A group of camo-clothed hunters roamed along a beach on QuebecSA国际影视传媒檚 Magdalen Islands one day this past November, settling themselves along a stretch of shore where grey seals were most active. Some carried rifles, another had a hakapik, which is a club used for harvesting seals.
That was how Aija Komangapik took part in seal hunting for the first time in almost 10 years.
SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檓 really happy to be here to experience this because after about a decade of not doing this kind of thing, I think I was starting to get a little bit heartsick,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
Aside from a few trips she took as a child, the 23-year-old Inuit artist has had few chances to participate in the tradition of seal hunting.
SA国际影视传媒淚 spent half my life in Iqaluit and then the other half I spent in the province of Quebec,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淚 didnSA国际影视传媒檛 have much opportunity to hunt when I was very youngSA国际影视传媒� so I did appreciate this opportunity because it just felt like something I needed.SA国际影视传媒�
It was also KomangapikSA国际影视传媒檚 first time using a hakapik.
SA国际影视传媒淚t went pretty well,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淎ll you do is you hit it over the head.SA国际影视传媒�
The trip was part of a new cultural exchange project between the Magdalen Islands and the Inuit community of Ottawa, called Reconseal Inuksiuti, which aims to promote reconciliation by celebrating both Indigenous and non-Indigenous seal hunting traditions.
Komangapik herself designed ReconsealSA国际影视传媒檚 logo, which depicts a harpoon crossed with a hakapik behind the image of a grey seal.
Her father, Nunavut sculptor Ruben Komangapik, and Yoanis Menge, an author and photographer from Quebec, are the founders of the new project.
SA国际影视传媒淲e are stepping up to the plate and doing a real reconciliation through this animal,SA国际影视传媒� said Komangapik. SA国际影视传媒淗opefully, everyone else in this country could get inspired by that.SA国际影视传媒�
The idea for the project was hatched while Menge and Komangapik, who are longtime friends, were on a hunting trip on the Magdalen Islands in late September 2021.
They killed a seal on Sept. 30, the first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
SA国际影视传媒淗e even took all his clothes off to his underwear and went in with a gaff,SA国际影视传媒� recalled Komangapik. SA国际影视传媒淗e gaffed it and pulled it to shore, and we all had our orange shirts. He took a picture of us with the seal open like the way they do here, so it started off like SA国际影视传媒榟ey, weSA国际影视传媒檙e really recon-sealing reconciliation,SA国际影视传媒� so thatSA国际影视传媒檚 how our company got its name.SA国际影视传媒�
They donated about 700 pounds of harvested meat to Tungasuvvingat Inuit, a resource centre for urban Inuit based in Ottawa.
Some of it was served at a ceremony on Nov. 7 when an Ottawa park was renamed in honour of Inuk artist Annie Pootoogook, said Komangapik.
In addition, harvested seal skins were donated to a Isaruit Inuit Arts, a centre in Ottawa that promotes Inuit arts and culture, where theySA国际影视传媒檒l be used to teach traditional preparation of seal skins, he said.
Komangapik, originally from Pond Inlet, moved to Quebec several years ago. He has long been known for his mixed media sculptures and for mentoring young Inuit people by sharing his vast knowledge of carving.
There are about 6,000 Inuit living in the Ottawa area, according to the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. Many donSA国际影视传媒檛 have regular access to traditional food, said Komangapik, which is how the idea of a cultural exchange with the Magdalene Islands really took hold.
Komangapik said the project will help fight food insecurity by providing a source of traditional food to urban Inuit, which will improve their health and well-being.
SA国际影视传媒淓xporting seal meat from Nunavut is way more expensive and plus there is food insecurity up there,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淚t kind of pushed me to start this.SA国际影视传媒�
In addition, after seeing the excitement and engagement in his daughter Aija, and their friend Philip Anguratsiaq, who also came on the trip, Komangapik said, SA国际影视传媒淚t seems like both these two people that we have brought here are really enjoying it and feel more refreshed after being in the city situation.SA国际影视传媒�
Anguratsiaq, a former municipal councillor from Hall Beach, recently moved to Ottawa where itSA国际影视传媒檚 well-nigh impossible to participate in seal hunting.
SA国际影视传媒淟uckily they found me and ISA国际影视传媒檓 here now,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
SA国际影视传媒淭hey introduced me to this amazing experience. Where I grew up our main hunting animal was walrus so when I told them about my background, they decided to bring me here to the Magdalen Islands and itSA国际影视传媒檚 been a blast.SA国际影视传媒�
Hunting practices differ between Nunavut and the Magdalene Islands, he noted.
In addition to warmer temperatures and much less ice, and grey seals, though extremely abundant around the Magdalene Islands, are rarely seen in Nunavut, he noted.
Also, SA国际影视传媒渢he way we cut and the way they cut, itSA国际影视传媒檚 very similar,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淏ut in Inuit culture, we donSA国际影视传媒檛 take the tenderloin and when I got here, I learned that they take the tenderloin. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 been an exciting experience.SA国际影视传媒�
In addition, to ensure seals are harvested humanely, the group was obeying the three-step process for harvesting seals, as outlined by Fisheries and Oceans Canada: shooting or striking the seal with a club, checking the cranium to make sure itSA国际影视传媒檚 deceased and then bleeding the animal.
Through his ongoing photography and writing, Menge has charted the lives of commercial sealers in Atlantic Canada, in addition to Nunavik and Nunavut.
In a short film published by La Fabrique culturelle, Menge explained that seal hunting was an integral part of the local culture and economy while growing up in the Magdalene Islands.
However, he felt antagonized as global anti-sealing campaigns harmed both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities thanks to the boycotting of seal products.
Since then, much of his work, including a recent book Hakapik, has been devoted to humanizing the seal hunt and the people who rely on it.
Menge said this was ReconsealSA国际影视传媒檚 first trip so far, but he said he hopes there will be more in the future. He also said Reconseal, now a registered corporation, will involve both cultural exchange and the promotion of awareness of the sealing industrySA国际影视传媒檚 sustainability.
SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a very big resources that we have here around the islands,SA国际影视传媒� said Menge. SA国际影视传媒淚n the future, we want to make work for people so they can get paid. And we want to have people on our team from the Magdalen Islands, from other parts of the North and from the city.SA国际影视传媒�
Komangapik agreed that Reconseal and the grey sealing industry of the Magdalene Islands could have greater commercial potential in the future.
SA国际影视传媒淭he reason why I know that is because us Inuit love the stuff.SA国际影视传媒�
