Our Stories
Celebrating National Indigenous History Month
June 21, 2023
Pictured above: John Kaiyogana, pictured far left, with other members of the B2Gold Nunavut team
June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada — a month when Indigenous groups and communities celebrate their culture and heritage. It provides an opportunity to learn more about the richness and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Metis cultural expressions and stories.
We recently welcomed John Kaiyogana as a new employee to B2Gold, following the acquisition of Sabina Gold & Silver. We sat down with John, who is Community Liaison Officer for B2Gold’s Back River Gold District, located in Nunavut, Canada, to learn more about Inuit identity, culture and community.
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Hi John, thank you so much for speaking to us today about National Indigenous History Month in Canada and Inuit culture and identity. Before we get started, perhaps you can tell us how long you’ve been in your role and give a little bit of background?
John Kaiyogana: Thanks for having me! I’m John Kaiyogana based out of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. I’ve been with Sabina, and B2Gold now, for 12 years in July.
Perfect. John, could you talk a little bit about where you live?
JK: I live in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. It’s on Victoria Island, up in Nunavut. Mileage-wise, it’s about 1,500 miles from Edmonton, and the only means of transportation is air. We have no roads to the south, so we depend on the air carriers, or air carrier now, since we only have one carrier that’s serving our community. And all our goods are flown in during the wintertime, and then in summertime we have ships that come from Montreal or Hay River with goods that we need for our community.
For those of us who haven’t had the pleasure of coming to visit yet, perhaps you could describe what life is like in your hometown and maybe some things that you and your family and friends and neighbours like to do in your free time?
JK: Yes, one big thing is we’re always welcoming people and we love to integrate and show off our talent, especially our traditional way of life. We’re like any other community in Canada and or other communities. We still like to live our traditional lifestyle and we still like to live off the land and harvest our country food, and then we depend on our seasonal hunts and follow the season. We love to go out and enjoy the beauty of our land and go hunting and fishing. We export a lot of Arctic Char all over the world. Cambridge Bay’s known for that. So we love fishing and hunting – we have abundance of that here in Cambridge Bay.
Can you speak a little bit about what living your traditional lifestyle looks like to you? What are some examples?
JK: Yes, we learned our lifestyle and how to live off the land in different seasons and that was taught by our ancestors, parents, grandparents – and how to harvest our food and respect the land and the animals. That means we live off the land, and well, you have to survive.
And have you lived in Cambridge Bay your whole life?
JK: No. I met my wife in high school, so we met halfway in Yellowknife. I’m originally born and raised in, I guess it’s Kugluktuk now in the western Kitikmeot, about 250km west of the mainland on the west side of Nunavut territory. So, I learned to live in Cambridge Bay and be part of the family and the community and I’ve really enjoyed it.
Since you’ve been living there, have you noticed lots of changes to the community over the years? Have you seen any effects that mining and other industries have had on the community?
JK: Yes, I can see that our mine and the population here is growing, like any other community or city in Canada. Mining has been a big factor, you know, good for us, good for the families, for their jobs, and has changed our lifestyle really. We are now depending on any mining company or companies that want to do some work up here. And one big thing is the income is nice to have for the families that we didn’t have one time. So yeah, Cambridge Bay, is really a place that’s the biggest in the Kitikmeot region, so the main offices are here.
Basically I should say the government office for Nunavut Government has been based here in Cambridge and we service Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak, and Kugaaruk So yeah, we have seen a lot of changes, especially the people now depending on mining to come and get more jobs for the family.
It sounds like the new industries and mining specifically is starting to play a large role in your life, but it also sounds like community plays an equally large role in your life. Perhaps you could speak a little bit about the role that community plays in your own personal life?
