Under Polaris: An Arctic Quest

Kerry Abel is a professor of history at Carleton University. She is the author of Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History, co-editor of Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects, and co-editor of Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

Armchair adventurers have long enjoyed tales of Arctic expeditions, and
this book contributes a rare perspective by a woman. The author
accompanied her geologist-husband to the coasts of Victoria and King
William islands between 1938 and 1941, traveling by plane, boat, and
dogsled and learning a variety of survival skills from generous Inuit
companions. Under Polaris is based on journals that she kept at the time
and is liberally illustrated with photographs taken by the couple.

The story is not intended as an anthropological or scientific
contribution, but as a memoir. It contains glimpses of daily life at
Hudson’s Bay Company posts and Inuit camps, recollections of
well-known Northerners like E.J. (“Scotty”) Gall and Patsy
Klengenburg, and enthusiastic descriptions of flora, fauna, and
atmospheric phenomena. The author admires the unflagging cheerfulness
and ingenuity of the Inuit, recalling the era not only as one of hard
and dangerous work but also of human warmth and happiness.

Those familiar with the history of the region as portrayed elsewhere
(such as in the National Film Board’s production, Coppermine) will
recognize many of the names but certainly not the atmosphere. There is
nothing here of the disruption to Inuit life caused by the arrival of
outsiders (missionaries, police, and scientists), nor of a devastating
tuberculosis epidemic. Rather, Arctic life is remembered as a grand
adventure for Inuit and newcomer alike in a world unspoiled by
pollution, television, all-terrain vehicles, and human tragedy.