As in other countries with democratic election processes, the Americans go to the polls in their millions to cast their vote to choose who will represent them. While the fundamental idea remains the same, each country has different methods and exists in a different context. As such, the electoral process differs from country to country.   The election process in the United States is a complex affair. So how often does it happen?   Term Length A presidential election campaign. Source: needpix.com   The presidential term has different lengths in different countries. Around the world, the presidential term usually ranges from four to seven years with many different laws on how many terms a single person can serve.    In India, the term is five years, but the number of terms is unlimited. In France, the president used to serve a seven-year term, but is now limited to two consecutive five-year terms. In Ireland, the president can serve two seven-year terms, and in Russia, the president is limited to two six-year terms.   In the United States, the term length is four years, and the president is limited to two terms. If a person becomes president as a result of succession (i.e. the death or resignation of a president), and that person ends up serving more than two years as president, they can only be elected for one more term.   The Elections The White House. Source: Wikimedia Commons   As the presidential term length is four years, it naturally follows that the presidential elections happen every four years! This is indeed the case, and voting takes place on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November in an election year.    Before this happens, however, many things have to take place. More than a year before the elections take place, the candidates have to register with the Federal Election Commission, and then announce their intention to run. Primary and caucus debates then take place, after which the primaries are held to determine which candidate will run for each party.    After the candidates are selected, they then take part in presidential debates. Voting commences in early November, and millions of Americans take to the polls to make their mark on history.    The voting process determines how the electors in each state are required to vote in selecting the new president. This vote happens in December, and in January, Congress counts the Electoral College votes and officially finalizes the choice for president.    On January 20, the new president is inaugurated.   Conclusion Vote! Source: Pexels / Mikhail Nilov   Voting in the United States is part of a democratic process that has deep roots in tradition. For many people, the United States represents the home of modern democracy, despite the criticisms the process draws, as well as the actions of the actual politicians who are subject to extreme scrutiny from the public and the media.    Whatever the case may be, elections in the United States are seen as an almost sacred event, and the future of this tradition seems as sturdy as the foundations upon which it was built.

  Hermits and ascetics were a familiar part of life in the Middle Ages. They were generally individuals who sought out seclusion from the world to become closer to God. However, there was a group of female religious hermits in the 12th and 13th centuries who were truly the pop stars or influencers of their day: The Beguines.   Europe in the High Middle Ages A map of the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th century including the Low Countries that straddle the border between France and Germany, from Allgemeiner Historischer Handatlas, by R. Andrée, 1886. Source: mapsontheweb.com   The High Middle Ages generally spans the time between the 11th to the end of the 13th centuries. This was a time when a lot of things commonly associated with the medieval era took place. Europe was generally governed by a feudal system, the Black Death was a recurring issue, and crusades and jihads were a common occurrence as the forces of Christianity and Islam battled over the Middle East. These conflicts spawned a new kind of pious expression of religion: the religious military order. The most famous among these were the Knights Templar—protectors of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land—and the Knights Hospitaller, an organization founded to care for the injured, sickly, and poor visitors to Jerusalem.   This was a period of religious creativity, with newly evolving ways to express religious devotion and new ways of living a devout life. While the Crusades had opened a military route of devotion, they also helped to bring new emphasis on the importance of care and service to the less fortunate in society. In the increasingly urbanizing towns and cities of Western Europe, individuals lived extraordinary lives through care and self-sacrifice outside of the rigid institution of the monastery.   One example of this trend are the Beguines in the Low Countries: women who sought out a more pious life through a desire to get closer to God. They did this completely independently of the traditional route of the nunnery, and though not formally part of any organization, they formed networks with one another. This remarkable phenomenon caught the attention of those around them and they attracted disciples, mentors and students from far afield: both men and women, laity and clergy, and rich and poor. Here are some of their stories.   1. Marie D’Oignies An engraving of Marie d’Oignies from Namurcensi Belgii Dioecesi, 17th century. Source: The Treasure of Oignies   Marie was born in Nivelles (modern-day Belgium), in the Holy Roman Empire, in 1177 and died in 1213. She grew up in wealth and was betrothed at 14 to a man of equal status named Jean. Marie felt a strong urge to live a religious life and successfully convinced her husband to join her. But there was something about Marie which was different to other nuns and ascetics. Monks and nuns living in monasteries had to follow a “rule”; Marie preferred not to be tied by irrevocable vows or obey only her local superior.   Together with Jean, Marie spent over twelve years working to care for the lepers in Willambroux. It was during this time that Marie gained a following. She became almost a “living saint,” and people traveled far to meet with her. Her prayers were seen as valuable as she was a reputable judge of people’s sin. Men and women alike trusted her wisdom and guidance.   In 1208, Jacques de Vitry—a canon from Paris—visited Marie and became her disciple. In a world where social and religious life was dominated by men, Marie was able to preach to and command respect from her political superiors.   Later, Marie received several heavenly visions, declaring she could recognize the difference between consecrated and unconsecrated bread, stating that the unconsecrated bread made her ill. She died at the age of 35, supposedly of emaciation.   2. Yvette de Huy A manuscript depiction of two women washing the sores of a leper, from The Picture Book of Madame Marie, c.1285. Source: Feminae   Yvette was born in 1158 into a wealthy family in Huy, modern-day Belgium. She was forced into an arranged marriage at thirteen but her husband died when she was just 18. In this time, she gave birth to three children, but one died young. Once widowed, Yvette wanted to live a religious life and rejected her possessions, giving them to the poor. This angered her parents who, fearing their financial stability, seized her remaining children.   Throughout her life, Yvette’s father attempted to get her to remarry and tried to get the Bishop of Liège to help him. However, the bishop was impressed by Yvette’s devotion and gave her formal permission to remain widowed. Like Marie d’Oignies, Yvette then worked caring for lepers at the hospital in Huy and had a following of companions who admired her and followed her lifestyle. She devoted herself to caring for the sick, the poor, and other social exiles at great risk to her own health.   In 1190, she took this religious lifestyle one step further and chose to be confined by the Abbot of Orval in a cell near the leper hospital to live as a hermit. In this way, she chose to become an anchorite, exiled from wider society to allow her to get closer to God.   Yvette was considered to be a prophetess by local pilgrims who sought her out for advice and wisdom. She even demanded the local priests and dean visit her, confronting them about their poor religious behavior.   3. Christina Mirabilis An engraving of Christina the Astonishing experiencing her vision of purgatory. Source: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.   Christina Mirabilis, also known as Christina the Astonishing in her biographies, was born in 1150 in Brustem, also in modern-day Belgium. Christina did not have an easy start in life and was orphaned at just 15. When she was in her twenties, she suffered a crippling seizure while working in the fields. Bystanders believed her to be dead and her funeral was planned.   This is where her extraordinary life began. According to legend she began levitating and exclaimed that she could not bear to smell the sinful people around her! Christina said she had been to hell, purgatory, and heaven, and had been sent back to Earth to pray for the souls of the dead. From that point onward, she slept on rocks, begged, and ate whatever she could get. She stood in freezing water for hours, rolled in fire without harm, and was even dragged under the water wheel of a mill. All the time she remained uninjured.   Throughout her life, she avoided people where she could, climbing up trees or atop church spires, and lived her whole life in poverty. Those around her were unsure what to think of this. Was she a holy woman of God, blessed with knowledge of the experiences of tortured souls in purgatory? Or was she suffering from demons or insanity? She was jailed twice in her life under suspicion of demonic possession and mellowed her lifestyle a little in response.   She saw out her last few years in St. Catherine’s convent, Saint-Trond, and died of natural causes at 74. Additionally, showing the sisterhood present among these Belgian women, Marie d’Oignies supported Christina and her work, despite never forming an official order together.   The Response of the Church  Portrait of Innocent III relief, by Joseph Kiselewski, 1950. Source: Architect of the Capitol, Washington D.C.   The curious actions of these women, along with many others in the Low Countries at this time, did not go unnoticed by the wider authorities of the Catholic Church. These women often had followers among the clergy, and they had supporters across the Christian world. However, the refusal of these Beguines to conform to the institutions of the monastery and the hierarchies of the Church meant that they generated suspicion.   At the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, Pope Innocent III decreed that no new religious orders should be founded and instead those wishing to live a holy life should do so by following the rule of an existing and approved monastic rule. This effectively brought an end to the level of freedom offered by the Beguines’ communities. It also helped to rein in a short period of female religious agency.   The Council of Vienne in 1311 finally spelled the end for Beguines. This council is best known for dissolving the Knights Templar, declaring them heretics and seizing their land. In the Holy Roman Empire, Beguines were also accused of heresy and the Papacy sought to gain formal control over the most influential order at the time, the Franciscans. This marked over one hundred years of disagreement and contention between the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church and the desire of the laity to express their piety outside of the cloister.   Their Legacy Bronze medal depicting Jacques de Vitry, made in 1518. Source: National Gallery of Art.   Several of the Beguines attracted the attention of significant members of the Catholic Church. Jacques de Vitry knew Marie d’Oignies personally and was so entranced by her spirituality that he wrote a biography of her life. Contrary to a lot of his peers, Jacques believed in the legitimacy of this new form of female spirituality, was fascinated with their power and perceived equality with priests and members of the clergy by their communities. He appealed to Pope Honorius III to recognize the Beguine movement as a legitimate order. The new pope—in contrast to his predecessor Innocent III—allowed pious women to live together in sororities for the benefit of their community. However, he stopped short of recognizing them formally as an order.   Portrait of a Beguine woman, from a manuscript on Saint Aubertus, 1840. Source: University of Ghent   Thomas of Cantimpré was a member of the Dominican religious order and was a prolific commentator on the Beguine movement. His first work was a supplement to Jacques’ existing biography of Marie, but he was so impressed with the woman and her life that he expanded on the original text with more details of her life and spirituality. He worked to convert Marie’s personal way of life into a spiritual guide and a model way of living for others to emulate.   Thomas also wrote saints’ lives (vitae) of other Beguines that fascinated him, including Christina Mirabilis. Though the historical value of these vitae as accurate texts is limited, they are immensely valuable in understanding the reputation that these women were garnering.   Though ultimately the Beguine movement was betrayed by a Church set on preserving the strength of its hierarchies and institutions, the work of Jacques and Thomas, among others, helped to cement their legacy as independent women pursuing their lives on their terms. They were able to resist the patriarchal pressures of marriage and childcare and devote themselves to the spiritual care of themselves and their communities.

  The Viking Age has grown increasingly popular and has had a huge impact on modern movie, television, and video game adaptations. However, when we strip away the makeup and the props, what did a Viking actually look at? What—if anything—does Hollywood get right?   Who Were the Vikings? A manuscript depiction of Danes landing from ships, from MS M.736 fol. 9v, 12th century. Source: The Morgan Library, New York.   Generally, the Viking Age is understood to have lasted between the 8th and the 11th centuries. “Viking” was the name given to the raiders from Scandinavia who plagued the nations around the North Sea and beyond. Technically, the term “Viking” refers to an occupation, rather than a culture: those going “Viking” were simply going raiding. However, the term has expanded to encapsulate not just the cultures around Scandinavia but also their colonies and raiding grounds in Britain, Ireland, the North Sea, and continental Europe.   The most notable raid on English soil was in 793 CE when a warband assaulted the monastery on Lindisfarne (“Holy Island”). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports the atrocities they committed as they stole the valuables from the church complex and took the monks as slaves. This proved to be a recurring theme: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recounts numerous raids on the English coast, culminating in the full-scale invasion of the Great Heathen Army in 865.   The Vikings also conquered land in Normandy, Ireland, and Scotland, and they traded and raided into Russia, the Byzantine Empire, and further into Asia. The central pillar of the Vikings’ success was their longboats. These clever crafts featured a sharp bow, with a wide, shallow midsection, allowing the sailors to traverse rivers and the bitter storms of the North Sea alike.   What we think of as the “Vikings” incorporated a diverse group of peasant farmers, fishermen, traders, warriors, and kings — much the same as other cultures in the Early Medieval Period. Thankfully, we have moved beyond the Victorian notion of barbaric, horn-wearing berserkers, but there was still much more to Viking life beyond the swashbuckling warriors of popular culture.   Viking Clothing An example of clothing worn by Viking men and women. Source: Norse-mythology.org   Cloth was expensive and time-intensive to produce in the Early Middle Ages, and, as such, most people would not have more than one or two sets of clothes. The choice of material of most individuals in Scandinavia and across Europe was wool and linen; generally, linen would be worn as an undergarment and wool on top for added warmth.   Archaeology and depictions from this period show that all classes of people loved to wear brightly colored clothing adorned with embroidered patterns and braids — bright blues, shades of green and yellow, and deep reds were all achievable with natural dyes like woad, nettle, and madder.   A Viking attire exhibit, displayed in the National Museum of Denmark. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The staple of Viking male clothing was the tunic. This was a loose-fitting garment that reached down to the knees and was secured at the waist with a belt and at the neck with a brooch. Artwork seems to show all classes and roles in society tended to wear this basic garment and wool was the perfect fabric of choice for the chilly, North Sea climate.   It seems likely that there was very little variation in this style across Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages — it may have been difficult to spot a Viking by his tunic alone! One of the few examples we have of a male Viking tunic is the shirt from Viborg, dated to the 11th century.   In contrast, Viking women’s costumes seem to have been more distinctive. In contrast to the ankle-length tunics of Anglo-Saxon women, Scandinavian women tended to wear “apron dresses.” These consisted of fabric wrapped around the torso with shoulder straps, secured with two brooches on the chest.   The Oseberg ship burial is one of the finest Viking burials ever found and was for a high-ranking woman — probably a queen or a priestess. Despite many grave goods being looted in antiquity, the body of the woman was wrapped in a fine red wool dress, adorned with silk decorative strips.   Viking Jewelry The Galloway Hoard, one of the finest assemblies of Viking jewelry. Source: National Museums Scotland.   One thing Hollywood gets right about the Vikings is their love of jewelry! In this period, jewelry served multiple purposes, illustrating status, religion, and wealth. Viking burials from Scandinavia and England have been found containing elaborate jewelry, which survives far more often than delicate leather and fabrics. Jewelry choices for men and women were different, but both sexes appeared to enjoy adorning their clothing and costumes with precious metals.   The infamous Thor’s hammer (Mjolnir) pendant appears across the Viking world and would have fulfilled a similar purpose as the Christian crucifix: for divine protection and cultural affiliation. These were spread across the Viking world and some were very impressive indeed, such as a notable silver and gold inlaid find from Norfolk.   For men, jewelry could also be a method of portable wealth. As they raided across different kingdoms with different coinage systems and monetary standards, it was often far more practical to melt down silver and gold goods into ingots. These could be smithed into finger or arm rings for convenience, offering easy payment when needed. We have finds of jewelry cut in half or hacked apart — probably a result of some price haggling at the market!   Viking Box Brooch, 700-900 CE. Source: The MET, New York   Jewelry was also a big part of women’s daily costume. Brooches were used to fasten the female apron dress, and many brooches have been found with suspension loops to hang things between them. This could take the form of beads or pendants but it was also practical; archaeology suggests this was also the place to hang keys and personal hygiene items like tweezers and ear spoons.   One example of a “set” of Viking female jewelry is a find from Frafjord, southwest Norway. This example includes oval, or tortoise, silver-plated brooches, two bracelets of bronze, an “equal-armed” brooch used to fasten the tunic, and a large, beaded necklace. This was clearly a rich burial, but the basic assemblage seems to be common across different social statuses.   Viking Hair and Makeup Viking comb, tweezers and earpick, showing the importance of personal hygiene to Vikings. Source: National Museum of Denmark.   The Vikings cared a lot about their hair. Combs are regularly found across Viking settlements, and they are often finely made of bone and antler and feature ornate decoration. In this way, grooming may have fulfilled a ritualistic purpose in Viking culture, rather than being just for hygiene. This occurs in some cultures to this day, with Sikhs maintaining long, uncut hair and beards (kesh), and carrying a kangha (comb) as part of the religious equipment as commanded by Guru Gobind Singh.   Stone carvings and metalwork offer rare glimpses into Viking hairstyles beyond grooming equipment. For women, this often involves braided hair or tied up into a bun, however, it is incredibly hard to discern with any real detail the hairstyles of men beyond short-to-mid-length hair and the existence of mustaches and goatees.   