>
Article snippet: KANGIQSUJUAQ, Quebec — Adami Sakiagak, his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth in concentrated effort, trimmed the edges on a block of snow above his head. Ice crystals cascaded around him as the block settled into place, the capstone of an igloo, that architectural structure so characteristic of the Arctic. Mr. Sakiagak’s parents were born in igloos and he learned to build the snow domes with his father growing up on the open tundra as a child. Now, Mr. Sakiagak, a 57-year-old Inuit, builds them to teach younger generations the disappearing craft. “At one time people had no camps,” he said, referring to shelters now scattered across traditional hunting and fishing grounds. “And any person who went out onto the land, they usually built an igloo.” Canadian investment in the Arctic was negligible until the Cold War, when the region had a string of military bases to guard against Soviet attack. Well into the 1950s, the Inuit followed their ancient ways, living off the land. Even today, many Inuit depend on hunting and fishing to survive. Kangiqsujuaq is a typical Northern town. Its plain, boxy buildings sit on stilts to prevent thawing the permafrost below. The roads are gravel but packed with snow most of the year, traversed by four-wheel-drive pickups and all-terrain vehicles and ubiquitous snowmobiles. Granite hills rise around the town, which faces a large, frozen bay. Other than the rocky cliffs and boxy buildings, most everything is white during the lon... Link to the full article to read more