(Ottawa, ON) – May 29, 2024 – On this week’s episode of Roots and Hoots, host Gordon Spence is joined by Inuk hunter, community and family man, Johnny Flaherty. The two discuss life up in Canada’s Northern Arctic and Johnny shares stories of his many polar bear hunts and travels with his dog sled team. 

Johnny was born in Canada’s most northerly community, Grise Fiord. His parents were part of the Inuit High Arctic relocation during the 1950s from Inukjuaq in Northern Quebec to Ellesmere Island. Johnny speaks about his experience with the 24 hours of darkness. Having been born into the dark, one gets the feeling that there is less of an adjustment, than if one is thrown into it later in life, as was the case with his parents. Johnny talks about his experience and shares how he would navigate the darker months. 

Johnny’s father was a hunter and as a little boy, he would follow him anywhere he was able. When his father passed away, Johnny was a young teenager. He took to following his older brothers and community members on their hunts, always learning from them and remembering significant landmarks and secret passages that the ice and mountains would allow. After returning home from attending high school in Iqaluit, Johnny knew he wanted to be a hunter and began building his own dog sled team with help from his step uncle, Elder Larry Audlaluk (past guest of the Roots and Hoots podcast!).

To listen to Indigenous Roots and Hoots please visit: https://bit.ly/rootsnhoots
Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/rnhpodcasts
Spotify: https://bit.ly/rnhspotify
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/rnhgoogle
Amazon/Audible: https://amzn.to/43DaaeI
Podcast Addict: https://bit.ly/rnhpodaddict

What comes through in this conversation is the adventurous, dangerous and unpredictable life of a hunter. To remain calm and purposeful are skills one can see Johnny possesses, and these are also skills that have translated into his involvement in search and rescue. In the closing of their discussion, Johnny shares an Inuit saying how ‘the woman giving birth is closest to death and a man going out hunting is closest to death.’ Johnny shares how being prepared for the unknown is something the Inuit have always done, and it continues to be something they will do going forward.

The LHF is a national, Indigenous-led, charitable organization that has been working to promote healing and Reconciliation in Canada for over 24 years. The LHF’s goal is to educate Canadians about the history and existing intergenerational impacts of the Residential and Day School Systems and subsequent Child Welfare System on Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) Survivors, their descendants, and their communities to address discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, and to promote hope and healing in Canada. The LHF works to encourage Canadians to address discrimination and injustice in order to contribute to the equity, dignity, and respectful treatment of Indigenous Peoples.

The LHF has close to 30 educational exhibitions that promote awareness of Indigenous history that are free to borrow and is working on making exhibitions available online. LHF also has curriculum for K-12 and for adults, along with Activity Guides, Workshops and Training, two Podcast series, all aimed at educating Canadians about Indigenous history and the shared history of Residential and Day Schools, the Child Welfare System, and other colonial acts of oppression. The LHF works to develop empathy and understanding so as to eliminate ongoing racism against Indigenous Peoples and to foster Reconciliation in Canada.

Pour les demandes médiatiques, contactez :
Teresa Edwards, B.A., LL.B. JD. Directrice générale et conseillère juridique interne Fondation autochtone de l’espoir Courriel:info@legacyofhope.ca Téléphone:613-237-4806, poste 303