Christian sources generally portray long hair as a “pagan” characteristic; Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon monk, chastised King Æthelred of Northumbria for wearing his hair and beard in a way that “resembled the pagans.” The association was probably less religion-based and more to do with the growing popularity of Viking fashion in England.   Interestingly, various hair-coverings of fine materials like silk have been found in Viking settlements including York, Lincoln, and Dublin. This may suggest Viking women covered their hair, though this may also be a sign of their adoption of Christianity once they began living among the Christian Irish and Anglo-Saxons.   Figure of Viking women, with hair tied at the neck. Source: National Museum of Denmark   Popular media loves to depict Vikings as eyeshadow-wearing goths covered in tattoos, but how true is this? Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, a Jewish traveler to Hedeby (modern-day northern Germany and southern Denmark) from Islamic Spain notes how both men and women wore kohl—a cosmetic made of ground stibnite—to color their eyes.   This cosmetic was widely worn in the Islamic world by men and women, and it may well have been traded in Scandinavia. Unfortunately, the original source is lost, and only later copies remain, so we cannot say for sure how reliable this comment is. Similarly, we have no sources at all for either warpaint or tattoos; the technology was there but it is probably safer to say it was an individualistic fashion choice rather than a cultural norm.   Viking Weapons and Armor  Sword, axe head, arrows, lances, fighting knife, and shield bosses from chamber grave Bj.581: Birka, Sweden. Interestingly, these items accompanied a female skeleton, possibly a warrior. Source: Researchgate   Today, the Vikings are notorious for their raiding and warring. In turn, the long-shafted broad axe has become associated with their weapon of choice. Though finds from across the Viking world have shown they made use of and valued these intimidating weapons, there were far more options in their arsenal.   The first Viking raiders were opportunists, everyday people, who turned to theft and looting — possibly due to climate change in Scandinavia making farming less effective. These individuals would have used wood axes, knives, and hunting spears: anything they may have to hand. When attacking unarmed monks, simple tools were enough!   However, in the years that followed when the warbands began to form larger armies in an attempt to conquer lands, they began to use more professional equipment. For the rich Viking warrior, the sword would have been the preferred weapon, and there are some remarkable finds from across Britain and Scandinavia of beautifully crafted blades with inlaid gold and silver. These were weapons of the elite, and only accessible to the richest of Viking warriors.   The heavily armored, professional Viking soldier would likely have worn a chainmail coat and a nasal helm. This was the de facto military uniform of most soldiers in Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages, and we see a similar outfit still in use by the Normans and Anglo-Saxons in the Bayeux Tapestry, created at the end of the Viking Age.   To onlookers, both opposing armies would have been dressed and equipped very similarly, and it was only their opposing formations and the raising of banners that allowed soldiers to tell friend from foe. Rather than imagining “Viking” weapons and armor, it is better to consider the general equipment of the period.   Could You Spot a Viking? Illustration of a typical early medieval warrior, by Gerry Embleton, this basic set of equipment was popular across Western and Northern Europe and not limited to Vikings. Source: Osprey Publishing.   Whilst Hollywood has largely moved beyond portraying the Vikings as horned-helmeted barbarians, the popular concept of fur and leather-wearing, angry men in eyeshadow remains to this day. Instead, the costume of Scandinavian Vikings should be considered in the wider context of European fashion.   This is not to say Vikings were not identifiable. Their hairstyles and jewelry and some items of clothing, like the apron dresses, did set them apart from the surrounding Franks and Anglo-Saxons. Interestingly, it may have been far easier to identify a Scandinavian woman than a man, which may hint at women’s roles as carriers of cultural identity and heritage rather than men — quite a way away from the masculine and patriarchal imaginings of Vikings in pop culture!   The early Middle Ages were not a time of muddy, dirty peasants dressed in raggedy clothes, instead clothes were colorful and decorated, with individuals going great lengths to express themselves. In this sense, Vikings and the people of Scandinavia were like anyone in medieval Europe: they wore practical clothing, enjoyed jewelry and colorful clothes, but as with all cultural groups, had distinctive styles and cultural costume.   There was as much difference between a Dane and a Swede as there was between a Scandinavian and an Anglo-Saxon — perhaps it is time to move away from tropes about what a Viking looked like, and remember fashion was just as applicable then as it is now.

