Musical Dispatch from the Front - Control - October 2025

[Frank Baarda]

A friend sent me a link to an article in the Walrus, a Canadian online magazine:

To Get a High School Diploma, Indigenous Kids like Me Had to Leave Behind Everything They Knew
by Susan Aglukark

" ... Everything in Yellowknife, including the residences, was run by whites. It was the government town. Everybody who ran anything there was a white person, so that little bit of discomfort was something we Inuit and First Nations shared. We were coming to Akaitcho Hall, to high school, from our communities. It was our region, but we weren’t in control. We weren’t in control of anything there. ... "

Susan was writing about her boarding school experiences in the 1980's.

In 1969 our Panarctic Oils Electra plane regularly stopped at Yellowknife to refuel. I don't recall seeing any 'natives' during these fuel stops. If they were there, I was oblivious to them, to me they were invisible.

Canada is on the other side of the world, yet Susan could just as easily have been referring to Yuendumu or Alice Springs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKXFoFUtjs 
Susan Aglukark sings “Amazing Grace” in Inuktitut and English

Adios,

Frank

PS If you ask for it, I'll send you the link to Susan's article. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKXFoFUtjs 
Susan Aglukark sings “Amazing Grace” in Inuktitut and English