Welcome to the Arctic
During the 1950s, the United States and Canada built a system of radar stations in the Arctic. The stations were to provide a “Distant Early Warning” of Soviet bombers flying over the North Pole. The system was called the DEW Line.
For most Canadians, the DEW Line was indeed “distant.” But for Inuit, this southern initiative would change their entire world.
Arctic Arrival: FOX-MAIN
The FOX-MAIN station served as an entry point, surveillance hub, and distribution point. Main stations along the DEW Line connected people across the Arctic — and to southern Canada.
For many non-Inuit workers, their first taste of the Arctic was FOX-MAIN. For Inuit workers and their families, stations like FOX-MAIN were part of a profound change to traditional life.
As the DEW Line was constructed, ships and planes brought in materials and workers. Local Inuit also worked in DEW Line construction and operations. Increasingly, at the government’s insistence, Inuit were discouraged from following their traditional ways. Settlements grew near DEW Line stations.
Hall Beach was the settlement closest to FOX-MAIN. It is now called Sanirajak.
Taissumani Nunamiutautilluta
“When we lived on the land”
Inuit have lived on and with the land and seas for millennia. Traditional life was based on a profound knowledge of the environment. For Inuit, their traditional lands, ice, and waters were and are full of variety and life.
I will rise from sleep with the swiftness of the raven’s wingbeat.
Wa-wa.
I will rise to meet the day.
My face turns from the darkness, my eyes turn to meet the dawn, whitening the sky.
Orpingalik
Kitikmeot, Nunavut
Transcribed by Knud Rasmussen, Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition, 1931