  In the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, the Canadian government manipulated several Inuit families from northern Quebec (now Nunavik) with lies and false promises into moving to Ellesmere Island, a remote island in the North. The goal was to populate the Arctic and claim sovereignty over these austere lands against the interests of the Soviet Union. Decades after the end of the colonial expansion in North America, Indigenous families were once again being displaced, relocated, and outright lied to by their government. Today they are known as the High Arctic exiles. In 2010, the Canadian government issued an official apology to the families involved in the Inuit High Arctic Relocations, finally acknowledging one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s colonial history.   Canada During the Cold War Map of the Arctic. Source: The Arctic Institute   To understand the High Arctic Relocations, we need to understand the period in which they occurred. During the Cold War, Canada was a strategic ally of the United States against the Soviet-dominated Communist Eastern bloc. The country became a founding member and proud supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Furthermore, the so-called Gouzenko Affair of 1946, which many historians consider the official beginning of the Cold War era, took place in Ottawa, on Canadian soil. As international relations between the two blocks soured and negotiations between East and West broke down, the United States and Canada turned their attention to the Arctic.   The history of Canadian Arctic Sovereignty dates to the 17th century, to the era of explorations and the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1880, Canada obtained ownership over this vastly inhospitable territory.   During the Cold War both blocks began building military bases in their own territories and those of their allies. Source: Reuters   Three decades later, in 1913 the Canadian government sponsored the Canadian Arctic Expedition, which departed from Victoria, British Columbia, bound for Alaska. Led by Canadian-born Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who supervised the Northern Party, and by R M. Anderson, head of the Southern Party, it was the most expensive expedition sponsored by Ottawa up to that time. It was also a way to assert sovereignty over the Arctic.   Dozens of Western Arctic (Inuvialuit), Alaskan (Iñupiat), and Copper Inuit (Inuinnait) joined the expedition as hunters, seamstresses, and guides. Over the next decade, between 1922 and 1927, several Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) outposts were established across what is now Nunavut. Once again, many constables, unfamiliar with this rugged territory, relied heavily on the Inuit for guidance.   Members of the Dominion Government Expedition raised the flag on Ellesmere Island in the Arctic, which was now claimed as part of the Dominion of Canada, August 11, 1904. Source: Science   It was in the years from 1947 to 1953, which historians call the Cold War’s “deep freeze,” that sovereignty claims became truly paramount. The threat of a potential Soviet attack over the Ocean turned the Arctic into the distant, icy front line of Cold War rivalries.   While the United States was busy building several military bases, including the Thule Air Base in northwestern Greenland in 1951, the Canadian government implemented the Canadian Rangers. The organization had been created during the Second World War following the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 to protect British Columbia and the North against the threat of Japanese attacks. Initially known as the “Pacific Coast Militia Rangers,” it was made up of local volunteers, fishermen, and trappers.   The Thule Air Base was established in 1951 on Inuit lands, photo by Jack Stephens. Source: Hakai Magazine   In 1947, in the aftermath of World War II, the Canadian Rangers evolved into the organization that still exists today, composed of Indigenous peoples from many First Nations, from Inuit to Métis, from Anishinaabeg to Cree and Dene. The Canadian Rangers were the first colonial organization to consistently employ Indigenous skills and knowledge to protect colonial Canada from Cold War threats.   The Inuit families involved in the High Arctic Relocations were drawn by the colonial government of Canada into a game larger than themselves, an international game that involved nations from around the world and pitted them against each other in an intricate web of strategic economic interests.   The Facts… Ellesmere Island. Source: NASA Visible Earth   Pawns. Human flagpoles. These are some of the terms used to describe the many Inuit families the Canadian government persuaded to relocate from their villages in northern Quebec (now Nunavik) to Ellesmere Island. Some families came from Inukjuak (also known as Port Harrison), a village on Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, others from Uugaqsiuvik, west of Inukjuak. Starting in July 1953, four of them were relocated to Resolute Bay and seven to Grise Fiord. Two years later, six more families moved to Resolute Bay and one to Grise Fiord. They were promised an abundance of game and fish, in what was advertised as a return to the traditional lifestyle of their ancestors. They were assured that they did not need to bring anything but food with them for a few days, because they would be provided with everything they needed.   