JK: Being part of the mining company B2Gold and based here in Cambridge as a community liaison, I communicate with the other communities, so I speak and write our native tongue, and that really helps me communicate with the other people here in the Kitikmeot region. And especially nowadays the younger people are finding jobs and some of them are the first time away from home, so they sure need help, you know, with their employment and how to survive being away from home, especially the younger ones. You know, being away from their family three weeks at a time, it’s good in one case, they’re getting money, but some days it’s hard for a single parent mother that has two kids and trying to live off the income, but it’s a good income, but it takes away the family for three weeks. It’s hard on some, but they’ve got to get used to that.
For those of us who haven’t been to Nunavut and to the Kitikmeot region, could you describe it? What’s special about the territory and are there any places of significance and why they’re important to you and the community?
JK: One big one is the big game hunts that we advertise for animals from the region. Big game hunters come from all over the world, so that’s good. It’s another income that we love to see, especially for the ones that live off the land and know where to hunt and harvest goods. But another big one is in the summertime, where we are now starting to get cruise ships coming up from all over the world, so we see a lot of a lot of people coming to see our region and interact with the people here. That’s one real good thing for the communities throughout Kitikmeot and Nunavut really.
What do you like most about your job and community relations? And do you feel like you’re having a positive impact on the Kitikmeot region?
JK: Yeah, I love my job, especially working with the people, you know, that’s never had a job before and teaching them how to live and once they get the big paycheck, how to live and help them. You know, this is one good thing about getting a job, is you got money coming in for your family. But we’ve got to teach them also how to spend it. Some of them, you know, their first time seeing big bucks and sometimes we are seeing folks spending money on drugs and alcohol and are doing that sort of stuff. But it’s their life. But I love to help the young ones and make sure they’re doing good at their jobs and help them if they need, if they need to be communicating with their family. So, I love doing that and help them out. And you know, I just love being a community liaison just to be with them and help them grow with their families.
It sounds like you’re doing a lot of really impactful work, not only with colleagues, but other with other community members and kids as well.
Since B2Gold now has the wonderful Back River Project, we’ve been exposed more to Inuit culture. I think it would be great for everyone to learn a little bit more about our newest project and the people. So, what does Inuit identity mean to you, how is it taught, and how does it differ from other indigenous identities across Canada?
JK: It means a lot to me. I’ve learned that from my parents and grandparents that we learned to respect our elders and cultural identity, and then we teach that to our children and their children to maintain that. One thing that we want to do is bring them up the way we were taught. I was taught by my parents and grandparents to speak and write my dialect. I speak Inuinnaqtun. So, our dialect between here and Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, we speak and write Roman orthography, so I can understand that. But east of Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak, Kugaaruk, they speak Inuktitut, so they read and write syllabics, and I don’t have a full understanding of that language, but I understand a little bit. One big factor I learned, you know, meet and greet, when I worked running the medical boarding home in Yellowknife was seeing the people from east of Cambridge, I learned their dialect. And it’s interesting, some stuff that we say are different, so we’ve got to try to explain. So that helps us, helps me, especially in my job, to understand the ones that have lived with very little English and education to be away from home or working in the mine.
We learn a lot from the animals we catch, especially making our own clothing from the different animals we catch. We learn from our parents and grandparents traveling with no navigational tools. We used the sun and stars and moon for directions and read the snow, how it’s formed for the actional positioning.
With so many external influences these days, are younger generations continuing to learn these cultural practices? Are there any challenges?
JK: The way I was taught, especially the main thing — respect your elders. That’s always one big thing is respect your elders, because they’re there and they won’t be there for all your life. So, learn to respect them and, you know, speak your native tongue.
It sounds like you’ve seen quite a quite a bit of change over the years in the community. What challenges do you think Inuit communities today are facing and how do you think these challenges are impacting Inuit culture and identity?
JK: Kids nowadays are dependant — don’t want to go out in the land or don’t want to be out in the land, and there’s just too much of new technology that we see that are coming in. It’s good in some ways, but it’s not good in some ways, like for example too much computers for the younger kids. But I could see the younger kids that are going to school are learning a lot with the new technology, the computers and everything. But uh, it’s hurting our young ones and that’s not good. They’re just too lazy and don’t want to get out of the house and go out and look for land or you know, animals that we want to eat and that. But it’s good that we got new navigational leading communications all over the world that we never had before, which is nice.
