THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

482nd Meeting

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

John MacDonald

THE ARCTIC: THEN AND NOW

John MacDonald came to Canada from Scotland in 1959 as a clerk-in-training with the Hudson's Bay Company's Arctic Division. He worked in a number of posts across the Arctic, and also in Northern Quebec. His arrival in the Canadian Arctic coincided with the beginning of an era of momentous social change brought, mainly, by an unprecedented surge of government involvement in the North. Leaving the Hudson's Bay Company in 1967, he joined the Social and Cultural Development Division of the then Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, maintaining his links with the Arctic through his work with a range of programs involving the support of Inuit culture and language. In the mid-1980's he moved to Igloolik, in Nunavut, where he spent almost twenty-five years as co-coordinator of the Igloolik Research Centre, a government-run facility providing field support to visiting researchers. He retired from the North in 2009.

John MacDonald's talk will focus particularly on his early years in the Arctic. Through a series of reminiscences and stories, touching on daily life and work with the Hudson's Bay Company in the early 1960s, he will illustrate by inference some of the remarkable changes that occurred in the Arctic between then and now, be it in the areas of transportation, communications, medical services, entertainment, or preparations for the celebration of Christmas.

The meeting will be held in the Astra Lounge on the entrance level of the RCAF Officers Mess, 158 Gloucester Street (just east of Bank Street), Ottawa. Parking is available on the street and in nearby parking lots. There is a charge of 3.00 for evening use of the parking lot in the same block as the Mess. The meeting begins at 2000 hrs and the bar will be available from 1930 hrs. As always, guests are welcome.

At this time of year, authors, editors and compilers are encouraged to bring copies of their latest œuvres for display and sale at the meeting.

Next meetings:

Jan 10 Annual General Meeting; Crystal Ernst on arthropod assemblages in northern Canada

Feb 14 Emilie Cameron on Samuel Hearne's account of the Bloody Falls massacre

SEASON'S GREETINGS!

Thomas Frisch

Secretary

(613 725-2221); tfrisch@sympatico.ca