Stephen Angulalik

Infobox Person
name = Stephen Angulalik

---

image_size = 200px
caption = Stephen Angulalik, his wife Ekvana and children at the Perry River Post in 1959
birth_name = Angulalik
birth_date = Circa 1898
birth_place = In the vicinity of "Kuunnuaq" (Ellice River)
death_date = 1980
death_place =
death_cause =
resting_place =
resting_place_coordinates =
residence =
nationality =
other_names =
known_for = Perry River post manager
education =
employer = Hudson's Bay Company

occupation = Trader
home_town =
title =
salary =
networth =
height =
weight =
term =
predecessor =
successor = Red Pedersen
party =
boards =
religion =
spouse = Kuptana
Koloahok
Mabel Ekvana
partner =
children = Eleven
parents = Oakoak (father)
Okalitaaknahik (mother)
relatives =


website =
footnotes =

Stephen Angulalik (ca. 1898 – 1980) was an internationally known Ahiarmiut Inuit from northern Canada notable as a Kitikmeot fur trader and trading post operator at Kuugjuaq (Perry River), Northwest Territories. His stories and photos were carried by journals and periodicals worldwide.

Early life

Angulalik was born less than convert|30|mi|km away to the west, in the vicinity of "Kuunnuaq" (Ellice River) on the Queen Maud Gulf, then in the Kitikmeot Region, Northwest Territories, now Nunavut, to Caribou Inuit parents Oakoak (father) and Okalitaaknahik (mother). In 1923, he lived in "Kiilinngujaq" (Kent Peninsula), near a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) post, opened in 1920, run by Hugh Clarke, and notable as the most remote HBC post of the Canadian Arctic. Angulalik learned the fur trading business from Clarke. In 1926, Clarke and George Porter opened a Canalaska trading post for owner Captain C. T. Pedersen in Perry River, probably because of Ahiarmiut relocation to that area, the Kent Peninsula caribou becoming scarce. In addition to the trading post, Clarke built a home for Angulalik, ensuring Ahiarmiut loyalty to the Canalaska post, rather than an HBC postcoord|67|48|00|N|102|10|00|W|region:CA_type:waterbody|display=inlinea few miles away [cite web |url=http://www.kitikmeotheritage.ca/Angulalk/ctpeders/hughclark/hughclrk.htm |title=Hugh Clarke |publisher=kikikmeotheritage.ca |accessdate=2008-01-11] (run by Angus Gavin between April 1937-July 1941). [cite journal |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2372(194508)26%3A3%3C226%3ANOMOIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2 |title=Notes on Mammals Observed in the Perry River District, Queen Maud Sea |last=Gavin |first=Angus |publisher=jstor.org |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=26 |number=3 |date=Aug., 1945 |pages=226–230 |format=pdf |doi=10.2307/1374818 |accessdate=2008-03-14 |month=Aug |year=1945 |issue=3] [cite journal |url=http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v059n04/p0195-p0203.html |title=Birds of Perry River District, Northwest Territories |last=Gavin |first=Angus |journal=Wilson Bulletin |volume=59 |number=4 |date=Oct-Dec, 1947 |pages=195–203 |publisher=unm.edu |accessdate=2008-03-14]

Career

In 1928, when new laws forced the closure of both posts, Angulalik continued as an independent trader, supplied by Canalaska. When Pedersen sold his company to the HBC, the sale included a provision for the HBC in Cambridge Bay to continue supplying trade goods to Angulalik. In 1929, Angulalik sailed to Herschel Island and purchased a schooner, the "Tudlik", from Canalaska, using the "Tudlik" during his career to transport goods from Cambridge Bay or Herschel Island to his trading post.

Angulalik's trade partners included distant Copper Inuit bands such as the "Hanningajurmiut" of Garry Lake ("Hanningajuq", meaning "sideways" or "crooked"). The "Hanningajurmiut" were called the "Ualininmiut" ("people from area of which the sun follows east to west") by their Caribou Inuit neighbors of the north, the "Utkusiksalinmiut". He also traded with the "Illuilirmiut" of "Illuiliq" from Adelaide Peninsula. As these Inuit were located between Angulalik's Perry River post and the Gjoa Haven HBC post, Angulalik set up an outpost closer to them at Sherman Inlet to secure their business. It was run by Angulalik's adopted son, George Oakoak, from 1948 to 1955. [cite web |url=http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=00000299&sl=6814&pos=1 |title=Inuit Heritage Centre |publisher=virtualmuseum |accessdate=2008-01-22]

Angulalik's trading ventures were successful despite the fact that he was unable to speak or write English. He either got help from other people or copied the words from the boxes that he received. This, according to at least one source, led to him ordering such things as "5 cases of This Side Up".

