Original subtitles

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

GORDON PINSENT: Last time on The Polar Sea.

Engine troubles have forced Dax out of the water,

ending Martin Sigge's Northwest Passage dream.

What should I tell their wives if I survive and they don't?

PINSENT: But his friend Richard Tegner

is determined to go on.

RICHARD TEGNER: I am an Arctic hitchhiker now.

PINSENT: Grabbing a ride on a cruise ship,

he sails north through Lancaster Sound,

on the trail of the high Arctic exiles

who were abandoned on these barren shores.

Government promised that their ship, that it would come.

PINSENT: Who survived to be amazed

when the climate finally caught up with them.

ZIPPORAH KALLUK: It's changed.

Flowers are growing.

PINSENT: Now, deep in the Passage,

this summer's explorers are confronting

the remnants of those who passed this way

and never made it out.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

PINSENT: Richard Tegner is on the Russian ship,

Akademik Ioffe,

steaming south in Prince Regent Inlet

toward the narrowest part of the Northwest Passage.

And it is blocked with ice.

TEGNER: I am on a cruise ship

that will

hopefully take me all the way to Cambridge Bay.

But right now, uh,

we don't know for sure how far we can get.

They have requested icebreaker assistance.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

BORIS WISE: This was moving at three knots this direction,

and this is what the Bremen came through.

And now, twelve knots moving this direction,

so if we got stuck in here and had to stop,

there is that much more pressure

squeezing the ship on the hull.

So...

This has also changed for the worse,

where this, Bellot Strait, has changed for the better.

Okay, so real time decision making here

with the captain of the icebreaker,

with our office, with Transport Canada.

We've put in a deviation report.

And we are now sailing

and planning to come down here through Prince Regent Inlet

towards Bellot Strait.

So that puts us in Bellot Strait.

Once we get to Bellot Strait,

again we are going to look out the windows.

It's been a couple days since they've been through there.

What is the ice?

What is the reality of the situation when we get to Bellot Strait?

We're not going to punch through there

because it was good three days ago.

PINSENT: Ice, west of Somerset Island,

has forced them down its east side.

They must cut to the west at Bellot Strait.

It's 25 kilometers long, but only 2 kilometers wide.

It is so often iced in,

that 19th century explorers sailed past it for 20 years

before realizing it was there.

It was found in 1852 by the French explorer Bellot,

who was searching for the lost Franklin expedition.

But still no one managed to sail through it

for another 85 years.

Its current can run at 15 kilometers an hour

and abruptly change direction.

It's a sailor's trap,

as a group of yachts is about to find out.

(PHILIPP COTTIER SPEAKING IN GERMAN)

(MAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

PINSENT: The great ice melt caused by global warming

has drawn the sailors here.

But now the vagaries of Arctic weather

and the roiling tides of the Polar sea

threaten to snare them.

(WIND BLOWING)

(SYLVAIN MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(COTTIER SPEAKING IN GERMAN)

(WIND BLOWING)

(COTTIER CONTINUES SPEAKING)

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING)

(COTTIER SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(COTTIER SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARTINEAU AND COTTIER SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARIELLE DONZE SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(COTTIER SPEAKING)

(MAN ON RADIO)

(COTTIER SPEAKING)

(COTTIER SPEAKING IN GERMAN)

(WOMAN ON RADIO)

(COTTIER SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARTINEAU SPEAKS IN FRENCH)

(COTTIER SPEAKS IN ENGLISH)

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

(MAN SPEAKING ON WALKIE-TALKIE)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

MAN: (ON RADIO) They are ready? Yeah, okay.

TEGNER: Ahead of us we have the...

Our...

Um, assisting icebreaker.

Doesn't seem like they have much to do right now,

but it's called Henry Larson.

We'll see what it, uh...

How it will be at the other end of Bellot Strait.

So...

This is a wonderful morning.

A special moment for everybody to do this passage.

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(YVES GERMAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MAN 1 ON RADIO)

(MAN 2 SPEAKING)

(WIND BLOWING) (RADIO STATIC)

MAN 3: Let's go! Let's go! MAN 4: (ON RADIO) All right. Do we go?

Yes, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

(MEN SPEAKING)

(MAN 1 SPEAKING)

MAN 3: Okay, Nick, it's holding, it's holding.

Uh, there is stuff here on the left side...

South side, it's kind of encroaching now.

(MAN 2 SPEAKING)

(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)

(GERMAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

MAN: Bias to the north, bias to the north slightly.

Careful for the little bits flying across.

MAN 2: (ON RADIO) It's closing from the left.

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

MAN: Nick, there is a bunch of floating bits.

You could slow down a little here. Be careful.

Slow down.

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(DONZE SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(COTTIER SPEAKING)

(WOMAN SPEAKING)

(GERMAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)

(GERMAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(ICE CRACKING)

(ICE CRACKING)

(GERMAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER IN FRENCH)

(ICE CRACKING)

(GERMAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(COTTIER SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(PEOPLE CHEERING)

(INAUDIBLE)

(MARTINEAU SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

PINSENT: The Henry Larsen has saved them,

but it's luck that brought it here.

(HORN BLOWING)

PINSENT: Icebreakers are the Canadian Government's Arctic flagships,

but it only has six elderly ships to patrol an area

of some 1.7 million square kilometers.

(HORN BLOWING)

PINSENT: The Ioffe steams south toward King William Island.

TEGNER: Our trip is sort of following in Amundsen's...

Not footsteps, but waters.

Amundsen, he managed to do it

though he had to overcome winter three times.

It took him three years to complete the passage.

And he wintered in Gjoa,

which is the harbor named after his ship.

He succeeded.

And they sang the Norwegian national hymn in Nome,

where he... When he entered there,

the people were standing on the beach.

Though I don't think anybody will stand on the beach

singing the Swedish national hymn when I come there,

if I come there. (CHUCKLES)

PINSENT: Of all the Arctic explorers, Amundsen is the most admired.

He sailed these waters in the small ship Gjoa,

with a crew of six.

In autumn of 1903,

he put into a little harbor on King William Island

to spend the winter.

PINSENT: There he met the Netsilik Inuit.

They had heard legends of white people,

but never seen one.

They called them Kabloonak,

meaning "people with bushy eyebrows."

Amundsen revered Inuit skills,

and absorbed all he could in his two years here.

PINSENT: Inuit were so fascinated by his group

that a camp of 80 grew up around the boat.

The place became known as Gjoa Haven.

When Amundsen sailed west,

he confided to his journal, a hope that what he called,

"The evils of civilization"

would never reach his Netsilik friends.

He could not know that Canada's efforts to civilize

the Arctic were just gearing up.

MAN: (ON RADIO) The opening of the RCMP post.

A strange custom to the Eskimos perhaps,

but a symbol of progress to Eskimo and white man alike.

(WIND BLOWING)

TEGNER: Today we made an excursion to the old...

Uh...

RCMP outpost.

Very interesting and very inspiring.

The old houses were,

sort of, uh...

In a state of deterioration and...

But things were left there.

Bottles, beds,

books,

traps, all kinds of tools.

And maybe it should...

Be looked after,

like some kind of museum, which I don't think it is now.

Just big holes in the walls, stuff like that.

It's a pity. It's a very interesting place

since it was, um,

the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that, uh,

posted their personnel out here to, uh, sort of, uh...

Look for and defend the Canadian sovereignty.

PINSENT: For Canada, the RCMP were the guardians of sovereignty.

To the Inuit,

they were the vanguard of southern civilization.

Eventually, the Mounties built a post

anywhere Inuit gathered,

such as the harbor where they had assembled

around Amundsen's boat, Gjoa,

and never left.

PINSENT: Today, 1200 people live in Gjoa Haven,

and they still fondly remember Amundsen.

There's a monument to his achievements.

A bust in the village hall.

And even descendants, like Paul Ikuallaq.

About five more days before he passed on or so, um,

my father said, "I am the son of Amundsen."

And we were wondering who was Amundsen.

He said his father was a Kabloonak.

His father was not a Inuk. His father was a Kabloonak.

As soon as I found out, I started reading up on Amundsen.

I talked to the elders in our community,

and they don't want to talk about it because my father

was a respected person.

My oldest brother, Bob,

and he looks exactly like Amundsen.

He's got the great big nose and the big long eyelashes.

But, um, I look like my mother.

PINSENT: DNA tests done in Norway did not confirm Paul's story.

But he prefers the family legend to science.

IKUALLAQ: I believe my family

and any scientist

can try and take this away from who we are,

what we are, but we won't change.

I'm one of the proudest guys in Gjoa Haven

that my grandfather founded this place.

PINSENT: Paul is a Canadian Ranger.

It's the military reserve that does rescue work

and promotes Canada's Arctic sovereignty.

And, today, is a big day for the Rangers.

IKUALLAQ: Today, the Canadian Rangers are preparing for their

Prime Minister of Canada to come to Gjoa Haven.

I'm driving the Prime Minister to the location,

so I will shake his hand.

There is lots of excitement.

And some people are getting anxious

to see the Prime Minister

and they are asking me, what time, where, when, how?

PINSENT: Gjoa Haven has never hosted a Prime Minister before.

Never had anyone so powerful come

to listen to its many needs.

MAN: If you had five minutes with the Prime Minister,

what would you tell him?

We need more hunting stuff, more boats, more machines...

Um, more apartments, more stuffs to do.

Swimming pool, theater.

I'm not sure what else?

We need it up here to have some fun.

PINSENT: The Eastern Canadian Arctic territory, called Nunavut,

is ruled by its Inuit population.

But 85% of its operating money

is at the discretion of the Canadian Government.

More than half the population of Nunavut is under 24.

They are frustrated

that southern civilization's benefits seem incomplete.

JOSEPH OKPAKOK: It definitely makes you angry when you look at everything

they show on TV about the South.

You see more activities and more jobs and...

The... The...

The restaurants are cheaper and the food is cheap.

You see the things that you don't see in the community.

(DISTORTED RADIO BROADCAST)

JOSEPH: It's just hard because you...

You want to see a better community that's,

I don't know, you just want to see better things in the...

In Gjoa Haven and the North.

SIMON OKPAKOK: In the life today, um,

there are a lot of difficulties, uh,

that young people face nowadays,

because they are trying to live in one world

which is English

and also seeing the other part of the world,

which is the livelihood of their ancestors, their parents.

They get the sense of feeling

that they don't belong in either world.

PINSENT: Joseph's grandfather is Simon Okpakok.

He is a university educated teacher

and a respected hunter.

SIMON: Two worlds are trying to, um...

Enforce a...

A knowledge into the young person

and, um, it makes a person confused

of who they can be.

PINSENT: Like all young people, their sense of what they can be

has a lot to do with TV.

Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods.

Watch the pros.

Yeah.

MAN: Most of the summer we go golfing every day.

That doesn't bother me here, the global warming.

Doesn't really bother.

In the month of July, it's nice and hot outside.

If the summer gets longer here,

then we could golf here longer. (CHUCKLES)

(ENGINE REVVING)

PINSENT: Prime Minister Stephen Harper

also seems unbothered by global warming.

He travels to the Arctic every year.

But never speaks about climate change here.

What does concern Mr. Harper

is Canada's Arctic sovereignty.

On this trip,

Paul's Ranger unit makes him an honorary member.

Okay. WOMAN: Group photo?

SIMON: Our community has always been eager to receive visitors.

We will receive honor to be visited by

Prime Minister of Canada for the first time.

They have always showed respect

because they feel honored that...

That they are being thought about think about,

um,

regardless of what their inner feelings that they have,

it will not come out.

What will come out is the respect and honor

and open arms.

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Gjoa Haven.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(CHEERING)

(ANNOUNCER SPEAKING)

Before we start, we're going to have our lighting of the qulliq.

(SINGING NATIONAL ANTHEM IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

(WOMAN SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE)

PINSENT: With the Prime Minister is Leona Aglukkaq,

Nunavut's only MP.

She chairs the Arctic Council,

representing all Arctic states.

She said she will focus it

on developing the region's industrial potential.

(FOLK MUSIC PLAYING)

PINSENT: O n this visit, the Prime Minister

does not speak with the community.

Nor do the people of Gjoa Haven

get a chance to tell him about their overcrowded housing,

infrastructure needs or social problems.

(CAMERA CLICKS)

Like the epidemic of suicide that preoccupies the youths

hanging around outside the community hall.

MAN: I lost my dad two years ago to alcohol.

I think it was alcohol poison that killed him.

Hmm.

It's really sad, depressing.

I still can't get over that.

And I lost my brother due to suicide

just a couple of months ago.

JORDAN AGLUKKAQ: I lost a couple of friends.

One of them just committed suicide.

Nobody talks about it in school.

(CLEARS THROAT)

TEGNER: I met a teacher.

He told me about

tragic things about suicide among his pupils.

A lot, a lot of suicide.

But you don't really see that

so much on the surface, of course.

It's behind the doors,

and walls within a home.

PINSENT: The suicide rate for young men in Nunavut

is almost 50 times the rest of Canada.

It is by far the highest suicide rate in the world.

We're dealing with it.

That's what Inuks have to do.

It's what we're trying to do.

PINSENT: 19th century explorers always described Inuit

as exceptionally happy people.

Social workers who study suicide here

link it to dysfunctions caused

by the sudden and often brutal way

southern civilization was dropped on the Inuit.

It is exactly as Amundsen feared.

(WIND BLOWING)

Gjoa Haven's elders believe

the best medicine lays outside of town,

learning the skills that kept the Netsilik

alive for 1,000 years.

One of the most important is how to hunt caribou.

They are a dietary staple,

sometimes called the bread of the Arctic.

Traditionally, they thrived here.

In the mid 1990's,

the biggest nearby herd had 3,50,000 animals.

SIMON: The land itself has its own power, uh,

to change people.

Being one with the land, the animals,

it's that something that's becoming important to them.

And once they give in to that type of living

it makes them feel, um, easy.

(MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

Going to... When you're out walking,

your eyes are not,

are not to be looking down.

You are supposed to be looking around.

Because, uh, caribou can be anywhere.

Check the other side of the hill,

to see if there's any.

Because you have to be cautious all the time and

even if you don't see anything over here,

you have to look on either side all the time.

Oh, there's another one.

Right over Neil.

MAN 1: There? MAN 2: Yeah, it's there.

SIMON: So unless you're sure of yourself,

that you're going to hit,

get a clean shot at the cari, uh, an animal,

nobody is supposed to shoot.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

SIMON: Uh...

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

You can shoot it from here.

Shoot it from there.

(GUN FIRING) SIMON: Oh.

Oh, it went over. Take a shot again.

(GUN FIRING)

SIMON: Oh, too low.

(GUN FIRING)

You start cutting up from here,

work your way down.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

Right there.

No, right here.

Inuit have an understanding of caribou as people who

hunt them for survival

because they are most important animal in the North

for food,

more so for clothing for the harsh environment.

(GONG REVERBERATING)

(WOMAN SINGING FOLK SONG)

PINSENT: In Nunavut they say the healthiest people

are those who follow Amundsen's advice

and prefer their own ways to southern civilization.

But that's becoming harder.

Global warming is hurting caribou

by changing the patterns of weather here

and helping parasites spread.

The most recent count of the local caribou herd

found 35,000.

A drop of 90% from the previous count.

(FOLK SONG CONTINUES)

PINSENT: On the Northwest Passage,

technological civilization is a mixed blessing.

Hard on the communities along the shore.

But a crucial lifeline on the sea.

TEGNER: Global warming has made our and other trips possible.

It's like the new Everest

and it can be in danger, of course.

I met these guys,

Nicolas and Marco and I got the impressions

that at least Nicolas was quite

cavalier about this because, uh,

he was a real adventurer. Yeah.

He was not afraid of any obstacles.

They got stuck in really bad weather and

they struggled for 24 hours to get the boat loose.

They tried all different ways

and they got rescued by a helicopter.

PINSENT: As the Great Melt draws mariners to the Arctic,

the Coast Guard gets more calls.

This summer the rescuers will pluck more than two dozen

stranded tourists from these waters.

And tragedy will come to the rescuers, too.

The helicopter from the icebreaker Amundsen,

with two officers and a scientist,

is scouting ice conditions,

when it disappears.

All three men perish.

TEGNER: The environment is so harsh

that you should help each other if you get in trouble.

It's an obligation and a culture in sailing,

whether you are on the same boat

or you are a sailor on another boat,

you have to help each other.

There is no other way of dealing with problems.

And you should take care, so no one gets in trouble.

It's not just a matter of knowing how to pull the right ropes

and put up the...

Trim the sails and fix the engine.

It's about everybody's well-being on board.