Map of Ellesmere Island. Source: Nature   They were also guaranteed that the relocation would be temporary, and that, after an initial period of two years, they could return to northern Quebec if they so wished. What they weren’t told was that the families would be immediately separated into three groups and relocated to different settlements, Grise Fiord (known as Aujuittuq in Inuktitut) on Ellesmere Island and Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island.   Much like the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913, the Inuit relocations represented a way for Canada to assert and solidify its presence in the North against any potential attacks by the Soviet Union as well as U.S. encroachment in the area. Although allies, tensions between Canada and its southern neighbour were high, with Ottawa repeatedly accusing Washington of making important decisions without first consulting the Canadian government.   …and the Consequences  Grise Fiord. Source: Morton’s Musings   Relocations took place throughout the 1950s, in 1953, 1955, and 1957. Larry Audlaluk (1953) told his story of being a High Arctic exile in Grise Fiord in his book What I Remember, What I Know: The Life of a High Arctic Exile (2020). His experience, though unique and deeply personal, gives us insight into the conditions the Inuit families in Ellesmere Island were forced to live in.   The relocation upended their lives. They endured extreme cold and the famous long Polar night, which most of them experienced for the first time in their lives. At Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, summer lasts six weeks at most: from October to February there is virtually no daylight. Inuit exiles were forced to adjust to a completely different diet, learning to live with the threat of winter starvation.   Inuit community at Resolute Bay, photograph by Gar Lunney, 1956. Source: Inuit Art Quarterly   The clams, berries, eggs, and Canada geese they were accustomed to were non-existent in the Arctic. Their previously balanced diet was replaced by one based almost exclusively on sea mammals, such as walrus, seals, and whales. In Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, ice formations typically last throughout the warmer months. Therefore, fishing is much harder than in northern Quebec.   Instead of making Inuit families more self-reliant, the harshness of Ellesmere Island made them increasingly dependent on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment. It has also been reported that many Inuit huts had no heat and that the first substantial governmental services and schools were not established at Resolute and Grise Fiord until 1962. The only permanent medical facility was a R.C.A.F. nurse stationed at Resolute Bay.   Writer Larry Audlaluk with his mother Mary and father Isakallak in their tent on Lindstrom Peninsula in the winter of 1953-55. Source: Broadview Magazine   Community life was virtually non-existent. The sudden and abrupt change triggered by the move had a major impact on the physical and mental well-being of many Inuit families. Far from any major center and cut off from the world they had always known, away from friends and families, many suffered from depression and anxiety. Larry Audlaluk describes how, after the relocation, his father Isakallak Aqiatushuk had become “unusually quiet, as if he were deep in thought, almost deadly silent.”   Another important account of life in Resolute Bay comes from Inuit carver Simeonie Amagoalik, (1933-2011), who was born in an outpost camp near Inujjuaq but moved to Resolute when he was twenty in 1953. Decades later, the Canadian government commissioned him, along with Looty Pijamini, to create a monument to remember the High Arctic exiles.   Inuit Carver Simeonie Amagoalik with his son Paul, here pictured outside their summer tents in Resolute Bay, c. 1958. Source: Inuit Art Quarterly   His son Paul was born on the C.D. Howe, the ship that took his father to the High Arctic in 1953 and the same ship on which Larry Audlaluk traveled with his father. In 2012 he recalled what his parents told him about their lives before the relocation, that “they lived in a different world, that they lived in a sustainable world, that they could live on a happy life, but when they were asked to move up here, they were told they were going to be here for only two years with an option to stay if they want, but after two years they wanted to come back down to Inukjuak but they were downrightly refused to go back.” Instead, they were if they “could convince their other relatives to come instead which happened in 1955.”  