Stephen Angulalik
Encyclopedia
Stephen Angulalik was an internationally known Ahiarmiut
Inuit
from northern Canada
notable as a Kitikmeot
fur trade
r and trading post
operator at Kuugjuaq (Perry River
), Northwest Territories
. His stories and photos were carried by journals and periodicals worldwide.
on the Queen Maud Gulf
. His parents, Oakoak (father) and Okalitaaknahik (mother), were Caribou Inuit
.
In 1923, Angulalik lived on the Kent Peninsula
near a Hudson's Bay Company
(HBC) post. The post had opened three years earlier and was run by Hugh Clarke; it was the most remote HBC post of the Canadian Arctic. Angulalik learned the fur trading business from Clarke. In 1926, Clarke and George Porter opened a Canalaska trading post for owner Captain Christian Theodore Pedersen
in Perry River, probably because of Ahiarmiut relocation to that area, the Kent Peninsula caribou becoming scarce. In addition to the trading post, Clarke built a home for Angulalik, ensuring Ahiarmiut loyalty to the Canalaska post, rather than an HBC post
a few miles away (run by Angus Gavin between April 1937-July 1941).
to continue supplying trade goods to Angulalik. In 1929, Angulalik sailed to Herschel Island
and purchased a schooner
, the "Tudlik", from Canalaska, using the "Tudlik" during his career to transport goods from Cambridge Bay or Herschel Island to his trading post.
Angulalik's trade partners included distant Copper Inuit
bands such as the Hanningajurmiut of Garry Lake
(Hanningajuq, meaning "sideways" or "crooked"). The Hanningajurmiut were called the Ualininmiut ("people from area of which the sun follows east to west") by their Caribou Inuit neighbors of the north, the Utkusiksalinmiut. He also traded with the Illuilirmiut of Illuiliq from Adelaide Peninsula
. As these Inuit were located between Angulalik's Perry River post and the Gjoa Haven
HBC post, Angulalik set up an outpost closer to them at Sherman Inlet to secure their business. It was run by Angulalik's adopted son, George Oakoak, from 1948 to 1955.
Angulalik's trading ventures were successful despite the fact that he was unable to speak or write English. He either got help from other people or copied the words from the boxes that he received. This, according to at least one source, led to him ordering such things as "5 cases of This Side Up".
A crisis event occurred in Angulalik's life New Year's Eve
1956, when he stabbed the man Otoetok, in self-defense. While Otoetok’s wounds were minor, leaving them untended resulted in his painful death on January 4, 1957, leading Angulalik to sell his Perry River trading operations to the HBC the same year. Judge John Sissons
presided over the murder trial in Cambridge Bay and Angulalik was acquitted. He returned to the Perry River post and worked with the new young manager, Red Pedersen
, who became a lifelong friend. Angulalik stayed there until post closure in 1967.
amongst the Ahiarmiut. By October 1937, Angulalik had two wives and the three of them were pictured in Life Magazine
. Angulalik's first wife was named Kuptana; she died in 1939. His second wife was Koloahok; she died in 1938. No longer a polygamist, Ahiarmiut was baptised "Stephen" in 1938, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Sergeant Henry Larsen. In 1941, Angulalik married Mabel Ekvana, about age 16, with whom he raised 11 children.
In 1967, Angulalik and Ekvana moved to Cambridge Bay, sent their children to the local school, and spent most of the year in a settled existence, but every summer, they returned to Perry River. Unlike other adults, Angulalik could neither read or write Inuktitut
. He enjoyed photography, however, owning cameras and photographic equipment. His photos are part of a collection at the heritage center in Yellowknife.
Ihalmiut
The Ihalmiut or Ahiarmiut are a group of inland Inuit who lived along the banks of the Kazan River, Ennadai Lake Little Dubawnt Lake , and north of Thlewiaza in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut...
Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
from northern Canada
Northern Canada
Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...
notable as a Kitikmeot
Kitikmeot
Kitikmeot can refer to:* Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, a region of Nunavut** Kitikmeot, Unorganized, a census subdivision, consisting of those parts of the Kitikmeot Region outside communities...
fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
r and trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
operator at Kuugjuaq (Perry River
Perry River
Perry River is a waterway in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It empties into Chester Bay on the southern Queen Maud Gulf.At one time, Stephen Angulalik, and later Red Pedersen, ran a Hudson's Bay Company outpost at Perry River....
), Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
. His stories and photos were carried by journals and periodicals worldwide.
Early life
Angulalik was born less than 30 miles (48.3 km) to the west in the vicinity of Ellice RiverEllice River
The Ellice River is a waterway in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. It rises close to the Back River between Beechey Lake and Pelly Lake, and flows northward into the Queen Maud Gulf. Its mouth opens between Campbell Bay and Gernon Bay. The land between the river and Sherman Inlet is...
on the Queen Maud Gulf
Queen Maud Gulf
Queen Maud Gulf lies between the northern coast of the mainland and the southeastern corner of Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. At its western end lies Cambridge Bay, leading to Dease Strait; to the east lies Simpson Strait; and to the north, Victoria Strait.It was named by the Norwegian...
. His parents, Oakoak (father) and Okalitaaknahik (mother), were Caribou Inuit
Caribou Inuit
Caribou Inuit, Barren-ground Caribou hunters, are bands of inland Inuit who lived west of Hudson Bay in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut between 61° and 65° N and 90° and 102° W...
.
In 1923, Angulalik lived on the Kent Peninsula
Kent Peninsula
The Kent Peninsula is a large peninsula, almost totally surrounded by water, in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic mainland. From a narrow isthmus, it extends westward into the Coronation Gulf. It is south of Dease Strait which separates the peninsula from Victoria Island and the Finlayson...
near a Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
(HBC) post. The post had opened three years earlier and was run by Hugh Clarke; it was the most remote HBC post of the Canadian Arctic. Angulalik learned the fur trading business from Clarke. In 1926, Clarke and George Porter opened a Canalaska trading post for owner Captain Christian Theodore Pedersen
Christian Theodore Pedersen
Christian Theodore Pedersen was a Norwegian-American seaman, whaling captain and fur trader active in Alaska, Canada, and the northern Pacific from the 1890s to the 1930s...
in Perry River, probably because of Ahiarmiut relocation to that area, the Kent Peninsula caribou becoming scarce. In addition to the trading post, Clarke built a home for Angulalik, ensuring Ahiarmiut loyalty to the Canalaska post, rather than an HBC post
a few miles away (run by Angus Gavin between April 1937-July 1941).
Career
In 1928, when new laws forced the closure of both posts, Angulalik continued as an independent trader, supplied by Canalaska. When Pedersen sold his company to the HBC, the sale included a provision for the HBC in Cambridge BayCambridge Bay, Nunavut
Cambridge Bay, named for Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, is a hamlet located in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada...
to continue supplying trade goods to Angulalik. In 1929, Angulalik sailed to Herschel Island
Herschel Island
Herschel Island is an island in the Beaufort Sea , which lies off the coast of the Yukon Territories in Canada, of which it is administratively a part...
and purchased a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
, the "Tudlik", from Canalaska, using the "Tudlik" during his career to transport goods from Cambridge Bay or Herschel Island to his trading post.
Angulalik's trade partners included distant Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region and the Northwest Territories's Inuvik Region. Most historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island.Their western boundary was Wise Point,...
bands such as the Hanningajurmiut of Garry Lake
Garry Lake
Garry Lake is a lake in sub-Arctic Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. As a portion of the Back River waterway, Garry Lake originates directly east of Lake Pelly and drains to the east by the Back River. A set of rapids separate Buliard Lake from Garry Lake...
