Oleepa Papatsie

  1. QTPA13EN
  • Oleepa Papatsie
  • Pangirtung (Panniqtuuq)

Oleepa Papatsie was born in 1947, and lived in Illutalik, an outpost camp near Pangnirtung until a dog epidemic affected her camp when she was a teenager. She remembers people starving as a consequence of losing their dogs. She recalls the day when planes landed in the camp and people were told to get on the plane and that they would live in the community until the summer so that they would no longer starve. Yet, her family went through poverty and hunger in the community. While they were away from the camp, their dwellings and belongings were destroyed. She remembers her parents complaining that the sewing equipment and tools they had to leave behind were destroyed. Her brother still had his dogs because he was away from the camp when the planes flew in. He joined his family in the community but his dogs were killed by RCMP officers there, even though they were tied up. The loss of the dogs affected the family’s ability to hunt considerably.