Log Book

Kangiqsualujjuaq

Benoît, January 29, 2006

KangiqsualujjuaqI am finally arrived in Kangiqsuallujuaq on Monday and again, I am starting my work immediatly by reviewing all the Municipality office workstations and continue until late in the evening.

Antoine, November 21, 2003

After several months, finally came the time when I'd make it to my favourite place in Nunavik: Kangiqsualujjuaq, the village of the grand canyons and the famous George River. Further to our job here last summer, the City Manager Jim Stewart asked me back to finish up a couple of tiny tasks and give some training sessions that we hadn't had a chance to give, due to the fact that people had gone on holiday at that time.

This is with some nostalgia in mind that I shook hand with my buddy Duane and left Kangirsuk Thursday morning. I'll definitely miss the Captain. Our paths had to split, as he was to meet Luc in Ivujivik (connecting through Salluit), while Eric will meet me in Kuujjuaq Friday night.

coopAfter a connection in Kuujjuaq, my aircraft landed at a stormy-rainy Kangiqsualujjuaq. The rainy and hot weather of the previous days had almost completely melt down last weeks' snow. Skidoos were left stranded throughout the whole village, left here and there by their owner due to the lack of snow...

Jim Stewart and Jimmy Angnatuk (KMHB) welcomed me. Two big pick-up trucks for me... What an honour! As soon as I was done with the check-in at the brand-new Coop Hotel, my job started. I gave a bunch of training sessions in a row until the evening came.

I was pretty much interested in witnessing the evolution of the Internet utilization at the main office. Tommy Baron, always smiling, explained to me that the weeks which followed our departure had been rather difficult. Then, with some patience, they were able to tackle the beast and utilize it very easily. I'll always be amazed by their quick-learning skills and the way they are able to deal with the issues in their own way.

After a quick meal, Jim invited me for the evening to install the wireless Internet in his house. After a couple of hours of work, we were able to install an antenna by sticking it on the window of the second floor. Though we had a poor signal, we got his playstation hooked to the Net. I even saw a quick flash of joy and gratefulness in his eyes when he saw everything was working fine!

Next day, after fixing some minor issues at the NV, I got on the plane to Kuujjuaq early afternoon. That's where we'll have to plan our trip to the Hudson coast.

Antoine, August 21, 2003

This is now time to think to return to Kuujjuaq with nostalgy. We are supposedly flying back tomorrow. Even if the Telecom side of the project is still extremely fragile, wehave to continue our work in another village. The last few days allowed us to finalize the inventory as well as the numerous training sessions for all the users. I will never say enough how important it is.

Tommy Annanack, Jimmy Angnatuk, Sophie Unatweenuk, Maggie Imbeault, Tommy Baron, and all others are certainly extremely excited to start using their email address but they all have the same kind of worries when they see us leaving the town. This is our main task: to give a solid support to users once all the setup process has been completed. My conclusion is to say that this is only an " au revoir".

coucher de soleilThis sunset on the Ungava Bay definitely means the same.

Antoine, August 19, 2003

The project is on its way. Since Saima arrived yesterday to help me, we can see the end. This evening, I can expect a conclusion by Thursday evening or Friday for Kangiqsualujjuaq.

The Northern Village office is almost completely connected and most of the users have already started using their email or Thin Clients. We spent most of the day at the Youth Centre to connect all the computers. We even had the chance to start training and to inventory KRG's equipment.

inukshukWe now have to think about the next step of the project. How are we going to organize our team? What will KRG's decision be?

I am now convinced that this project is huge. It took us 2 weeks without any interruption and no less than 4 technicians to properly connect a medium-sized village. This means that according to the arrival of the wintertime, our lack of resources (vacations, Kuujjuaq support), potential problems, I think it's not realistic to hope that we will finish up before the end of next summer.

At least, this evening we have the feeling we made a good start. And this Inukshuk is clearly showing us the right direction.

Antoine, August 17, 2003

This morning, I took a good portion of fresh air for breakfast. Nunavik is the most fascinating place I have ever visited in my life. After all the human troubles experimented on this project, I needed to resource myself in the wilderness. A jogging-walk in the Tundra-Taiga definitively helped me forget my current problems.

However, Jimmy tried to discourage me from doing so because of wolves and bears roving around the village. However, thanks to a sunny and windy day without mosquitoes, I went for a three-hour ride in the wild and rocky territories of Nunavik.

Following a sandy road inside a beautiful glacial valley, I went on the west direction of George River. At the end of the trail, I decided to climb on top of a hill. On the top, I was able to see the Ungava Bay, George River and all the countryside. A delight for the eyes!