From Nunavik to Ellesmere Island Map of the Nunangat, the Inuit homelands. Source: University of Waterloo   The snow-covered expanses, frozen waters and ice of the Canadian Arctic region are known to Inuit as Nunangat, which translates as “homeland” in Inuktitut. Nunangat comprises four Inuit land claim regions. One is Nunavut, which includes most of the Arctic Archipelago as well as all the islands in the Hudson, Ungava, and James bays. Nunatsiavut, in eastern Canada, stretches along the northern coast of Labrador, while the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) occupies part of the Northwest Territories in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Finally, Nunavik (“great land” in the local dialect of Inuktitut) encompasses the northern third of the province of present-day Quebec, north of the 55th latitude, along Hudson Bay and the Ungava Peninsula. All the families involved in the High Arctic Relocations came from Nunavik, from the village of Inukjuak, known in the early 20th century as Port Harrison.   Grise Fiord (Aujuittuq in Inuktitut) is the northernmost community in Nunavut, photo by Scott Forsyth. Source: Hakai Magazine   Overall, the Nunangat encompasses nearly 35 percent of the Canadian mainland, as well as several major islands. Ellesmere Island, in Nunavut, is one of them. The contrasting living conditions between Inukjuak and the settlements on Ellesmere Island had a huge impact on the lives and mental health of High Arctic exiles. Inukjuak was a stronghold of Inuit culture and traditions and a crucial community site. Over the decades, it’s been home to many Inuit stone carvers and sculptors, such as Leah Nuvalinga Qumaluk (1934-2010), Charlie Inukpuk, and Isa Smiler (1921-1986), to name just a few.   Ellesmere Island today. Source: Norse Projects   Unlike Inukjuak, Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay were a colonial product. Resolute Bay, for example, had been established in 1947, less than a decade before the relocation, as a meteorological station. Today, the sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters of the first High Arctic exiles still live on Ellesmere Island. For some of them, it is home. For others, it’s a bittersweet home, the most vivid symbol of lies and broken promises from a government that was supposed to represent them. Today the Inuit still living there call Resolute Bay Qausuittuq, which translates as “the place with no dawn,” while Grise Fiord is known as Ausuittuq, “the place that never thaws.”    Ottawa Finally Apologizes Inukjuak, where John Duncan, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development under the Harper government, delivered the Apology for the Inuit High Arctic relocation in 2010. Source: Hypotheses   In the late 1970s, two families decided to leave Ellesmere Island and return to Inukjuak. They did so at their own expense. It was around this time that Inuit relocatees began to tell their stories of “human flagpoles,” stories that clashed deeply with the Government’s account of the relocations.   In 2008, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) chose Simeonie Amagoalik, a carver and community leader involved in the negotiations for the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, to build a statue to commemorate the relocations. Today, his parka-clad figure stands there, on the shores where Amagoalik first landed in 1953, looking south toward the Arctic Ocean, toward northern Quebec and Inukjuak. The statue’s companion at Grise Fiord was sculpted by Looty Pijamini and represents a mother and child embracing as they look south with an Inuit sled dog at their feet.   As Amy Prouty writes for Inuit Art Quarterly, the identical inscription on the plaques affixed to both statues “explicitly ties Arctic sovereignty to the actions of Inuit and their sacrifices, taking control of a historical narrative that has long been denied them.”   There is regret and resilience in these majestic and stoic figures that, along with the testimony of many relocatees and their descendants, have played an important role in the reconciliation process. Indeed, these statues are part of a long-standing work of speaking out and processing generational trauma. This process ultimately led to the establishment of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) in 1991, following the 1990 Kanesatake Resistance (Oka Crisis), and finally to the 2010 Apology for the Inuit High Arctic relocation. On August 18, less than two weeks after being appointed Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development under the Harper government, John Duncan traveled to Inukjuak.   The monument to the High Arctic Exiles in Resolute Bay. Source: APTN News   Here, he delivered an official apology on behalf of the Canadian government to the relocatees and their families. One month later he traveled to Ellesmere Island to attend the unveiling ceremony of Amagoalik’s and Pijamini’s statues at Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord and offered these two communities two framed copies of the Apology. “The Government of Canada,” John Duncan said in his speech, “deeply regrets the mistakes and broken promises of this dark chapter of our history and apologizes for the High Arctic relocation having taken place. We would like to pay tribute to the relocatees for their perseverance and courage. Despite the suffering and hardship, the relocatees and their descendants were successful in building vibrant communities in Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay.”

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