♪ Piano and jaw harp ♪
♪ Piano, jaw harp and drum ♪
- I would describe the Iqaluit Francophones as...
a motley, spirited, creative, self-willed and proud group.
♪ Piano, drum and jaw harp ♪
- Iqaluit is really a place that is surprising because of its diversity.
When we arrive here, we don't necessarily expect to find
a Francophone community, but I got dragged into it
like... right when I got off the plane,
I was already invited to my first northern corn roast.
So, that's a side of the Francophone community
that is very welcoming.
Of course, the majority of the population are Inuit people.
It's a really rich culture, really interesting,
really different from what we know.
But, beyond that, people from all over the planet come here.
It's really a place that is quite cosmopolitan,
but to return to a really small, isolated place,
we are about 7,000 inhabitants.
It is very focused on the outdoors and culture, but in a way
that is a little more, I don't know, northern style.
It's really a very unique place in Canada,
and I am very, very lucky to live here.
♪ Acoustic guitar ♪
- We have a good quality of life.
Many things we don't have, but many things we do have,
such as quality of family life.
What are you doing there?
For my children who were born here,
all this is normal.
My children grew up with the idea that all children in the world
had a team of sled dogs
and that all Canadian fathers had a skidoo.
Lights that change colour on street corners in the South,
they find it odd since they don't exist in Iqaluit.
♪ Piano ♪
- For people who have never been here,
I would say that Iqaluit is probably very disorienting.
Here, you're really in the North
where the climate is the tundra, it's the Arctic.
We have no trees; it is often the first thing
that people notice, the fact that we have no trees.
All the villages are isolated,
as there is no road between Nunavut communities,
but it's really very beautiful here for someone who knows
how to appreciate the beauty of the place.
I also like the lifestyle here.
It's quiet, the air is clean,
and I like the community aspect here:
everywhere you go, you know people,
you stop to talk, and I find that it's a dynamic city.
There are a lot of things to do if you feel like getting involved.
I find that it's here that I can contribute to my community,
it's here that I can really feel that what I do is valuable.
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♪ Applauses ♪
- It's by living the culture, by creating it,
by practicing it, that this famous culture comes to life.
I was once asked if the Franco-Nunavut culture exists.
Yes! It does!
It's a Francophone culture
that we share in a northern reality.
All those things that are also related to Inuit culture,
or related to habits, well these are their habits as well,
and it's not something foreign.
♪ Piano ♪
- If we want to have someone experience life in Iqaluit,
he/she must become a volunteer.
Because that is really essentially
how we become Iqalummiuq, I believe.
It's by living as a volunteer and being involved in the community.
If I take myself as an example, I do radio work;
anything we do here has a significant
and major impact everywhere.
Each individual who contributes something,
contributes something amazing.
- The Francophone community in Nunavut is different
from the rest of Canada because of the influence of the Inuit people;
so, even if we don't necessarily have an Inuit identity,
well we Francophones will be very interested
in dogsledding and knowing more about Inuit culture.
So, it's a bit of that type of culture
that has developed over time, where we are Francophones
who watch Canadian hockey games,
but at the same time,
we are open, very open, to an Indigenous culture.
♪ Piano ♪