Missing for a month, Igloolik elder found alive
Last Updated: Friday, June 29, 2007 | 3:21 PM CT
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Audio
- CBC's Patricia Bell speaks with Paul Quassa and Mathusalah Kunuk (Runs: 11:21)
- Play: Real Media »
An 81-year-old elder and hunter from Igloolik was found alive Thursday, after four weeks of air and ground searches.
Searchers aboard a Twin Otter airplane spotted Enoki Kunuk near a vast fjord Thursday night.
"We found his kamotiq and snowmobile first, and then we found him beside his tent," Kunuk's son, Mathusalah Kunuk, told CBC News late Thursday.
Kunuk said his father waved up at the plane, looking healthy. A helicopter with medical staff picked the elder up later that evening.
"Everybody was yelling inside the plane, crying, too," Mathusalah Kunuk said. "It was kind of emotional and at the same time, we were kind of laughing."
Enoki Kunuk left Igloolik on June 1 to embark on a caribou hunting trip about 100 kilometres north of the hamlet. When he hadn't returned home four or five days later as expected, family and friends began searching for him.
Two air searches failed to locate Kunuk, including an official search involving military aircraft that was called off last week.
But the community refused to give up, putting out a call for help from private airlines for aircraft. It was the Twin Otter plane, on loan from Air Inuit in Nunavik since Wednesday, that enabled searchers to find Kunuk.
Igloolik Mayor Paul Quassa said his community refused to give up on the search because they believed Kunuk was still alive.
"It's been a month, and for an elder to survive that long all alone, that [tells] us that's how Inuit survived without any assistance from [the] outside world," Quassa said.
Quassa said he believes Kunuk was stranded as the snow and ice melted during his trip and it was too far for him to walk home.
While he described Kunuk as an experienced hunter who always travelled with extra equipment, Quassa said the elder did not carry communications equipment.
Dreams of whereabouts
After weeks of searching, Quassa said people in the community began having dreams about the lost elder's whereabouts.
"One particular dream did tell us that he's in a valley, his snowmobile is there," he said.
"Nobody can see him, and we had flown over that area quite a few times. But this time around we went back to that same area, and sure enough, he's there."
Kunuk's family and community members were grateful for the support coming from across Nunavut and Nunavik, Quassa said.
The community will hold a celebration in the near future to mark Kunuk's safe return home.
Share Tools
Latest North News Headlines
- Sahtu board issues draft conditions for fracking project
- The Sahtu Land and Water Board has decided not to send a controversial drilling exploration project near Norman Wells, N.W.T., to an environmental assessment. more »
- Iqaluit man faces firearms charges
- David Kunuk, 41, has been charged with careless use of a firearm, improper use of a firearm and resisting arrest. more »
- High Arctic research station saved by new funding
- Canada's northernmost research lab won't have to shut down after all and will be able to resume year-round operations, with the help of a new grant from the federal government. more »
- 5 ways to camp to the max in N.W.T.'s parks
- The N.W.T.'s director for parks, Richard Zieba, has some advice for making the most of camping this summer. more »
Must Watch
Top News Headlines
- Senator Pamela Wallin leaves Conservative caucus
- Senator Pamela Wallin says she is recusing herself from the Conservative caucus while her travel expense claims are under scrutiny. Wallin's departure comes one day after Senator Mike Duffy left the Tory caucus amid controversy over his expense claims.
more »
- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denies crack cocaine allegations
- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says allegations he was caught on tape smoking crack are "ridiculous," following reports that someone had been trying to sell a purported recording of such an event to U.S. and Canadian media outlets. more »
- North Korea fires 3 short-range missiles, South Korea says
- A South Korea official says North Korea has launched three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters. more »
- 12 young leaders changing Canada in this week's Generation Why
- If the number of young entrepreneurs and innovators in Canada is any indication, the generation that came of age alongside the modern web is ready to rethink everything. Meet 12 young people our readers nominated as the most dedicated, impressive, creative and intelligent Canadians under the age of 30 they know. more »
- Should genetic testing for cancer be available to all Canadians?
- The revelation that Hollywood celebrity Angelina Jolie had a double mastectomy as a preventative measure against cancer stoked heated discussion this past week, but one prominent cancer researcher says it demonstrates the need to make genetic testing available to all Canadians. more »
- Agnico-Eagle worker found alive after blizzard
- Eaglet hatches on Whitehorse nest cam
- Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, digs out from record snowfall
- High Arctic research station saved by new funding
- 5 ways to camp to the max in N.W.T.'s parks
- Sahtu board issues draft conditions for fracking project
- Yukon Electrical launches eagle cam in Whitehorse
- Caribou numbers plummet on Baffin Island: survey
- 2 injured in helicopter crash on Baffin Island