It sounds like it’s a bit bittersweet. There are some changes that have impacted you in the community in really positive ways and some in perhaps more negative.
Let’s now talk about how big of an impact community plays in your in your life, and with respect to your culture and identity. Could you maybe talk a little bit more about language and why maintaining language is so important for not only the community but for younger generations, and whether or not younger generations are being encouraged to preserve Inuit languages and culture?
JK: Schools are teaching in English and I’m real happy to see that we are hiring our local Inuit to do the native tongue part, to learn, speak and write. So, it’s good that they’re trying to learn and now and then for their education. And we tell them, if you want to live a good life, you need your education. You need to go to the school and take your education like we all did. Most of the communities in the region have Kindergarten up to Grade 12 now so that means that you don’t have to go out to other places like Yellowknife or Inuvik or Fort Simpson, that we went to school long ago. It’s helping them, I can see slowly, but where it begins is at our homes. It’s got to be taught at home, but education — to have a good life — just keep on going to school. We had our Grade 12 graduation last week and it is nice to see my granddaughter graduating and seeing other kids and they want to further their education and go down south to go to universities and take whatever they want to learn in life. And it’s nice to see they’re doing that and it’s helping them, and I can see they will do well, so it’s good. It’s hard for them leaving home a year at a time. When I was going to school in Yellowknife, the government didn’t pay our way back home then. My family didn’t have enough money coming in to pay our airfare back home, so we used to go the last week of August to Yellowknife and we didn‘t get home till the following June. So, it was hard. It’s good that the government now is paying their tuitions and airfares, so it helps.
As it’s National Indigenous History Month in Canada, maybe you could talk about some of your favourite cultural traditions or events in your community and whether you’ve seen these change over time?
JK: Yeah, we learned from our elders when I was growing up. I spent a lot of time with elders having their drum dances and learning their songs, and we learn the songs that they sang from their past. How they used to hunt, and they lived season to season, and really, it’s a lifestyle they had learned, and they just learn the drum dancing and they give stories. All the drum dance songs…each song tells a story, so it’s very interesting. But now it’s coming back, it was slowly fading away, and now it’s coming back and the elders are starting to a teach the young ones. I’m glad to see that’s coming back and seeing it through the school system.
Do you have a favorite drum story?
JK: Oh, hunting and fishing and whereabouts they usually go. Some stories are good and some of them are not good, because they never catch what they were looking for, or people starve and didn’t make it through the winter because there’s no food at the time and the harvesting was not that good — some years are good, some years are bad. But yeah, we hear a lot of good stories and it’s nice to have and enjoy the drum dance.
Do you have a favourite cultural tradition or event that you attend every year?
JK: I like to see the traditional games that each community used to have, but it’s fading away again. It’s called the Northern Games. Each community brings in their good talent of high kicking, knuckle hop, and all the Northern Games that they play. And the high jump! Alaskan high jump is nice to see, and two-foot kicks, and all those other games that we like to watch and… but it’s coming back! So it’s good! Each community, every year is starting to hold these Northern Games for a week or so…and then the good woman contest and good men. The good woman contest is skinning a seal, plucking ducks, the fastest tea maker, the fastest bannock maker — not only that, it’s got to taste good too, so it’s very interesting. And then you meet other people that you haven’t seen for years. So, it’s nice to have a lot of late nights, especially once it gets colder. We have our square dances …music comes out and everybody has a good time. I love to square dance and jig! I like to play my spoons, and I like my fiddle music!
Let’s go back to National Indigenous History Month – what does this annual occasion mean to you?
