Breaking the Ice: An Arctic Odyssey

Monika Rohlmann is an environmental/social consultant in Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories.

Arnold Ruskell was 27 years old in 1946, when he moved from Ireland to
the Canadian Arctic. Stationed first in Kuukkuaq (in northern Quebec)
and later in Lake Harbour (on Baffin Island), Ruskell spent five years
working as a missionary for the Anglican Church. For the most part, the
Inuit had already been converted to Christianity, so Ruskell’s job had
more to do with sustaining their faith than with preaching conversion.
New to the Arctic experience, Ruskell was impressed with the land and
its peoples; now, 50 years later, those first impressions still make for
fresh and interesting reading.

Ruskell’s book is not about religion. Instead it follows Ruskell’s
travels, year after year, first to get from Ireland to the Arctic and
then via sledge from one distant settlement or camp to another. The
details are typical of Arctic travel: cold weather, frostbite, winter
blizzards, trouble with the dogs, sledges needing repair. Photographs
provide vivid detail of travel and camp life among the Inuit.

The trips Ruskell completes are driven more by his desire to see what
is beyond the immediate horizon than by a need to deliver sermons to a
scattered flock. He demanded to travel distances that few Inuit thought
practical or necessary. His stories provide anecdotal detail on camp and
travel routines, such as mudding a sledge and building an igloo.
Although his book has enough detail to satisfy a curious reader, it
lacks the full descriptions sought by knowledgeable northerners or
Arctic scholars.