 

Paul 

And so the other team probably didn't understand what they're doing? 

Rassi 

No, no. We did that on purpose. Why not? 

Paul

How did your involvement with recreation and sport impact your life after residential school? 

Rassi

I think for a betterment, to be a healthier person, because when I moved here in 1978, I didn't know anybody except I had met my husband. I had met him before he was living here, but I'm the one to make friends, right? So it was a little lonely at the beginning because I didn't know anybody. So I reach out to slow pitch and volleyball. That's how I made friends. They are up to now, still my friends. It's good to reach out if you love sports. That's the only way that you're gonna make friends in the new community where you are living now is to reach out and you make friends that way and you keep on doing what you like to do.

Paul 

And I think I saw you play volleyball. You’re competitive, you’re a little bit older, but still because you take care of yourself. Because that’s what recreation and sports demands. 

Rassi 

It is good for you. It's good for everything I find, your mind, your body, everything. It's good for you. Some friends of mine thought they weren't good enough, but we keep telling them, No, you go out and enjoy. You don't have to be an excellent player, but it's good for you to be active, to get active. I like that. Like I always, when I was growing up, I thought I was fat all the time. And I always cautious about myself. That's one of the things too that I keep on moving, playing sports and like you said, I'm a very competitive person and it's good to be competitive. Otherwise, sometimes when you are not, you get bored really. You don't wanna play anymore. Or some other people would talk to you like, What is wrong with you? But nevermind those people talking to you. Enjoy what you are doing. 

Paul 

Did recreation and sports have an impact on your kids? 

Rassi 

Oh yes. Big time because I put them in there. Put them in when they are old enough. Like my daughter joined the Jack Rabbits when she was five, six year old, and she became a competitive skier. And my son was in the hockey. He always made it up to travelling teams and very competitive. And they both went to three Arctic Winter Games, like at different times. And they participated in the school activities, sports, both of them. They saw us because we start bringing them when they were really little. No babysitters at those times, we used to carry them to the gym, to the baseball diamond. They learn that from us, from being really little. And they both play both of the sports I've played and also their dad. 

Paul 

Rassi, what would you like recreational leaders today to know about your residential school experiences, including your experiences in recreation?

Rassi 

You know, I always thought as Indigenous, I think we are pretty well very gifted athletes. Anything we try, we are good at. If somebody see me, those years that I was very short, I am very short, and people have a doubt on me about playing volleyball because you need to be tall person. But I don't think so. You could be a setter. You are fast to move when you're short. People move fast, you know? 

Right now, those years when I was growing up, we were all the same. A lot of our classmates, everybody who were in Churchill, Manitoba, were Indigenous. Hardly any white students were there. They were a few from Churchill down in the base They were a few white and Dene from Dene Village. 

Whoever is the recreational director, they should really learn the cultural ways, and instead of staying away from us, they have to learn through reconciliation what we went through.

For me, we talked about sports a lot and I think it did me good, but some didn't play. They weren't athletic, but they read a lot. I saw that. They read a lot. They became very good. Their knowledge was way up above me. 

You know, they have to learn the reconciliation for sure through the recreation departments. They really need to learn a lot. 

Paul 

Is there anything else that you wanted to share with our listeners, Rassi?

Rassi 

Well I told you a lot what we learned, I learned in Churchill, Manitoba, but traditionally, it seems like I didn't learn how to do the scraping seal right from scratch and stretch it and prepare it. And never too late. I start doing that now. I am Elder, like my son hunts here in Yellowknife. I do moose hide. I tried anyway. I am learning. I stretch them, I skin them, I flesh them. And I even did the muskox in August. Because I learned that from my mom, even though she didn't work with moosehide, she didn't work with muskox hide, I seen her doing caribou, like all these traditional stuff.

And even now I learned by watching, like we learned a lot when we were little, traditional, traditional stuff by watching. Because our parents or people were too busy to teach and say, This is how you do it. And I learned how to do the qulliq lighting just by watching my mom. We learned a lot by listening, traditionally. 

All we have to do is try and practice and you could get better at it. I do a lot of crafts like I make mitts now. I made duffel socks. Everything what I wanted to to do, it takes practice. Never say I don't know how to make it. If you have watched your mom or your aunt making things, traditional clothing, you could do it. 

Even qulliq lighting, I thought it was gonna be very, very hard, but I do it now. I pick the Arctic willows, pussy willows in the fall time so I could have enough for the whole winter. Like you learn how to harvest too, because that's how you watch, that's how you learn from your mom or from your relatives.

And it's good to try. Try your best and keep on practicing it. Never give up. That's my advice. 

Paul 

Wonderful to hear the advice. Máhsı. 

Rassi 

Ilaali.

Paul 

What better way to end our conversation than with a message of hope and resilience for Indigenous northerners, young and old. 

Residential schools were designed to break our ties to our families, lands, languages, and cultures, but these relationships can and are being renewed and revitalized.

I want to say a big máhsı, a big thank you to Rassi for sharing her story and memories with us. You can see pictures of Rassi lighting the qulliq on our website, www.HowISurvived.ca. You can also see other photos and materials related to this episode there. 

Crystal Fraser

If you are a Survivor or intergenerational Survivor of residential or day school and you need help, there's a free 24-hour support line. Call 1-800-695-4419.

How I Survived is a collaboration between the NWT Recreation and Parks Association and the University of Alberta. The podcast is co-hosted by me, Crystal Gail Fraser, and Paul Andrew. I also provide historical direction. 

How I Survived is co-produced by Amos Scott and Jess Dunkin. Advisory support is provided by Dr. Sharon Firth, Lorna Storr, and Paul Andrew. Our research assistant is Rebecca Gray and our audio engineer is Brandon Larocque. Haii’ to EntrepreNorth for sharing your recording booth with us.

Our theme song is “Love the Light” by Stephen Kakfwi. The cover art for this podcast was designed by pipikwan pêhtâkwan based on a wall hanging made for the project by Agnes Kuptana. 

This podcast is produced with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and NWT and Nunavut Lotteries.