Cheryl's Travels: Life aboard the Northern Ranger

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of my time in Labrador was the five days I spent aboard the MV Northern Ranger, travelling up the north coast of Labrador. The MV Northern Ranger is a working ferry/freighter that runs from Happy Valley-Goose Bay and up the north coast of Labrador, servicing the five Inuit communities of Nunatsiavut as well as the Innu community of Natuashish.

The MV Northern Ranger is run by the Nunatsiavut Government and links the small, remote communities of Nunatsiavut during the summer months. It is a popular transportation option for local residents of Nunatsiavut - whether it be returning home from school, taking a trip to Happy Valley-Goose Bay or another community to visit friends, or to ship cargo back home to stock up for the coming winter, everyone uses the Northern Ranger.

For my blog posts I'm going to do this post about Nunatsiavut and give you some information about its history, culture and people. The photos I'll include here will be ones I took while I was on the freighter, at any point during the voyage. I'll do separate blog posts for each of the 5 communities in Nunatsiavut as well as include a little bit of information about Natuashish.

Here was my first look at what was going to be my home for the next 5 days:

Nunatsiavut - 'Our Beautiful Land', is a rich and bountiful region, full of history and stories. The lands, sky and waters of Nunatsiavut have sustained the Inuit of Labrador since pre-historic times.

The Inuit have occupied the circumpolar regions of the world for centuries - from Alaska and across Canada's North to the coast of Greenland. They are descendants of the prehistoric Thule, hunters who were drawn to Labrador because of its abundance of whales and other wildlife. The earliest Inuit ancestors who lived on the north coast of Labrador travelled widely to harvest the resources of land and sea. In the 16th century they first encountered Basque whalers and later, a growing settler population. Little was known about the Labrador Inuit way of life in the 1760s when Moravian missionaries became the first Europeans to establish a presence north of Hamilton Inlet. During this time the Inuit life became more sedentary and more connected to the merging trade economy of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the 1970s a new era dawned for Labrador Inuit. The Labrador Inuit Association (LIA) was formed and they filed a land claim with the Government of Canada. For the next several years the people worked hard to promote their culture, health, well-being and their Constitutional, democratic and human rights. They began the long road to establishing self-government.
A transitional government came into effect in December 2005 and the first elected Nunatsiavut Assembly was sworn in on October 17, 2006. December 1, 2015 marked the 10th anniversary of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement and the establishment of the Nunatsiavut Government.

Nunatsiavut is home to a very unique Inuit culture where tradition and modernity co-exist. Traditional clothing can be seen in each of the communities, so people wearing amauti can be seen next to the latest trend in down-filled jackets.
Community gatherings are an opportunity for people to come together and participate in traditional Inuit games. The games require little to no equipment and athletes rely on their strength and endurance. Elders and youth compete in the same categories.
Drum dancing is another popular cultural demonstration in these communities and each drum group is unique with performances varying by group.
Throat singing is also a common practice by Inuit women. This is a friendly competition where the leader begins with a sound that the follower repeats. The sounds that they make are noises that Inuit hear everyday. The throat singing continues back and forth until someone laughs.

The Moravian missionaries brought brass instruments with them when they came to Labrador in the 18th century. Interest in brass bands spread quickly with Nunatsiavut and performances were often held during special events such as Easter and Christmas services, weddings, anniversaries, and birthday celebrations. The practice began to fade over time but has been revived within the last few years and today you can connect with the Nain Brass Band / Nainip Tittulautingit on Facebook.

Inuit life is also still very much rooted in harvesting food from the land. Hunting, fishing and gathering are still very important elements in the day-to-day lives of these communities. From an early age the children are taught how to hunt ptarmigan and grouse, arctic hare, moose, ducks, geese, and how to fish for salmon, Arctic char, trout, smelt and cod, as well as when to gather berries such as bakeapples, blueberries and partridgeberries. Gull and duck eggs also contribute immensely to the diet. Nowadays each community also has a grocery store.

Inuktitut is the language of Labrador Inuit. The number of fluent speakers in Inuktitut has been declining over the past few decades but attempts are being made by the Nunatsiavut Government to revitalize the language.

So here are a few (probably too many) photos of when I was travelling on the MV Northern Ranger throughout Nunatsiavut. My trip started in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and from there I travelled across Lake Melville out to the Atlantic Ocean and then north.

At the port near Happy Valley-Goose Bay

One of the things that I loved, and you'll see in many photos, was the sky. There is typically a fair bit of rain at this time of year in Northern Labrador so I expected that, but it was incredible to see some of the storm skies and see the storms in the distance

Loading our cargo before we left:

Once loaded we were off. Lake Melville is a saltwater tidal extension of Hamilton Inlet. Comprising 3069 square kilometres and stretching 140 kilometres, it forms part of the largest estuary in the province. The Churchill River flows into the southwest point of Lake Melville and the Mealy Mountains comprise the landscape on the south. The area around Lake Melville has historically been inhabited by the Inuit and Innu.

'Cabins' dot the shoreline of Lake Melville in a few locations - getaway places to escape the 'big-city life'. They are all accessible only by boat or snowmobile and have no electricity or running water.

Shortly on in the voyage I was outside on one of the decks enjoying the scenery and I was invited up to the bridge. Boy, what a spectacular view from there:

You can see the Mealy Mountains in the background all along the coast

Most of the first day was spent getting across Lake Melville, and then it was out on the ocean. Here is just a sampling of what I saw over the course of the five days: