Mike and What Family Means to Him

Sep 13, 2021

*Trigger Warning*

I had an old electric frying pan in front of me, a potato, an egg, and a block of butter. I just put it all together and let it sit there. I didn’t turn it on, I just let it sit there. I was 4 or 5 years old. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I loved culinary and I love cooking. That love took me on many adventures. Also, I tend to get itchy feet and bored easily, and need to run away sometimes. While in Edmonton, a friend of mine saw an ad in the paper with not many details, just a phone number. I think I called them on of a Wednesday and Thursday night I was offered the job. The next day I flew out to Inuvik [Northwest Territories] and started the next chapter of my life. The culture was unique, I got there when the sun was shining only a couple hours a day, basically 24hr darkness, which takes a lot of getting used to. Also, their diet was totally different and unique. I had to learn how to cook their food.

I worked at a restaurant there and one day while leaving, I bumped into her. Five days later we were married, and I ended up with one heck of a family. It just happened. I married into an Inuit family. They are tough people, and I was shown their culture. I learnt discipline and I learnt to be quiet and internalize.

In 95’, while on a hunting trip I got gut shot and I had to travel 12hr by snowmobile back to town with my brother-in-law and wife. My wife was using tampons in the wound to help stop the bleeding! I underwent an operation, and it didn’t go right so I was flown to Edmonton. While I was there, my family went through the ice. 47 members of my family and only 2 survived. The ice was supposed to be 3 meters thick, but we had a quick warming, and the ice went down to 6 inches. When you have 47 members of your family walking across the ice, well… it just gave away. They all died. My wife Marilyn was one who survived. She lost both legs at the knee, left arm below the elbow, both breasts, nose, ears, and part of her scalp. After that she did not want me to see her. That is one reason I never returned up North. We never divorced until she committed suicide 3 years ago in her traditional way.

Family is people that stick together and help each other through good times and bad. I wasn’t born into that family or even a part of their culture, but they are my family. My family is also half the people at the shelter. A lot of us rely on each other, we share stories, we stick together. Right now, they are my family too.