Traditional Qayaq Project

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Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, is a small, isolated community on the west coast of Hudson Bay. Our community has a population of approximately 350 people, 95% of whom are Inuit. “Chester” as it is affectionately known by local residents, is accessible only by plane (and snowmobile if you are brave).

Our school has become the major gathering place for our community. Victor Sammurtok School has approximately 119 students from kindergarten to grade twelve. Currently we have a staff of nine teachers including our principal. Our school is the smallest in our region, but we have some of the brightest students.

The introduction of the qayaq (kayak) to our students started as a cardboard qayaq race which was a fun way to begin the school year. At the beginning of each school year, students are given two rolls of duct tape and one roll of aluminum foil to create a cardboard boat. Students must search the community for as much cardboard as they can find (the race usually coincides with the annual sea lift—the time when supplies are brought to Chester—which means cardboard is abundant). They are given a couple of days to design and build a qayaq for the race across Police Lake—a fresh water lake close to the school. It is a widely anticipated event which attracts most of the community.

Shortly after the first cardboard qayaq race, students expressed an interest in learning more about qayaqs. Fortunately, teachers in the north are actively encouraged to pursue culturally relevant learning, and we started to offer a course in model qayaq construction. The process was slow, but in the end our students managed to create several three foot model qayaqs covered with seal or caribou skin.

The interest in qayaqs increased after completing the models, and soon the students wanted to make their own full sized qayaqs. There are a few members of the Chester community who remember riding with their grandparents in qayaqs, but no one had seen a qayaq for many years. Our school embarked on a huge project to reintroduce the qayaq to residents of Chester.

After many months of planning and fundraising, we secured enough funding to purchase the raw materials needed to make nine full sized qayaqs. In October 2004, our school gym was converted into a giant workshop. Students from grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 participated in the creation of nine qayaq frames. We had thirty-six students participate, and our attendance was perfect for the duration of the project. We allowed the students to get themselves into groups of three to five. Many of the groups consisted of an equal number of girls and boys, however, we had one group of four girls and one group of three boys.

The first day of the project was spent getting all the materials cut to the proper dimensions. The dust was pretty thick by the end of the day and students had managed to set off the smoke detectors twice (much to the dismay of the elementary teachers). In order to make the ribs and cockpits, the wood needed to be soaked in water for five days. The students spent the next two days sitting at home as a fierce blizzard had blown into town.

The students began their first day of construction with a lesson on measurement. Each group had to measure themselves and then perform a series of calculations to ensure their qayaq would have proper balance. The gunwales were marked and cut to size and a router was used to create holes for the placement of the ribs. At the end of Day 1 each group had two pieces of cedar with a bunch of holes and some lines drawn on them. The students were slightly frustrated by how much effort the first day required.

On the second and third day, forms were placed between the gunwales, and the students inserted the spacers required to maintain the shape. By Friday afternoon it was incredible—nine qayaqs had started to take shape and they actually looked symmetrical. We were beginning to believe that they may even float!

I spent most of the weekend telling students that we would start again on the qayaqs first thing Monday morning. Monday proved to be the most challenging day of the entire project—the ribs. Students had to steam the presoaked wood in a steam box and then very carefully bend it around a jig and insert into the holes in the gunwhales. Sounds pretty easy, but after shorting out the power to the gym a number of times and breaking a lot of ribs which were thrown across the room, everyone was tired and frustrated. Most of the groups managed to break the same number of ribs that they successfully inserted, a solid 1:1 ratio of good ribs to broken ribs. Fortunately, Tuesday was a new day, bringing more patience. Students had learned that it takes time and patience to bend wood successfully. By the end of the fifth day, all the ribs on the nine qayays were in place.

Once the ribs were finished, completing the rest of the qayaq frame seemed incredibly easy. The students attached a keel to the bottom, and a set of stabilizers to keep the qayaq tracking properly in the water. At the end of Day 6, the bottom was completely finished, and they looked awesome.

Each day of the project, parents and Elders were encouraged to come to the school to see the progress the students were making. One day a group of ten Elders entered the gym and stood in amazement at what the students had accomplished. The Elders stayed for most of the afternoon and told stories and watched the students work. In that afternoon there was more communication between the generations than anyone can remember in a long time. Members of the community would forgo their coffee breaks for a chance to peek in the gym and see how the students were doing. It was wonderful to witness how proud everyone was that qayaqs were being built in Chester.

By the end of Day 7, all nine qayaq frames had been completed. The students had worked hard every day and stayed after school to ensure that all were finished. Groups that finished early moved on to help other groups that needed assistance.

