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Inuktitut linguist dies in Toronto

On Jan. 30, after a period of treatment for heart disease, Alexander (Alex) Edward Spalding, former Hudson’s Bay Company Post manager, government education administrator, scholar, writer and poet, passed away peacefully at Toronto General Hospital, at the age of 78.

Spalding was a noted Inuktitut linguist, author of several "Eskimo" grammars and a recently published Inuktitut dictionary. He also published a memoir called Aivilik Adventure, about his years in the north, along with several studies and poems based on Inuit myths relayed to him by his friend and fellow linguist, Thomasie Kusugaq.

Spalding was born in Craik, Saskatchewan, on Dec. 7, 1923, and went north to Repulse Bay with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1946. He subsequently joined the education division of the department of northern affairs as an administrator, and worked as interpreter/translator aboard the federal government’s Arctic patrol vessel C.D. Howe.

Spalding went on to complete a university undergraduate degree, a Masters degree in English literature and a Doctorate on the work of English poet William Wordsworth.

Spalding spent his last years in Toronto among friends at Dorset Fine Arts.

At his request, his ashes will be returned to Repulse Bay, where a memorial service and burial will take place.

Any inquiries can be directed to Dorset Fine Arts, (416) 960-3055.Devon Island — a bridge to Mars?

For the past few years in July, the U.S. space agency NASA has set up camp by the edge of the Haughton Crater on Devon Island. There, on terrain that looks a lot like Mars, researchers have been testing the technology they’ll need for Mars exploration, carrying out experiments and getting a taste of life on the Red Planet.

However, apart from residents of Grise Fiord and Resolute, and some GN bureaucrats, few Nunavimmiut have been able to actually visit the site.

This weekend, a one-hour documentary called A Bridge to Mars will air on the Discovery network. The film focuses on three scientists on Devon Island whose research on lake sediments, rocks and communications technology is driven by their dreams of one day participating in Mars exploration.

Also featured in the film is Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist and the driving force behind the Haughton-Mars project who sees Devon Island as the best place on Earth to understand Mars.

A Bridge to Mars is told from the point of view of Mars-happy scientists who share his vision — although the humidity of the sometimes wet and foggy Devon Island raises some questions about its suitability for testing technology intended for the dry climate of Mars.

But the story is well told, and the photography in A Bridge to Mars is worth a look as the camera shows the Mars-like landscape of Devon Island, with no dressing up.

A Bridge to Mars was co-directed and written by Montreal-based director Ole Gjerstad who also worked on Kikkik, the gripping docu-drama based on events concerning the story of Kikkik, an Inuk woman accused of murder in 1958.

A Bridge to Mars airs on the Discovery network on Fri. Feb. 8, at 10 p.m., and repeats on Sat. Feb. 9, at 3 a.m., 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

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