Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve taken portions out of the eulogy in honour of Jimmy Memogana written by Tom Smith and Roger Memogana.
Jimmy Memogana lived in Ulukhaktok, formerly known as Holman, NWT. In May 1914 his parents died in the year of his birth during the influenza pandemic which reached the Canadian Arctic and killed a large number of our northern aboriginal Canadians. Orphaned as an infant, he was fortunate to be adopted by Natkusiak, who had been a guide, together with Jimmy’s own biological father, Jimmy Memogana, on the first trips made in the Arctic by explorer Viljhalmur Stefansson in 1908 to 1912. As Jimmy told me, “Natkusiak took me in when my parents died of the Spanish Flu in 1919 and he put my father’s name on me.” With many years travelling with Natkusiak and hunting through a large area of the \western Arctic, Jimmy Memogana had learned the lessons from the very best. Eventually Natkusiak settled in Holman in the late ‘30s. Jimmy and his wife, Hayulak, who still lives there, raised 11 children and have 60 direct descendants.
Those who knew Jimmy all have many stories to tell about him, which are always full of humour. They will tell you that he could never sit still and was always travelling. He embodied the buoyant energy made of real knowledge, confidence and enthusiasm. In our overly comfortable, southern urban world, these are admirable and increasingly rare qualities.
Jimmy was a natural teacher. He taught by example, few words, and an ever present sense of humour. He loved his life as a hunter. He could not help being drawn out and taken by enthusiasm. He was a leader, an Inumarialuk. In Tom Smith’s words, “I can still see him barely visible, leading his way always on his dog sled or snowmobile into an ever-shifting ground drift of a howling winter gale, never looking back. Sure of his way, always travelling, consummate hunter.”
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement
---Unanimous consent granted.
I would always visit Jimmy and his wife during my constituency tours. I had the privilege of knowing such a great traditional leader in the community of Ulukhaktok, and the community will sadly miss a leader such as Jimmy. Quyanainni.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
