Deborah Qaunaq

  1. QTIG26EN
  • Deborah Qaunaq
  • Igloolik (Iglulik)

Deborah Qaunaq was born in 1941. She recalls her childhood fondly. She credits the beginning of her belief in God to her childhood when she prayed for her mother’s health to improve, which it did. In 1961, her husband accidentally shot her in the leg after shooting a seal. She traveled by boat to Hall Beach and by Hercules to Montreal. She gave birth to her son while being treated for her gunshot wound. When she first moved to Igloolik, there were only three buildings: the Roman Catholic Church; the Hudson Bay Store; the Hudson Bay staff house and warehouse. Her father assisted the missionaries in their work, traveling almost as far as Alaska. He was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound while hunting. She was nine or ten years old at the time. She recalls her and her husband taking an elder, who did not want to die in Igloolik, camping. He died during the trip. They buried him there and she now believes that there is an abundance of animals there because of his grave. She also recalls her husband being charged for killing a bowhead whale in order to help her ailing father.