Kangiqsualujjuaq paysageFull of blueberry and aqpik, I then decided to go in the direction of a lake and a small river. I really appreciate the mix of colors between the pure blue of the water and the dark green of the trees. On the border of the small lake, my camera was already full and the bugs were flying all around my thin little body, fighting for a piece of meat.

So I had no other choice but to run back in the direction of the more windy hills. Surprisingly, I was able to smell the delicious odor of wood fire and I decided to go in that direction. I found three Inuit women, eating banik and drinking tea inside a really comfortable hole of rock. They nicely offered me a portion of tea and banik. I had a good rest with those nice women who were collecting berries on the hillside.

Then, I decided to go back to the village on an improvised crest trail with a lot of breaks for collecting berries.

Once I was back in the village, I met my friend working here for Bell, who reminds me of Michel Lemire in Kuujjuaq. He built his own wood house at the end of the village. He has been living in George River for the past 30 years and he has grandchildren here. He is a wood sculptor when he does not work for Bell. He showed me the inside of his house, completely made of wood, his rifle hooked on the wall, wood stove, wood chairs, like a Jack London's book.

We had a good time together and as we stepped out of his house, he introduced me to two explorers, freshly arrived from a three-week canoe trip on the George River. They looked completely exhausted and had traces of blood on their faces because of mosquitoes. I was able to read the fear on their faces, caused by their rafting on the river ending with very high and dangerous tide.

Too bad my camera was already full... And it was time to go back to work.

Antoine, August 14, 2003

After a few raining days, the sunshine was back tonight before 6 pm. Patrick and Denis went back to Kuujjuaq yesterday and Saima flew back to Kuujjuaq this afternoon. I remain alone in George River with many problems unsolved. Because of a major power shortage in Ontario, the Internet network of the school is down. The KRG network is also down due to a connector issue. I have to check the cables constantly but the link would get disconnected after a few minutes.

Since Denis' decision to go alone to Aupaluk, I am presently extremely upset with the way the project goes. However, I can see how useful I am here in George River and this motivates me.

Beside the satellite issues, I am still working on the wiring in the NV office. I found an acceptable networking design in the afternoon. I will have to create all the user accounts and start the training as soon as possible.

KangiqsualujjuaqAfter work tonight, I went for a walk on the hills surrounding George river. The sight is fantastic. I took beautiful pictures.

Antoine, August 11, 2003

On monday, the weather suddenly changed with very strong winds and rain. In the morning, Denis gave us a full training on the satellite equipment so that we could run the satellite acceptance plan by ourselves.

In the afternoon, Saima and I set up the wireless bridge at the Youth Centre which is connected to the NV. On their side, Denis and Patrick worked on the connector issue at the satellite earth station. At the end of the day, we all worked on making some patch cables.

We realize that we still have a lot to do... and the days are not long enough for our job.

Antoine, August 10, 2003

On Sunday, the weather was still sunny. We finished our job at the Police station and Air Inuit. At lunchtime we learned that we also had to connect the Youth Centre to the Internet through the NVs. In fact, Jim and Maggie Imbeault asked us to do so at lunchtime.

Then, in the afternoon we connected the bridge between both buildings.

Antoine, August 9, 2003

Satellite antennaOn Saturday, we started the wireless work on all the following buildings: Transport Air Inuit, Satellite earth station, NV office, Daycare, Police. In the mean time, Denis realized that the main antenna connector was defective at the earth station. He decided to reach Tim (SSI micro) to ask him for a new connector.

Shortly after our arrival in George River, Jim mentioned to us that there was already a high speed Internet gateway in town. It is used by the school and other places like the NV office. However this project is supposed to be finished soon so it does not compete with KRG's project. In the afternoon, we had a visit of Ministers and we had the chance to see Louis Mercier and Luc Harvey from KRG. At that time I was on top of the NV's roof.

After a very long day, we went to see the volleyball final where Junior May and his teammates beat George River.

Antoine, August 8, 2003

PolarbearsWe arrived in George River on Friday 8th of August by boat from Kuujjuaq thanks to Junior May who was going to the Eastern Arctic summer games. The weather conditions were extremely good (sun and no wind). Jim Stewart was here when we arrived at high tide and gave us access to the satellite station, as well as a truck and all our equipment.

On Friday night, we made a wireless site survey to check for the difficulties we might face the next day.

At night, we decided to go and see the basket ball final at the Youth Centre because George River is organizing the Eastern Arctic summer games. Kuujjuaq was defeated by Puvirnituq even though we were cheering on.

 

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