July 15, 2005

Hello Sue,

I don't know why I originally ran across The Fan Hitch online. Perhaps I was doing some research on the Qimmik out of personal interest. I really enjoyed what I found and went back, re-read old issues over a few days period, and then (brutally honest) forgot about you.

My interest in the Qimmik was probably developed as a child reading the great adventure novels set in northern Canada and Alaska. More recently, I spent three years living in Nunavik (Nouveau Quebec). While attending workshops in Kuujjuaq, an intriguing pup followed back and forth from our workshops. The pup was steady when approached by humans or other dogs. (Dogs all too frequently run loose in Kuujjuaq and other Nunavik settlements.) Moreover, he seemed to have a well-developed chase drive.  It was a shame that the pup would probably be destroyed early the next week when dogs roaming free would be shot to cull the numerous abandoned dogs and reduce the threat of a dog attacking a child. I'm not a bleeding-heart and the thought of a dog cull for the greater good of society, given the circumstances presented in the north, didn't drive my next position. I brought him home. He is definitely mostly Qimmik but he, like so many dogs in the north, also has a good eighth to quarter of southern dog in him. After my three years in the arctic, we moved to the bush of northern Ontario.

Earlier today, while researching yet another move - this time to either the Northwest Territories or Yukon - I came across The Fan Hitch again. At first I was drawn in by Google's reference to the Makivik court case against the government. I was following that story while in Nunavik but hadn't heard anything about it since moving away. Now, I'll definitely have to tune into The Fan Hitch again in September for the next installment of that story.

Regards,
G. K.