Freeman Mini Aodla - Life among the Qallunaat

FIRST VOICES, FIRST TEXTS

SERIES EDITOR: WARREN CARIOU

First Voices, First Texts aims to reconnect contemporary readers with some of the most important Aboriginal literature of the past, much of which has been unavailable for decades. This series reveals the richness of these works by providing newly re-edited texts that are presented with particular sensitivity toward Indigenous ethics, traditions, and contemporary realities. The editors strive to indigenize the editing process by involving communities, by respecting traditional protocols, and by providing critical introductions that give readers new insights into the cultural contexts of these unjustly neglected classics.

1. Devil in Deerskins: My Life with Grey Owl by Anahareo

2. Indians Don't Cry /Gaawiin Mawisiiwag Anishinaabeg by George Kenny

3. Life Among the Qallunaat by Mini Aodla Freeman

LIFE AMONG THE
QALLUNAAT

MINI AODLA FREEMAN

Edited and with an afterword by Keavy Martin and Julie Rak, with Norma Dunning

University of Manitoba Press

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Canada R3T 2M5

uofmpress.ca

Mini Aodla Freeman 2015

Afterword Keavy Martin, Julie Rak, and Norma Dunning 2015

Interview Mini Aodla Freeman, Keavy Martin, and Norma Dunning 2015

Printed in Canada

Text printed on chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper

19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database and retrieval system in Canada, without the prior written permission of the University of Manitoba Press, or, in the case of photocopying or any other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca, or call 1-800-893-5777.

Cover image: Elisapee Ishulutaq, Downtown Vancouver, stencil, 66 cm x 51 cm

Cover design: Mike Carroll

Interior design: Jess Koroscil

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Freeman, Mini Aodla, author

Life among the Qallunaat / Mini Aodla Freeman ; edited and with

an afterword by Keavy Martin and Julie Rak, with Norma Dunning.

(First voices, first texts ; 3)

This reissue includes revisions based on the original typescript, and an interview with the author. Includes bibliographical references.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-88755-775-0 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-88755-492-6 (PDF e-book)

ISBN 978-0-88755-490-2 (epub)

1. Freeman, Mini Aodla. 2. InuitCanadaBiography. I. Martin, Keavy, editor II. Rak, Julie, 1966, editor III. Dunning, Norma, editor IV. Title. V. Series: First voices, first texts ; 3

E99.E7F64 2015 971.004971 C2014-907495-6

C2014-907496-4

The University of Manitoba Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publication program provided by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage, Tourism, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Manitoba Book Publishing Tax Credit.

To

Milton, Graham, Elaine and Malcolm and for Caroline, Jennifer, Jasmine, Grant, Emily, Evan, Megan, and Alexandra

Teach, learn, care and love while you can for nothing ever stays the same.

Love, Moms

LIFE AMONG THE QALLUNAAT

ONE DAY, SOMEBODY IS GOING TO FORGET

A CONVERSATION WITH MINI AODLA FREEMAN

The original publication of Life Among the Qallunaat began with a foreword by Alex Stevenson, the Administrator of the Arctic who had worked at the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources during the time when Mini Aodla Freeman was employed there as a translator (19571960). To provide context for this new edition, Aodla Freeman detailed her experiences of writing and publishing the original text in an interview with Keavy Martin and Norma Dunning. This excerpt is taken from a longer discussion recorded on March 20, 2014, at Aodla Freemans home in Edmonton.

KEAVY MARTIN: Can you tell us how you came to write Life Among the Qallunaat?

MINI AODLA FREEMAN: We were living in Burlington, Ontario, while my husband was teaching at the university in Hamilton [McMaster University]. My last baby had gonestarted going to schooland I had nothing to do, it seems. And I had wanted to...I didnt want to, but I said to Milton, Maybe I should write a book. And he said, You know, you have a lot of experience in James Bay that youve told me over and over about. So thats when I decided to write a book about James Bay and the people there. And it didnt take me long; I think I wrote that big book for six or eight months. And I didnt know my family for six to eight months [laughing]. They were so glad when I finished that!

I phoned Mr. Hurtig, who lived here in Edmonton, and he never hesitated: he just said, Send it! So I sent it, and before you knew, he was publishing it. I belonged to the Hamilton Writers Guild at that time because I was interested in writing, and they asked me if Id done anything with my book. And I said, Its going to be published.

Oh my God! Ive had a book I keep sending to ten, twelve publishers!

So, Mr Hurtig, when he saw it, he said hes going to have to get it edited a lotcut a lotbecause its too long. So thats what they did.

And then while I was writing it, I discovered that I really like writing. You know, I really enjoy writing. Its not because I wanted to force myself; I couldnt force myself. I just really enjoyed it. Im book crazy, you know: I belong to the library across the street and I go there every month, I think [laughing]. Yes, and its something that I have questioned myself over and over, because in my culture, we are not writing people; we memorize everything: everything what people say, everything of where we went, everything what we plan to do. You know, it was all done by memory. And all our culture, our rules, our laws, our games are all from memory, passed on from one generation to another. And I said to myself, One day, somebody is going to forget. So thats when I decided to write the book.

KM: And who came up with the title? Was that your idea?

MAF: I had a different title, and Mr. Hurtig phoned me and he said, Were going to change your title to Life Among the Qallunaat in order to.... How he did it put it? Something about fighting back [against the book] Life Among the Eskimos. I said, Go ahead. You know that book, Life Among the Eskimos? Written by... whats his name? He was a scientist from Germany [Bernhard Adolph Hantzsch]. And thats how I ended up with that title, Life Among the Qallunaat.

KM: So what did you want to call it?

MAF: Something about James Bay Inuit.