A crisis event occurred in Angulalik's life New Year's Eve 1956, when he stabbed the man Otoetok, in self-defense. While Otoetok’s wounds were minor, leaving them untended resulted in his painful death on January 4 1957, leading Angulalik to sell his Perry River trading operations to the HBC the same year. Judge John Sissons presided over the murder trial in Cambridge Bay and Angulalik was acquitted. He returned to the Perry River post and worked with the new young manager, Red Pedersen, who became a lifelong friend. Angulalik stayed there until post closure in 1967.cite web |url=http://www.kitikmeotheritage.ca/Angulalk/anglinuk/famous/famous.htm |title=A Famous Inuk |publisher=kitikmeotheritage |accessdate=2008-01-11]

Personal life

There were no taboos against polygamy amongst the Ahiarmiut. By October 1937, Angulalik had two wives and the three of them were pictured in "Life Magazine". Angulalik's first wife was named Kuptana; she died in 1939. His second wife was Koloahok; she died in 1938. No longer a polygamist, Ahiarmiut was baptised "Stephen" in 1938, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant |isbn=0773516751 |format=Google Book Search |accessdate=2008-01-11]

In 1967, Angulalik and Ekvana moved to Cambridge Bay, sent their children to the local school, and spent most of the year in a settled existence, but every summer, they returned to Perry River. Unlike other adults, Angulalik could neither read or write Inuktitut.cite web |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=D8b4dEcUENsC&pg=PA247&lpg=PA247&dq=mabel+ekvana&source=web&ots=dJVIE_TqfF&sig=xsTd-XsBiWGMpSAqOZvZELrTNnw#PPA247,M1 |title=Once upon a wedding: Stories of weddings in western Canada, 1860-1945, for better or worse |author=Nancy Millar |date=2000|publisher=Bayeux Arts |isbn=978-1896209333 |format=Google Book Search |accessdate=2008-01-25] He enjoyed photography, however, owning cameras and photographic equipment. His photos are part of a collection at the heritage center in Yellowknife.

Awards

* 1935, King George V Silver Jubilee Medal
* 1953, Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal

References

* Keith, D., "Stephen Angulalik: Kitikmeot Fur Trader". 2004. Kitikmeot Heritage Society [http://www.kitikmeotheritage.ca/Angulalk/FurTrader.pdf (Full text plus photos)]
* Copland, A. Dudley. "Coplalook Chief Trader, Hudson's Bay Company, 1923-1939". Winnipeg, Man: Watson & Dwyer, 1985. ISBN 0920486126

Further reading

* McGrath, Robin. "A Northern Biography, Stephen Angulalik, (1895-1980)". S.l: s.n, 1981.

External links

* Maps
** [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CA/14/Perry_River.html Perry River]
** [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CA/14/Ellice_River.html Ellice River]
* [http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/aina3&CISOPTR=219&CISOBOX=1&REC=19 Photo]
* [http://www.kitikmeotheritage.ca/Angulalk/FurTrader.pdf Stephen Angulalik, Kitikmeot Fur Trader] in Inuinnaqtun, English and French
* [http://pwnhc.learnnet.nt.ca/databases/archives/PhotoResultsnew.asp?TrackID=35247 Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre - Images of Anagulalik and family]
* [http://search-recherche.collectionscanada.ca/fed/searchResults.jsp?FormName=from+Fed+Search+Results&SourceQuery=&ResultCount=5&PageNum=1&MaxDocs=-1&SortSpec=score+desc&Language=eng&Sources=amicus&Sources=mikan&Sources=genapp&Sources=web&soundex=on&QueryText=Angulalik Angulalik] at Library and Archives Canada

Persondata
NAME= Angulalik, Stephen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Angulalik
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Trader; Post manager
DATE OF BIRTH= Circa 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH= in the vicinity of Kuunnuaq (Ellice River) on the Queen Maud Gulf
DATE OF DEATH= 1980
PLACE OF DEATH=