Rankin Inlet Walking Tour

The walking tour can start many places but I’d thought we’d start from the Health Centre..the reason

Looking out over the Bay

being it’s of central focus to many of our residents. Going north along the main road through the centre of the hamlet you pass the bay on your left…in the near distance you can see some hills and such and apparently there are islands, just across. Of course, this time of year, it can look pretty barren but wintry beautiful especially on sunrise.

Further up the road and over a block or two past the generating plant are some remnants of the Shaft Head of the original Rankin Mine. Only a few parts remain…some concrete framing and some of the gears and such. Up the hill and over to the left of

town there’s a light that sits atop the hill. This light needs more research before I can bring its story to ‘light’.

The original Rankin Mine left overs

Back in Rankin Inlet town centre, there are new street lights, traffic signs, and street signs. I’ve noticed new electric poles, much taller and stronger than the previous ones. There’s a snow covered stack of them over by the old mine head, so you know that more will be replaced over the next few months/years as the infrastructure continues to be tweaked. The street signs last time were almost non-existant, this time they flourish and a few speed limit signs have been added as
well.

Once past the Northern and towards the firehall on the right you can see our famous 15 foot Inukshuk, through gale and calm, a pillar to the community. Apparently, in early summer, the hill it stands on is exquisitely covered in a blaze of small purple flowers. Just up the hill past my old ‘homestead’ sits the C-Co-op building complete with CIBC bank branch, co-op store and Inns north restaurant and hotel. It’s quite sad to see my place all boarded up and just awaiting the wrecking ball. There’s frost in the windows…where the sun used to stream in.

Across Williamson Lake we trek, past a multitude of houses. Some old “matchbox” style and some, more modern ones, having replaced the others as time moves forward. There are two story and singles, many with quads, snow machine or machines, and / or trucks or SUVs. The mix of colours,

The snow "block" wall wind protector

in the bright sunshine, are quite a contrast to the snow and ice. In front of one house the closest thing to an Igloo was a wall created to prevent snow from blowing up the front porch. It's the closest thing seen to date of an igloo style dwelling.

The housing here are mostly single family style stand alones, but multiple families live inside many. Housing and homelessness are two of the more pressing issues here in Nunavut just like the southern regions. I find it amazing that at these temperatures the word 'homeless' can be used. I know there are community freezers organized that local populations contribute to just like community kitchens in the south. The reality is proper nutrition and diet are a concern like everywhere.

New front windows kept out the cold winds

So by now we've passed the CBC building on the north side of town and stop in at the “matchbox gallery” for a lesson in the artistic history of Rankin and a comparison of the artwork of the other regions of Nunavut and our communities of Kivillaq. After a time to rest and warm, my journey continues to the target of today's tour. The most talked about house in town for the past two weeks.

You see, two weeks ago, there was talked of broken pipes and water damage and blockages. Then the weekend blizzard happened so I couldn't get out to see the attraction then either. At -40 temperatures it was not going away soon. In this part of the country and at this time of the year, frozen water is always an issue. The topic of conversation was the house. The house with the icy windows. The house with the ice spewing out the windows AND the level of frozen water ON THE INSIDE.

The story goes that the owner passed a year or more and family took over and rented it out for a while to the drivers working for the taxi company. From here it gets cloudy but with no one living in it and no one shutting off the water or watching the heat...you guessed it....mother nature took over.

Ice House attraction

The main attraction, this month, on the Rankin Walking Tour has been this house. To my knowledge it hasn't been named and you won't find it anywhere else. In fact, the creative talents at Pixar and Disney, I don't think could have dreamed up this version of “FROZEN”.