Gordon Rennie: a lifetime of service

SARAH MANIAPIK

IQALUIT — “Young men seeking a life of adventure in Canada’s Arctic” said the advertisement that first brought a young man named Gordon Rennie to Canada’s North in 1947, from St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Rennie’s first adventures started in the Keewatin region. His first placement was in a place known then to the Inuit as Qavviuja, or Tavane, on the west coast of Hudson Bay. Rennie spent 18 months at Tavane, which was closed down in the 1950s.

He arrived at Tavane, by a 40-foot Peterhead boat, owned by Johnny Voisey. His ports of call before arriving at Tavane, were Wabowden, and then Churchill, Manitoba.

Even at the age of 18, the position he held then and always has held for the Hudson’s Bay Company is manager.

From Tavane, Rennie was transferred to a Chipeywan Indian settlement called Duck Lake in northern Manitob for six months as an HBC manager.

He then went to Churchill for eight months. After that, he was allowed to take his first holiday, a benefit that was allowed only every three years.

After returning from his first holiday, Rennie was posted to what was then known then as Eskimo Point, now the community of Arviat. He was posted with a man named Chesley Russell, who would be later known to the Inuit as Aupaktualuk. Rennie spent only one month in that community.

From Eskimo Point, he went on to northern Ontario to work as an HBC manager in a Cree settlement called Attawapiskat.

“I spent one year there. I was asked to stay on another year, but I refused. I already liked the Arctic better,” Rennie said.

So after northern Ontario, Rennie returned to Eskimo Point in 1951 for two more years. At that time there was a period of starvation and sickness afflicting the Inuit of the Keewatin.

Returning from his second holiday, Rennie started a new adventure in the eastern Arctic.

His first posting in the eastern Arctic was in Kimmirut, then called Lake Harbour. Rennie arrived by the Hudson’s Bay Company’s supply ship Rupert’s Land. Rennie set sail from Montreal, stopping at Fort Chimo (Kuujjuaq), Payne Bay (Kangirsuk) and Wakeham Bay (Kangiqsujjuaq) before arriving at his destination.

Little did Rennie know that Davidee, the man who piloted the HBC ship into Lake Harbour, would later become his father- in-law.

Davidee’s daughter Sarah was one of the first people who Rennie saw in Lake Harbour. Sarah would later become Mrs. Rennie.

Rennie says that life in the eastern Arctic at that time was enormously different than life in the central Arctic. While Inuit in the central Arctic were struggling to eat, Inuit in the eastern Arctic seemed to have more opportunities for Inuit to prosper. One activity in particular was to carve with soapstone and ivory.

There was also a boat building project organized by the federal government and the HBC.

Rennie says he spent three-and-a-half wonderful years in Lake Harbour before moving on to the largest community in the eastern Arctic — Frobisher Bay, as Iqaluit was then called.

Rennie arrived in Frobisher Bay on December 18, 1956. When Rennie left Lake Harbour he was flown out by helicopter, instead of going by dog team, which was the usual way to travel in the winter months, in the summer months, they were able to travel by 24-foot canoe.

He was to work in the first heated HBC store in the Arctic, located along the shoreline in Apex.

At that time, the community of Apex was still undergoing construction. Rennie was already familiar with Frobisher Bay, having already travelled to the community by dog team on numerous occasions.

Rennie’s staff consisted of 10 people: six southern clerk trainees, and four local Inuit cashiers. The first Inuit cashiers at the new Apex HBC store were Ooleepeeka Veevee, Annie Manumee, Saila Joamie and Elisapee Kilabuk.

One of the most important things Rennie had to learn was the language of the Inuit.

Rennie was already able to speak Inuktitut when he reached the eastern Arctic. Rennie says the late Pauloosie Tulugak, who was living in Tavane when Rennie was posted there, accredits himself for teaching him Inuktitut.

Rennie would sit while the late Tulugak wrote out phrases in Inuktitut, and he would learn from those.

He also learned by spending time out on the land with Tulugak. Sometimes, in the beginning, he wasn’t always sure of what was being said.

With a grin on his face, Rennie says jokingly that you have to be careful who you learn your Inuktitut from, because you do not want to end up speaking like a girl.

Some of the biggest changes that Rennie has seen, since he first arrived, is that most of the Inuit were still living in igloos and small camps, and spoke only Inuktitut

“When I first came to Frobisher Bay, my customers were predominately Inuktitut speaking.”

The use of English was not far off in the future, though. In what seems like a short period of time, Inuit have learned to use the English language. Education and the presence of the government were the most likely reasons.

The difference between the time when Gord Rennie started working out of the first heated Hudson’s Bay Company store in Apex and the construction of today’s new Northmart store are huge.

Over the years the Hudson’s Bay Company store has had three different locations in Iqaluit. After Apex, the HBC moved into the Astro Hill mall in 1971, and in 1981 moved into the location where the new Northmart store sits.

In 1987, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold its northern stores to a firm that eventually became known as as the Northwest Company, based in Winnipeg. Shortly after that, the HBC store’s name changed to “Northern.”

Rennie said that Iqaluit has always been bigger than other eastern Arctic communities, growing in spurts, sometimes stopping for awhile, and then starting again.

Rennie has been involved in the community in numerous ways. One of his first activities was with the Apex community association. This committee was set up primarily to deal with a issue that still is a controversy today — dogs.

In 1968, Rennie was a member for the NWT liquor board of inquiry. He was a member for 10 years. His role on that board was to make recommendations to the NWT territorial council, which eventually became the legislative assembly

In 1970, Rennie was the honorary Toonik for that year’s Toonik Tyme festival. He remembers when the first honory Toonik, in 1965, was former prime minster John Diefenbaker.

The following year Rennie became mayor of Frobisher Bay. Previous to that he had sat on the municipal council. Over the years Rennie has sat on many other local committees and boards.

Rennie has even earned the business man of the year award. In addition to his involvement with the HBC and the Northwest Company, Rennie has also been involved in the real estate business.

Rennie has been formally retired since 1995, but continues to do special projects for the Northwest Company.

One project Rennie was also involved in was “Iqaluit for Capital’ Rennie visited the Kivalliq Region, to promote Iqaluit for Capital, and was well received. Many of the people remembered Rennie, back when he was there in the late1940’s and early 1950’s.

An interesting part of Gord Rennie’s story is that his first plans were to enter university.

At the time, people who were returning from the war were given first priority for university entrance. So Gordon Rennie answered the ad that brought him to the Arctic.