C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

260 Notes to Pages 53-58(Herschel Is.), Kupugmiut (northern end of the Delta),Kigirktarugmiut (west side of the Delta, including Aklavik),Kittegaryumiut (southeast side of the Delta), Nuvorugmiut(northeast side of the Delta, extending up the Tuktoyaktukpeninsula), and Avvagmiut (Anderson River area) (Driscoll172).the EsbIno schooners ... had been brought in froIn theArctic Ocean to be outfItted for the whaling seasonKnud Rasmussen's observation of the schooners at HerschelIsland in 1924 suggests that their use for whaling was strictlylimited in the mid-1920s, by which time the Inuvialuiteconomy had switched principally to trapping:it was not surprising that these fur trappers addressed oneanother as "Captain"; in fact, they actually are the ownersof schooners-flat-bottomed vessels which are sailed inabout the great river deltas; they were obtainable for about3,000 dollars, but were employed mainly on visiting tripsin the summer season, whereas the business of trapping iscarried on with the aid of the much more practical women'sboats ["umiak" in Rasmussen, Across 294] or whaling sloops.Naturally there were motors in nearly all theseschooners; in fact, machinery had been taken into usewherever possible. Whereas the [Fifth Thule] expedition upto this stage of its journey had had constant opportunitiesfor admiring the great skill of the women at sewing skins, itwas found here that the sewing machine was in use almostuniversally; many of the men had typewriters, though theircorrespondence of course was very small. Machine hairclippersand safety razors too were looked upon asnecessities, and people going about armed with cameraswere quite common. The houses were illuminated withgasoline or, at a pinch, petroleum lamps, the ancientblubber lamps being regarded as antiquities and sold assuch to tourists for up to 30 dollars each. (Ostermann 53)the convent of the Grey NunsAt the request of Gabriel Breynat, Roman Catholic bishop ofthe vicariat apostolique du Mackenzie, and Rev Pere AlphonseDuport omi, director of the Oblates' mission at Aklavik, theGrey Nuns agreed to prOvide a hospital/mission/school at thesettlement and arranged for its construction and completionin 1925. It was consecrated Mission de I'ImmaculeeConception inJuly of that year and operated until 1961, whenit was replaced by the government-owned Grollier Hall in thenewly created settlement ofInuvik. When Donien Smith wastaken in by the nuns for the duration of her convalescence,sisters Ste Adelard, Obeline Pothier Firmin, Clara Gilbert,and Marie-Rose Poulin ran the hospital under the direction ofthe Rev Soeur locale Elizabeth McQuillan.Lazarus Sittichinli ... a Loucheux IndianVyvyan's misspellings-"Loochoo" and "Sittichili"-have beencorrected. The letter n in Lazarus' surname always escaped her.According to her letter to R. Hinks, the secretary of the RGS,II January 1929, she knew that "Loochoo" was a misspelling ofthe name of the northernmost Dene in Canada and requestedthat it be replaced by the correct spelling, but no correctionwas made before publication of her article later that year ("RatRiver" 447) or, more than three decades later, before thepublication of her book.we were forJllally introduced to the JIlurdererUnder this date, Dorrien Smith exclaimed that "one of themurderers came aboard ... and the judge introduced him tome and Clara. We shook hands!"the judge, the prosecutor, the defenceJudge Lucien Dubuc, Crown Prosecutor Irving B. Howatt,Defence Attorney C. Gerald 0' Connor, and Clerk R. F.Harris had travelled from Edmonton with Vyvyan and DorrienSmith. (O'Connor is the man mistaken in Chpt 5 [23] for agold prospector, full of exaggerated tales oflnuit.) Also,according to the Edmonton Bulletin, RCMP with the partyincluded Sgt E.G. Baker and Const G.M. Wall. C.E. Wood,L.F. Fielder, A.J. Chartrand, C.E. Pounder, W.C. Tyack, A.J.Rayment, and H.W. Brinkworth ("Court"). Vyvyan's accountof the murder trial at Aklavik is the most complete available, asno surviving records of the RCMP and the Department ofJustice appear to make mention of this event. Edmonton newspapersoffered limited coverage. The Edmonton Bulletin attributedthe murder to "a shortage of wives" ("Arctic Killer" I).a policeJllan would act as interpreterIt is clear from the subsequent description that an Inuk whowas not a member of the RCMP served as interpreter.