(Hanningajuq, meaning "sideways" or "crooked"). The Hanningajurmiut were called the Ualininmiut ("people from area of which the sun follows east to west") by their Caribou Inuit neighbors of the north, the Utkusiksalinmiut. He also traded with the Illuilirmiut of Illuiliq from Adelaide Peninsula
Adelaide Peninsula
Adelaide Peninsula , ancestral home to the Illuilirmiut Inuit, is a large peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is located at south of King William Island....
. As these Inuit were located between Angulalik's Perry River post and the Gjoa Haven
Gjoa Haven, Nunavut
Gjoa Haven is a hamlet in Nunavut, above the Arctic Circle, located in the Kitikmeot Region, northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It is the only settlement on King William Island...
HBC post, Angulalik set up an outpost closer to them at Sherman Inlet to secure their business. It was run by Angulalik's adopted son, George Oakoak, from 1948 to 1955.
Angulalik's trading ventures were successful despite the fact that he was unable to speak or write English. He either got help from other people or copied the words from the boxes that he received. This, according to at least one source, led to him ordering such things as "5 cases of This Side Up".
A crisis event occurred in Angulalik's life New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
1956, when he stabbed the man Otoetok, in self-defense. While Otoetok’s wounds were minor, leaving them untended resulted in his painful death on January 4, 1957, leading Angulalik to sell his Perry River trading operations to the HBC the same year. Judge John Sissons
John Sissons
John Howard Sissons was a barrister, author, judge and a Canadian federal politician.-Early life:Sissons was born in Orillia, Ontario and, at the age of four, contracted polio, which injured his leg and he walked with a limp for the rest of his life...
presided over the murder trial in Cambridge Bay and Angulalik was acquitted. He returned to the Perry River post and worked with the new young manager, Red Pedersen
Red Pedersen
Asger Rye "Red" Pedersen, sometimes Asgar Rye Pederson, is a former territorial level politician. As a young man in 1953, he got a job in the Canadian Arctic with the Hudson's Bay Company at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut...
, who became a lifelong friend. Angulalik stayed there until post closure in 1967.
Personal life
There were no taboos against polygamyPolygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
amongst the Ahiarmiut. By October 1937, Angulalik had two wives and the three of them were pictured in Life Magazine
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
. Angulalik's first wife was named Kuptana; she died in 1939. His second wife was Koloahok; she died in 1938. No longer a polygamist, Ahiarmiut was baptised "Stephen" in 1938, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
Sergeant Henry Larsen. In 1941, Angulalik married Mabel Ekvana, about age 16, with whom he raised 11 children.
In 1967, Angulalik and Ekvana moved to Cambridge Bay, sent their children to the local school, and spent most of the year in a settled existence, but every summer, they returned to Perry River. Unlike other adults, Angulalik could neither read or write Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
. He enjoyed photography, however, owning cameras and photographic equipment. His photos are part of a collection at the heritage center in Yellowknife.
Awards
- 1935, King George V Silver Jubilee MedalKing George V Silver Jubilee MedalThe King George V Silver Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the coronation of King George V.-Issue:...
- 1953, Queen Elizabeth II Coronation MedalQueen Elizabeth II Coronation MedalThe Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal was a commemorative medal made to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.-Issue:For Coronation and Jubilee medals, the practice up until 1977 was that United Kingdom authorities decided on a total number to be produced, then allocated a proportion to...
Further reading
- McGrath, Robin. A Northern Biography, Stephen Angulalik, (1895-1980). S.l: s.n, 1981.
External links
- Maps
- Photo
- Stephen Angulalik, Kitikmeot Fur Trader in InuinnaqtunInuinnaqtunInuinnaqtun , is an indigenous Inuit language of Canada and a dialect of Inuvialuktun. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe that Inuinnaqtun is more appropriately classified as a dialect of Inuktitut...
, English and French - Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre - Images of Anagulalik and family
- Angulalik at Library and Archives CanadaLibrary and Archives CanadaLibrary and Archives Canada is a national memory institution dedicated to providing the best possible account of Canadian life through acquiring, preserving and making Canada's documentary heritage accessible for use in the 21st century and beyond...
- MSN Map