From the Editor: Chronology
In the News: An interview with Joelie Sanguya
The Arctic Domus Project
The Practice of Veterinary Medicine and Loving Kindness in Labrador
Canadian/Greenland Inuit dogs and the “domestication syndrome”
Ptarmigan Hunting with Greenland Dogs
Documentary Film on the Sirius Patrol
Book Review: A Trapper in North-East Greenland
Okpik’s Dream
IMHO: Reflections
Index: Volume 16, The Fan Hitch
Navigating This Site
Index of articles by subject
Index of back issues by volume number
Search The Fan Hitch
Articles to download and print
Ordering Ken MacRury's Thesis
Our comprehensive list of resources
Defining the Inuit Dog
Talk to The Fan Hitch
The Fan Hitch home page
Editor: Sue Hamilton
Webmaster: Mark Hamilton
The Fan Hitch, Journal
of the Inuit Sled Dog, is published four
times a year. It is available at no cost
online at: https://thefanhitch.org.
The Fan Hitch welcomes your letters, stories, comments and suggestions. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit submissions used for publication.
Contents of The Fan Hitch are protected by international copyright laws. No photo, drawing or text may be reproduced in any form without written consent. Webmasters please note: written consent is necessary before linking this site to yours! Please forward requests to Sue Hamilton, 55 Town Line Rd., Harwinton, Connecticut 06791, USA or mail@thefanhitch.org.
This site is dedicated to the Inuit Dog as well as related Inuit culture and traditions. It is also home to The Fan Hitch, Journal of the Inuit Sled Dog.
The Fan Hitch welcomes your letters, stories, comments and suggestions. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit submissions used for publication.
Contents of The Fan Hitch are protected by international copyright laws. No photo, drawing or text may be reproduced in any form without written consent. Webmasters please note: written consent is necessary before linking this site to yours! Please forward requests to Sue Hamilton, 55 Town Line Rd., Harwinton, Connecticut 06791, USA or mail@thefanhitch.org.
This site is dedicated to the Inuit Dog as well as related Inuit culture and traditions. It is also home to The Fan Hitch, Journal of the Inuit Sled Dog.
Photo: Pierre Dunnigan/Makivik
Okpik’s Dream
a new documentary to be released this fall
Okpik’s Dream is a new documentary film from Catbird Films, due out this Fall, about the compelling life story of the remarkable and inspiring Harry Okpik, a champion Inuit Sled Dog musher and amputee from Nunavik who has lived through incredible changes that have affected Inuit in just one generation.
Written and directed by Laura Rietveld, Okpik’s Dream is the story of sixty-year-old Harry Sam Willy Okpik who lives in the remote Inuit community of Quaqtaq, Nunavik (Arctic Quebec) and his lifelong determination to rebuild his identity and live his life with a sense of purpose.
Becoming a dog musher was his childhood dream. But in the early 1960s, when government agents shot the dogs of Quaqtaq, eleven-year-old Harry Okpik saw the sky and snow turn red and thought his dream was forever destroyed. Twelve years later, after the trauma of residential school, another personal tragedy, a hunting accident, resulted in years of intense hospitalization and estrangement from his community.
After spending three years in a Montreal hospital with doctors trying to save his injured leg Okpik made a harrowing decision – one he believed would forever rob him of becoming a real man, a father, a true Inuk. Yet he chose to have his leg amputated so he could ultimately begin his recovery and finally return home to the North.
The feature-length documentary, Okpik's Dream takes the viewer into the modern Inuit world. Shot over the course of several years, the film follows Harry as he recounts the momentous events of his life and cares for his magnificent husky dogs in preparation for the Ivakkak, a gruelling 600 km Inuit Dog sled race across Nunavik’s arctic landscape.
Harry Okpik during Ivakkak 2014 Photo: Katarina Soukup
“I first met Harry Okpik over five years ago on a blindingly sunny, -30C degree day in Quaqtaq,” states director Laura Rietveld. “I was visiting my aunt, a teacher, who arranged for us to go dogsledding with Harry. Out on the land that day, Harry spoke of his passion for dogsledding, the Ivakkak race and about the near-fatal hunting accident that cost him his leg. He also described the day his father’s dogs, the dogs he cared for as a boy, were killed by government agents. What became known as the Dog Slaughter would kill thousands of Inuit huskies across the Canadian Arctic in the 1950s and 60s, nearly eradicating the breed. As a Canadian, I was shocked and embarrassed that I had not heard of this event before.”
When Rietveld brought her the project over two years ago, producer Katarina Soukup, who has worked previously with Inuit filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, Kiviaq versus Canada) and Jobie Weetaluktuk (Umiaq Skin Boat, Kakalakkuvik Where The Children Dwell), knew immediately that Harry was someone special. Soukup reflected,
“He has learned something about overcoming adversity that deserves to be shared with audiences around the North and across the planet. As a dog lover, I’ve been deeply touched by the love and care Harry has for his Inuit huskies – a dog breed once on the brink of extinction, but which is being brought back through the painstaking efforts of mushers like Harry and others."Okpik’s Dream hopes to be screened this fall or early winter at various film festivals, and later broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Nunavut Independent Television Network.
But before that can happen the filmmakers have launched a “crowd-funding” campaign on Indiegogo to help them raise the necessary funds to complete the documentary. Thanks to a number of Northern partners, the filmmakers are able to offer an array of wonderful “perks” for contributions, including How to Raise a Dog Team, the beautifully illustrated guide by Nunavik’s Adamie Inukpuk published by Avataq Cultural Institute, and limited edition prints of photographs by the Ivakkak Race’s official photographer, Pierre Dunnigan.
Harry's qamutik was raised in the air at the end of Ivakkak 2014, as
a sign of joy and respect for the huge accomplishment of completing
the race. Photo: Katarina Soukup
To contribute to the project, follow its progrss or to get more information please visit the film’s website.