eyes that bind

Natuashish is a new place with old problems. Nestled several kilometers inland from the transportation dock the former community of Davis Inlet was relocated in 2002 by the government (at the expense of $150 million dollars) to the shiny new community of Natuashish. Here, less isolation, brand new homes, running water, new schools and community facilities and a ban on alcohol were thought to be enough to transform a town. When Laci and I traveled with the Northern Ranger (a passenger and cargo carrier that runs weekly trips up and down the North Eastern coast of Labrador) it hit us that the isolation that for us was a marker of peace was, for many Innu who lived there, the source of great pain and struggle. 

Some insisted that all was well in Natuashish - one woman showed me the digital pictures of the sparkling new community on her camera. She was proud. Others spoke freely about the rampant drug addiction, suicide, child neglect, abuse of women and political corruption that transplanted itself with the people when they moved from Davis Inlet to Natuashish. When the Northern Ranger docked, children stormed the boat - climbing aboard on the ropes and running throughout the ship's decks. The crew had no chance of keeping them off. It seemed that the ship's twice-weekly arrival was the only excitement the town ever got. They had internet and telephones which likely only widened the gap for residence between their lived experience and the seemingly real existence of others outside Labrador, but for many, the Ship was a symbol of a ticket out. Very few could have afforded one however. In the summer the ship was the only way to get in or out of Natuashish.  

One night, the Northern Ranger passed the evening docked at Natuashish. The most striking thing was the number of shoeless children in dirty clothes who, when the trucks drove away loaded with the ships cargo, remained on the dock and along the shore. No parents. The town ten kilometers away. Dusk. 

A place like this can break your heart and inspire your soul all in the same night. These two photos articulate the poetic yet real paradox of life in the North. They were taken from the ship's deck on the same evening.

People say beauty and pain are only a hairline apart. Hmm.

More about Natuashish: www.cbc.ca/nl/features/natuashish/