From the Tundra to the Trenches by Eddy Weetaltuk (review)

Eddy Weetaltuk’s book is the fourth in a series, First Voices, First Texts, from the University of Manitoba Press. Its very publication is an interesting story, because the manuscript was lost in the Canadian Museum of History for twenty-six years. After it resurfaced, Weetaltuk worked with Thibault Martin to revise the manuscript that he started in 1974. This collaboration is fully documented in the book, and the book was finished in 2005, when Weetaltuk died. Unfortunately, it then languished until it was picked up by the University of Manitoba Press.

Weetaltuk wanted this book to illustrate to Inuit youth that they had the freedom to become anything they wanted. He recounts his satisfying experiences with the religious school at Fort George. He stayed there after his schooling, learning French and agriculture. Tired of the hard living in the North, he wanted to experience the world at large, so he headed south. Under the impression that the Canadian government prohibited the Inuit from leaving the Arctic, he changed his name and joined the Canadian armed forces, in which he served for sixteen years. The majority of the book details his experiences in the Korean War, Japan, and Germany. His description of the war years reveals the terror under fire that his mortar team experienced, as well as the wild drinking and whoring. He documents his loves, his mistakes, and his fascination with foreign languages.

Weetaltuk eventually returned to the North, but his childhood memories and his resettlement in the Arctic seem like bookends to what he perceives as the adventure of his life. He does not dwell on cultural differences or attitudes of the Canadian South. His narrative presents an individual who has moved through remarkable historical and cultural contrast, but with little reflection on these larger movements. For example, he can comment on the difficult situation of Korean and Japanese women who must give themselves to GIs, yet he always has a nameless intimate lover whose life we never see.

The book includes twenty-five charming drawings that illustrate moments in his life. It concludes with a sociological account of aboriginal participation in Canadian Wars by Thibault Martin. Weetaltuk’s life story certainly differs from many of the better-known autobiographical accounts by Canadian Inuit and so complements this growing body of literature, but the flavor of the book is that of a sociological case study.