The Caribou Hut

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Caribou Hut" (The Story of a Newfoundland Hostel) by Margaret Duley. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

"A continued collection of 4 historical fiction short stories written in the Inupiat Eskimo style of our grandfathers. The story “Potlatch” tells of the birth of Three Legged Lemming. She first appears as a grandmother in Arctic Memories and to be released next year the book Three Legged Lemming tells of her travels around the northwest of Alaska."--

In January 1941, the hulking twenty-one thousand ton troopship Edmund B. Alexander docked in St John's harbor, carrying a thousand American soldiers sent to join the thousands of Canadian troops protecting Newfoundland against attack by Germany. France had fallen, Great Britain was fighting for its survival, and Newfoundland - then a dominion of Britain - was North America's first line of defence. Although the German invasion never came, St John's found itself occupied by both Allied Canadian and American forces.

Inuit hunting traditions are rich in perceptions, practices and stories relating to animals and human beings. The authors examine key figures such as the raven, an animal that has a central place in Inuit culture as a creator and a trickster, and qupirruit, a category consisting of insects and other small life forms. After these non-social and inedible animals, they discuss the dog, the companion of the hunter, and the fellow hunter, the bear, considered to resemble a human being. A discussion of the renewal of whale hunting accompanies the chapters about animals considered ‘prey par excellence’: the caribou, the seals and the whale, symbol of the whole. By giving precedence to Inuit categories such as ‘inua’ (owner) and ‘tarniq’ (shade) over European concepts such as ‘spirit ‘and ‘soul’, the book compares and contrasts human beings and animals to provide a better understanding of human-animal relationships in a hunting society.

A sweet and simple introduction to Inuit hunting practices and the proper treatment of game. Nutaraq and Simonie are eager to go on their first hunting trip with their father. As they load up their snow machine and sled for the trip, Nutaraq hopes that she will be able to catch her first caribou that weekend, with some help from her dad. But when the trip nears its end and Nutaraq still hasn't caught her first caribou, she tries her very hardest to follow all of her father's advice about how Inuit traditionally hunted on the land. This book focuses not only on basic, practical hunting techniques, but also on traditional values around the treatment of animals and the sharing of food.

After the recent death of her grandfather, protagonist Shelley McGraw leaves Toronto for a remote cabin in Northern Ontario, to grieve and plan for her future. Having just finished her B.Sc. in microbiology, the young woman has no money, no remaining family and no home. She is looking forward to the challenge of living in the wilderness, and hoping that this drastic change will bring peace and order to her life. Unfortunately, she arrives at the cabin one day in June, only to discover that it is already occupied by strangers; two fugitives beating her new neighbor, Michael Daillant, almost to death. Shelley is quickly discovered by these two men and is subsequently brutally beaten and raped. After their horrible, violent ordeal, Michael and Shelley explore the bond forged between them and get to know each other better during their two weeks in the hospital. When they are discharged, Shelley agrees, despite her misgivings, to stay together at Michael's cabin for the summer, to offer each other support and friendship as they heal both physically and emotionally. The next few weeks show Shelley a side of life she has never known; companionship, contentment and laughter. When Michael feels the need to return to his work as a wildlife photographer, he happily involves her; they go camping and hiking in search of pictures and she gets a chance to see much of the local wildlife. They spend the remainder of the summer holiday trying to put their violent encounter behind them, playing and experiencing the many wonders and activities of the north. She is enchanted by the atmosphere; the caribou, loons, fireflies and northern lights. However, their idyllic life begins to unravel as fall approaches. Their lives are irrevocably altered when Shelley discovers that she is pregnant with her rapist's child and though they try to work together, wading through information about abortion and adoption, the agonizing decisions don't come easy. Depression, suppressed rage and secrets kept too long soon cause their relationship to spiral out of control and it is only with the help of Michael's family, friends and one more surprising ally that things can be made right again.

Vice Admiral Sir Humphrey Thomas Walwyn (1879–1957) was the British-appointed governor of Newfoundland from 1936 to 1946 – a period of remarkable change that would culminate in Newfoundland’s union with Canada in 1949. Assembling records from the British national archives and the provincial archives in Newfoundland and Labrador, Out Here presents readers with Walwyn’s quarterly reports to the secretary of state for dominion affairs in London throughout his tenure as governor. Walwyn’s position offered him a unique vantage point on the political and economic situation in Newfoundland throughout this tumultuous period. His reports bear witness to profound change, chronicling the economic downturn experienced in the final years of the Great Depression, followed by the unprecedented prosperity sparked by the Second World War that set the stage for debates over governance and for significant constitutional advance. The detailed accounts of Walwyn’s daily life in Newfoundland feature rich descriptions of capital city, company town, and outport mores; they paint a picture of coastal life in the mid-twentieth century and introduce the wide array of characters the governor encountered. Throughout, the candid insider accounts of Governor Walwyn are augmented by expert historical context and illustrated with a generous selection of contemporary photographs. As a whole, Out Here stands as an invaluable primary-source record and an important trove of information on wartime experiences in Atlantic Canada.

Several contributors deal with the quality of Canadian citizenship and the principle of distributive justice applied to all citizens. Others offer a "lament" for the Canadian nation, analysing and explaining why the vision of Canadian citizenship as an allegiance to the federation did not succeed in overcoming the varied loyalties pulling Canadians in different directions. Some authors celebrate this failure, arguing that maintaining dual alliance to the nation and province is more important. The essays reflect a consensus that Canada and Canadians have failed to give their citizenship meaning. One explanation for this, offered by the editor William Kaplan, is that Canadians are private about their patriotism, even if it is deeply felt. If Canadian citizenship is to endure, that patriotism will have to be more strongly and publicly expressed. Contributors to this volume are Daryl Bean, Neil Bissoondath, Robert Bothwell, Alan Cairns, Marc Cousineau, Robert Fulford, J.L. Granatstein, Darlene Johnston, William Kaplan, the late Paul Martin Sr, Rosella Melanson, Desmond Morton, Peter Neary, Maureen O'Neil, Robert J. Sharpe, Monique Simard, Glenda Simms, Daniel Turp, and Michael Walker. The essays by Simard and Turp are in French.