JK: Well, it means a lot to me because, being a residential school survivor, I had to go to Yellowknife to further my education. The reason was the schools are only taught up to Grade 8 or 9, so if you were Grade 9 and wanted to further your education, you had to be flown. I went to Yellowknife and when I went to Sir John Franklin High School, I stayed in the hostel style dormitory. And I could tell you right now, the best years of my life were the four years that I lived there. I learned a lot you know, from students from all over Nunavut and Canada. You know, we hear a lot of horror stories, especially, you know, kids that were taken away… you’re at your home community or your spring camp and then, bling, you know, forced to go to go to education in Inuvik and Fort Simpson. And that is hard on some parents because the kids, you may only have two kids, but both kids have to go and you rely on them, especially the grandparents. You needed those kids to help them make it through the winter period. It’s hard, but they learned, you know — yes, they’ll be back…but when? When will they be back? But I can tell you now and you know, that some never returned and it’s real hard. You know, very hard.
It means a lot to me because we had to do it to further our education. What was hard on me was being away from home and learning a new culture and starting a new lifestyle. Before I was born my mother, in Kugluktuk, used to go to Aklavik, and at that time we never had any air services, so she went on this year’s barge b to further her education, and next year’s barge, she came back home. Because they’re learning the new way of life in the home that they never had before or different life, new language, different lifestyle...and they lost their native tongue. That is real hard. And then, once they went back to the communities, it is very hard for the young ones to communicate with their parents or grandparents. They weren’t allowed to speak our native tongue in school and got punished for that. A lot of abuse that we’ve taken, and you know that residential schools were good and bad. But for me, like I said, that was the best four years of my life. But you know, I still grieve for some that didn’t make it home, you know…finding grave sites that we didn’t know about. Our government system, the hostel in Stringer Hall and the one in the Yellowknife was run by the government… it was run real good, but I’ve learnt now that, or I should say learning now, the residential school run by the Roman Catholics, there was a lot of abuse. It’s hard. Yep, very hard. You never know if you’re gonna be making it back home and see your family, your loved ones.
Thank you for sharing that. I can’t even imagine, and I appreciate your candour and sharing your experiences. I guess the last question I have for you would be to ask what do you think most Canadians do not know about Inuit identity and Inuit culture that we ought to know?
JK: A lot! In our work, now working with, we should say ‘white people’, or we call them Kablunak, they’ve got to have community cultural awareness training and that’s what we are doing for our team members and that’s helping. You know they’ve got to learn where we’re from and how we have our traditional lifestyle and learn the Inuit way of life that we live up here, you know, living off the land. We never had food that nowadays we have, because we only survived off the land, and if you look in a dictionary, if you look at the translation of Eskimo, it’s “eater of raw meat,” and that’s our tradition. We need that, and we are having our traditional cross-cultural training at our job site and that’s going to really help us especially learn to live and work together with Inuit folks that are up here.
Finally, John, do you have any advice for people who want to learn more about Inuit culture and identity?
JK: Like I always say, come up north and live with Inuit folks. Just be out with them, how we used to live, and learn the new way of our culture, and have them live with elders that have no English, and how to survive, and just to be out with them in this harsh country of ours. You know, we lived a tough life. We had no means of air [travel], you know, no communication throughout the world, but we lived and we made it through and I can say that we are fast learners. Although some of the workforce have no, or next to no education, but they are taught, and they learn fast to work in the new environment. Some of them have never been away from home before. We’ve got a young fella now that’s based here in Cambridge, and he’s never been out of Cambridge, and had only a little bit of school but never finished, and we’ve got him working over at our Goose Camp and he’s really enjoying it and learning. And you know, if you’ve got good guys to teach them, they’ll learn. And that’s what we need to do for our young folks. They’re going to make a living working in the mining field. So yes, we need to help them out.
John, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us today. I know we have a lot of people in the Vancouver office and in the company, who are excited to come and visit you guys and learn, not only about life in Nunavut, but indigenous culture and identity as well.
JK: The door is always open, and we’d love for you to come up and just be with us and enjoy our vast land and culture. You know, just being out on the land, it’s another world. You know, I’ve traveled — I’ve been to Hawaii, I’ve been to the States — but come up here and we’ll teach you how to live off the land!