The qayaqs turned out better than anyone expected. Students, some of whom had never used power tools before, had handcrafted every aspect of an 18 foot traditional qayaq. The students were glowing with pride and self-esteem; they had accomplished what others in the community had never done. One completed qayaq frame hung in each of our classrooms for the rest of the year. Students from every grade would walk into their classrooms and look up to see a qayaq hanging from the ceiling rafters.

The project involved seven days away from regularly scheduled classes, but there were lessons in math, geometry, science, language, Inuktitut, understanding and patience that will last a lifetime. Elders from our community had said that it would take Inuit sometimes over two years to build a qayaq. The students developed a new respect and appreciation for what their ancestors had accomplished without the use of modern equipment. These students share the same strength and determination to live and succeed that their ancestors had many years ago.

Unfortunately, it was a long winter waiting for the eight feet of ice to melt. There were several times when I thought some students might try to flood the school in order to test their qayaqs. August came and it was time for the students to get back to school. We started the year off with six of our students graduating (a record for our school) and the annual cardboard qayaq race on Police Lake. But it was different this year—all the students were waiting for the frames to be covered and a chance to paddle their creations.

Immediately following our graduation ceremonies and prom, the gym was once again converted into a work shop. Students sanded and stained their qayaqs and got them ready for the covering process. We decided to use a nylon fabric to cover the qayaqs rather than caribou or seal skins. Preparing enough animal skins to cover nine qayaqs is at least a month of solid scraping, stretching, and sewing—time which was not available to us.

It took our students three more days to hand stitch the nylon together and make the waterproof seams. By the end of the week, there were a lot of sore fingers, and a lot of cheers that the qayaqs were almost completed. The final step in completing the process was to apply five coats of polyurethane to the nylon covering. Several students volunteered their weekend to apply the coats, just to ensure they could finally paddle their qayaqs.

The day had arrived, the culmination of a year of work was about to come to fruition—the qayaqs were about to enter the water. Fortunately, we were able to secure funding to purchase the necessary safety equipment (spray skirts, dry suits, etc.), and Aquabound (www.aquabound.com) generously donated paddles and life jackets.

Tuesday, September 6, was an incredible day. It was the day that the Chester qayaq fleet took to the water. With Elders, parents, and students watching, the qayaqs entered the water… and did not sink. The first thing the students learned was how to perform a wet exit (safely exiting a kayak when it has flipped upside down). Once the students had successfully demonstrated that they could remove themselves from the qayaq, they were given the freedom of the lake. People watched the entire afternoon as each student flipped over and then paddled their qayaq. It was an amazing experience.

Every day for the rest of that week was spent on the water. Within the first two days of qayaqing, the students had discovered their balance points and had begun to paddle with relative ease. There was always a struggle to be the first in the qayaq, but everyone managed to have a chance each day. At times it was difficult to convince students to leave the water. We spent every nice day possible learning how to qayaq properly and improving paddle strokes. The learning curve for these students was almost straight up when it came to learning new skills in the qayaq (a curve that I wish I was able to duplicate in Math).

There are many moments that I will never forgot about this project, but two stick out in my mind the most. The first was hearing one of my “cool” grade 12 students saying that he “feels like a real Inuk” after learning how to build and paddle his qayaq. He said it with such pride and enthusiasm that it will always stay with me. Two Elders showed up at the lake one day and asked if they could try the qayaqs. I watched as three of my students helped them into the qayaq, the same way they had been taught. The students stayed right beside the Elders and showed them how to paddle. Both the Elders and the students had huge smiles on their faces, and shared a deep, meaningful connection.

We spent several more days on the water honing our skills and learning rescue techniques, but eventually the ice reappeared. I was sure that some students were going to try to chip away enough ice to keep qayaqing, but they are now stored for another year.

Students are already wishing that it was August again. Next year we plan to spend the first week of school on the water. Three Elders and two guides will lead eighteen students on a seven day expedition in the qayaqs. The students will learn how Inuit used to hunt and travel by qayaq. The elementary students can’t wait until they get into high school so they too can learn how to qayaq. I think there are many more memorable moments still to come.

This qayaq project has represented the rebirth of interest in qayaqing in our community and region. Our students are full of pride when they travel to other communities and share stories about their adventures.

Glen Brocklebank has taught for 5 years in Chesterfield Inlet and counts among his myriad roles: high school teacher, co-vice-principal, guidance counsellor, and Canadian Ranger (military for the north), not to mention kayak builder. Although he doesn’t live in an iglu, he can build them and has slept in one when the temp outside was -38.