I read a random little factoid in our daily newspaper The Saskatoon StarPhoenix the other day, which got me thinking about how many people live completely different lifestyles from my own in this country.
The news brief recounted how two teen hunters from Inukjuak, Quebec (a place I’ve never heard of) are lucky to be alive after they were lost for four days without food or supplies. 15-year-old Willie Nastapoka and 17-year-old Kasudluak Kasudluak (yes – his name is spelled right) left their community, on the far north shore of the Hudson Bay on snowmobile to go polar bear hunting. The pair was inexperienced and didn’t carry much food or the tools to make shelter (although I doubt they thought they’d be gone for four days!)
Their parents contacted the local hunter support program when the pair didn’t return that evening. The temperature with the windchill got to -50C during the search effort for the boys. Both were found and one was being treated for frostbite in a Montreal hospital last week.