Steve Illasiak

I’m a bear monitor at the park and just help out when where I can. Actually—it’s not really in my job description but you know I’m an Elder, so I contribute to being a Cultural Host too.

I have never been part of the park and I haven’t seen it or paid much mind to it in the beginning. I’ve always wanted to, and this is my first trip here, it’s a real eye-opener.

Tuktut Nogait is so special man—it’s hard to put into words. It’s such a beautiful place to come and everybody just is totally on ease up here. Transportation is real killer to get people up here, but things like the Culture Camp, are great to get the youth involved.

Te cultural aspect of it is great. To read about it is something, but actually seeing it there and with your own eyes—it’s a connection. For example, that other night I made a connection, looking at two uluit, I had thought of my mom and grandmother.

To get into a new area which I haven’t been in many, many years—that brings you back. Sometimes your sense of direction, everything is of, so you gotta relearn things. For me, the park brings back a lot of good memories of my mom and dad. It sort of opens you up and ties you closer to the land, I’d say. It brings back my childhood actually. It just felt like I was a little kid all over again, especially walking. I haven’t been walking at all for the last 15-20 years and I did a lot of walking. It just you know, opens you up.

Te coolest thing I seen in the park was probably the bald eagle, which is quite uncommon around here and It was a treat to see, hey? I’ve seen one bald eagle and one golden eagle. I haven’t seen any of the smaller raptor birds, which I was looking forward to here.

My favourite memory is all the old sites that we’re seeing—like the cache sites and the tent rings. You notice things and you start to see the big picture. Te tent rings show me that for centuries people have been watching from each high point and giving some sort of signal. In my mind it’s playing out that way, that these rings we’re seeing here are single rings, right? Tey’re all situated in high outlook places, and when you look at it, you can see, “Oh that tent ring is over there from that vantage point, you can see that tent ring, where that’s situated.” Tat to me paints a picture of how they did it.

Te Park protects the young caribou—not only the young but also the second-year caribou. I’ve been noticing a lot of second-year caribou like the young ones; it gives them a place where they can not be harassed because I’m sure they’re going through a lot of stress. Hopefully, the park gives them a place to be stress-free from man. I’m seeing a lot of young second-year caribou and I’m seeing them a lot on their own, alone. Imagine the stress that they’re going through, and then even more stress when man comes into play, right? I think it’s good that they have a place to protect them.

I think the 25th anniversary of Tuktut Nogait is really great! Our Elders and negotiators have come a long way from day 1. Someone mentioned the other day we can get portraits or pictures of Elders put in our building here, so you know everybody can see who the negotiators were. To hear about it is something else, but to actually see it there—it’ll make more of an impression on you.

Paulatuuq has grown through learning new ideas and getting new things like the park situated. Paulatuuq has come a long way. In the beginning, we were just listeners and learners, right? And now we got the park, we can make decisions on our own and administer policies. We have more say today than we had in the beginning. Te Management Board holds a lot of power and that I think it is great for Inuvialuit to hold power over their own land. I’ve been seeing a lot of that; for me, it’s great that our input means something today, hey? In the future, I’d like to see more community involvement—forming little outlets where Inuvialuit can run sight-seeing and interpretation tours. Local people working with the park, within the park, interpreting and doing their own programs. Tere’s so many beautiful places here so you can have hiking trails, too. I’d like to see locals team up with the park to form little outlets where we can operate local tours in the park.

Advice For The Next Generation

I think collaboration is the big thing for Nelson and me, I’ll speak for Nelson on this one too. If we’re gonna do something, I suggest we all get together at the beginning and just show where we’re all coming from. A lot of collaboration, especially if it’s gonna be diferent groups. We will need more group sessions where we can hammer things out rather than let things fester; more group sessions where we can bring everything out and discuss. Everybody’s opinions need to be heard for decision making so next time it'll be better.

Somewhere down the line, I’d like to have a biologist here, maybe a botanist. Eventually what I’d like to see is our own people taking every position that’s available in the park. Also, what we need is someone local to become archaeologists and lawyers so we can go to these sites professionally, document them, set up a local museum, and display local artefacts. And that’s what I’d like to see eventually.