While you may not find Snafu on a map of Nunavut, Inuk Elder Manitok Thompson remembers the tiny settlement as the home where she spent part of her childhood.

SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檓 from Coral Harbour and there is a little place called Snafu, about 3.5 miles away from town,SA国际影视传媒� Thompson said of the area she described as having an interesting history.

During the Second World War, she said a large airstrip had been built in Coral Harbour because the Americans had a hospital in the area for wounded soldiers arriving from Europe.

Later on, when she was a child, she recalled seeing empty oil barrels everywhere on the beach near an old ship used as a barge.

SA国际影视传媒淎nd on that big ship there was a SNAFU sign on it. So the little placed I grew up in is called Snafu,SA国际影视传媒� Thompson said.

She recalls growing up in a large home with a few other families around Snafu, and that her father, Mikitok Bruce, would head out to work at the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line site in one direction while she walked into town to attend residential day school in the other direction, and then stayed with her auntie through the school week.

SA国际影视传媒淭here were not many people there. When they did the relocation, we were the last family to move into town,SA国际影视传媒� Thompson said of their eventual move to Coral Harbour.

She said the DEW line site was SA国际影视传媒渜uite an establishment.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淭hat place where my dad worked, they had a movie theatre, they had a bar, they had all these rooms, and it was a whole station. I think they were able to host probably 90 men or so,SA国际影视传媒� she said of the structure built to detect potential air attacks from the Soviets during the Cold War.

SA国际影视传媒淪ometimes we would go up there if they had a movie night by dog team.SA国际影视传媒�

Thompson said she grew up with sled dogs around.

SA国际影视传媒淢y father always had dog teams. He worked, but he took his dogs up there. Sometimes we would go by dog team into town to go to school.SA国际影视传媒�

As an Inuit child not exposed to Western culture in her environment, she said attending the one-room residential federal day school was surprising to her in many ways.

SA国际影视传媒淲hen we were children, we did not have birthday parties. We did not have Christmas presents, and Santa Claus certainly wasn't on the horizon either. I mean that's a different culture altogether. It wasn't part of our culture,SA国际影视传媒� Thompson said.

When the teacher started reading to them, she said it was another strange experience for her.

SA国际影视传媒淚 couldn't figure out when the teacher started reading books on three pigs or a big bad wolf. Did somebody imagine that type of an animal?SA国际影视传媒� she said.

SA国际影视传媒淎nd what was a pig or a cow or chicken? We used to even draw pictures of trees with apples on them because we thought every tree had an apple on it. We'd never seen a tree,SA国际影视传媒� Thompson said of the bewilderment she felt.

Hollywood's influence

At around age eight, she said the school held a movie night and her family packed up their dog sled and attended.

SA国际影视传媒淎nd it was the first time in my life, in the entire life of us children, of the adults, I think, where somebody was shooting another person. It was cowboys and Indians. And it was always the Indians were the bad people and the cowboys were the good people.

SA国际影视传媒淎nd the first thing we learned was SA国际影视传媒榟ands up.SA国际影视传媒� So, we were going around saying SA国际影视传媒榟ands upSA国际影视传媒� to each other because that was something we heard so much from the movie, but it's against Inuit traditional law. You never point a weapon at another human being. It's one of the serious laws in Inuit culture.

SA国际影视传媒淎nd that introduction to shooting another human was a shock to the community,SA国际影视传媒� Thompson recalled.

She admired her parents, Mikitok and Tweenaq Bruce, and the values they taught her growing up.

SA国际影视传媒淭hey wanted their children to be successful,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

SA国际影视传媒淢y dad would say, SA国际影视传媒淵our brain is the same size as a white personSA国际影视传媒檚. An Inuit brain is not smaller than the white person's brain.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淗e told us to always work for our money,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

Her mother was a very spiritual person who knew the Bible better than the priest did.

SA国际影视传媒淪he had a few debates with him and I know he would be lost sometimes,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

SA国际影视传媒淪o my mom and dad are always going to be my role models and are always going to be the people that had a very big impact on my life.SA国际影视传媒�

Thompson now lives in Carleton Place, outside of Ottawa. She has been married to her husband Tom for 45 years. He is also named Qinuittuq, or SA国际影视传媒榓 person with patience.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淏ecause my mom thought he needed a lot of patience with me,SA国际影视传媒� she laughed.

As executive director of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), she works tirelessly to preserve the Inuit culture and traditional knowledge. She has taught her staff how to light the traditional qulliq, or stone lamp, before meetings and she often speaks Inuktitut to immerse them into the Inuit culture.

SA国际影视传媒淚'm very happy to be working for IBC because what I try to do is to make sure that we are following the Inuit principles and Inuit traditional knowledge because that's what I bring into the company.SA国际影视传媒