Have time? Here are some fireside long-reads from the North
Do you have some time on your hands this holiday season?
Well then, grab a hot chocolate and your reading glasses — here are 10 North long-reads from the past year that you don’t want to miss.
(Don’t forget to bookmark this page for your next slow morning or evening!)
1. The rat-infested ship mystery
It doesn’t matter if you’re into boats, ships, sailing or not — this strange tale about a cruise ship named after a Soviet movie star will keep you hooked.
CBC North reporter Randi Beers once worked on the MV Lyubov Orlova — and she dug into how it met its end as a “cannibal rat-infested ghost ship” in the Atlantic.
2. The man who died out in the cold
A man named Emmanuel Vachon was found dead in his tent on the morning of Nov. 7, 2018, on the outskirts of Fort Providence, N.W.T.
He had lived there for months — even though police, social workers and others knew he was there and had nowhere else to go.
Did Vachon’s community fail him?
3. Taking a chance on Canada’s northernmost strip club
From coast to coast, strip clubs have been shuttering their doors, but a Yellowknifer took a shot at what she calls Canada’s northernmost strip club.
Sara Murphy has since left her business, and things have changed with Harley’s Hard Rock Saloon, but this story sheds some light into what was once a dingy basement bar on Yellowknife’s main drag.
4. The woman who fostered 250+ kids
For nearly three decades, Tammy Roberts has fostered hundreds of children — many of them had experienced trauma and disabilities from being prenatally exposed to alcohol.
Here’s her story.
5. Police not responding to calls puts community on edge
Megan Klengenberg is a single mother of three, after her spouse Justin Pigalak took his own life.
She blames the RCMP for not showing up that night, and is calling for Justice for Justin.
Read more about why people in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, lost trust in the police.
6. The man that dedicated his life to N.W.T.’s Thelon River
For nearly half a century, he made it his mission to bring people to the N.W.T.’s most remote wilderness areas — the Thelon.
Cancer snatched away Alex Hall of Fort Smith, N.W.T., from his favourite place on Earth this March.
Take a trip to one of Canada’s most remote remaining wilderness sanctuaries, through Hall’s eyes.
7. What do you do when your home is on shifting ground?
How can you maintain your home when you can’t trust the ground beneath your feet?
Margaret and Edward Kelly’s home is coming apart at the seams in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T.
Live a day in their lives.
8. Rise and fall of a small-town mall
In the heart of Yellowknife’s downtown is a place you could find almost anywhere in Canada — a mall.
Today, Centre Square Mall is almost completely empty.
Here’s what went wrong with what was once a shopper’s paradise, turned a cockroach-infested retail wasteland.
9. The million $ question — where have the caribou gone?
North.
That’s what some Indigenous Yukon elders are noticing about their moose and caribou.
What happens when the animals move further north to escape the effects of climate change? The hunters move with them.
10. Nunavut grandmothers + camp + youth = ?
Colonialism has left some young Inuit in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, struggling to connect with their culture.
Here’s how a group of grandmothers is fighting to change that.