10/15/2026
Day 3 brought us to Tuktuuyaqtuuq, on the edge of the Beaufort Sea.
It was difficult to stand on the shore and think about food security as simply a question of food. For generations, harvesting, fishing and gathering have fed families, created livelihoods, carried knowledge forward and connected people to the land and ocean. Whitefish, whale, geese, caribou, cranberries among others remain an important part of everyday life here.
Our day was spent meeting some of the people who keep those traditions and food systems moving.
We met Eileen Gruben, an Inuvialuit elder who spent years working as a chef and mess cook in the offshore oil industry. She shared memories of growing up harvesting wild caribou and picking berries before being taken away by float plane to residential school. We had the privilege of helping deliver a food box to Eileen. The IRC, through Inuvialuit Country Foods, distributes food boxes twice a year to approximately 1,200 households across all six communities of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, while also supporting local shelters and schools.
We met fishermen Ronald Nuyaviak and Calvin Pokiak, who shared some of what it means to continue fishing in this environment. Ronald had no sooner returned his net back after emptying it for us, and immediately, the line was bouncing with a new catch. Calvin's smoke shack was severely damaged in a storm last year and has since been relocated, another very tangible reminder of how quickly the coastline here is changing.
And then there was berry picker Lynn Archieksook, who welcomed us into her home and proudly showed us the results of her hard work. Berry picking here is no leisurely afternoon. Cranberries and cloudberries grow close to the ground, making harvesting them back-breaking work. Yet Lynn spoke proudly about the income her picking provides and, before long, was eager to finish our conversation and get back out on the land.
Different people. Different ways of harvesting. But we heard a remarkably consistent message. The land has what they need.
They spoke about the importance of feeding their families whole, unprocessed foods and about the work involved in going out to get them. That work provides food and income, but it also keeps people active, connected to the land and connected to one another.
And the landscape they rely upon is changing.
Coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, changing sea ice and increasingly exposed shorelines are creating very real challenges in Tuk. Homes and infrastructure have already had to be moved. The community continues to adapt, just as it has adapted to the arrival of the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway, which created Canada's first all-season road connection to the Arctic Ocean and changed how people, products and opportunities move in and out of Tuk.
But what struck me most was that neither climate change nor remoteness defines this place. Community does and its people continue finding ways to build livelihoods around what this land and ocean provide.
And importantly, what is harvested here doesn't simply end with the harvester. During our day in Tuk, I had a small a glimpse into a much larger Inuvialuit food system, one that connects harvesters like those we met today with families and Elders across the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. That's a story deserving of its own post, and where we'll go next.
