From the French resistance to Nunavut: The love story between Gabriel Gly and the Inuit

Gabriel Gly, a French painter who spent much of his life alongside the Inuit, died at the end of November in Selkirk, Man., at the age of 96. To the University of Manitoba, he left his archival collection of photos that document the lives of people in the Canadian North from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Nothing predestined Gly, who was born in Paris, France, in 1924,to live the majority of his life in the Canadian Far North. But after participating in the resistance during the Second World War, a young Gly fell in love with the Canadian Arctic after seeing an exhibition of Inuit art in the storefront of the Librairie Sainte-Beuvein Paris. He gathered all his savings and left for Canada in 1952.

"He said that the living conditions in France and the situation after the war were really desperate," saidShelley Sweeney, the retired head of the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections, who knew Gly personally.

"After some time in southern Canada, where he sold cameras, he moved to Nunavut."

In 1953, when he was 29, Glygot a jobas a cook with TransportCanada.

"He said to himself,'I'm French, I should be able to cook,'" recalls his longtime friend, Michael Shouldice, who has held various positions in the Far Northand still lives in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

"He was chosen because he was the one who, of all the applicants, was the most motivated to go to the North, according to what the recruiter had told him."

Over the years, Gly worked at several weather stations, located in Clyde River (Kanngiqtugaapik), Ennadai Lake, and Sachs Harbor (Ikaahuk) on Banks Island.

Feeding the hungry

Gly quickly became friends with some of the Inuit around his postings. His compassion led him to break the rules and give food from his workplace to the men, women and children of Ennadai Lake who were on the brink of starvation.

According to legend, he was nicknamed "back door" or "bottom of the stairs" by the people he helped, after the location where the food was stored.

"I don't think his bosses were too happy with him, but he would bring in people and he would give them food and flour and let them eat," saidShouldice. "People never forgot that about him."

Until his death, they remembered him for his kindness and compassion- Michael Shouldice, longtime friend of Gabriel Gly

Everywhere Gly went, he left a mark in people's hearts.

"He talked to everyone, and everybody wanted to talk to him. Walking from one end of Eskimo Point [now named Arviat] to the other took forever if you walked with him, because everyone wanted to shake his hand, share a good story, a smile. People loved him and he loved this community. He spoke well of them all the time,"said Shouldice.

In 1988, Gly and Shouldiceraised funds to allow the elders to return to their ancestral lands near Ennadai Lake. A television crew from CBC's The Fifth Estate followed their journey.

Defender of Inuit art

Gabriel Gly worked all of his life toward the recognition of Inuit art.

During a radio interview on Radio-Canada's show Partage du jour,in 1964, Gly saidthe commercial aspect of art "completely escapes" the Inuit.

"The world market is an abstraction [for them]," he said."They don't know what we're talking about because, unless they've been exposed to southern markets, they can't imagine that there are maybe a million people around the world who are interested in their art."

Moreover, Gly could be very vocal when something or someone annoyed him, like people who bought carvings in Northern Canada for a low price and sold them for several thousands of dollars in the south.

"Gabriel was very vocal about the inequity of things like that,"said Shouldice.

Photographic testimony of life in the Arctic

In addition to the memories, Gly leaves hundreds of photographs thatbear witness to life in the Canadian Far North between 1954 and 1987. An archival collection has been established at the University of Manitoba with this material.

"The collection is comprised of almost 600 black-and-white and colour photographs, more than 2,000 negatives, close to 700 slides, publications[and] a manuscript,"saidSweeney. The photographs were taken throughoutGly's life and they "cover communities such as Arviat, Pioneertown, Clyde River and quite a few other northern communities."

His photos depict scenes of daily life, whether it is a caribou hunt, a sculptor at workor even discussions around a table on which small Inuit artworks can be seen.

"That's what makes his photos valuable," said Sweeney.

Gabriel always had a sketchbook and a camera. It was his 'petit joujou'- Michael Shouldice, longtime friend of Gabriel Gly

The documents left by Glyprovide precious information about life in the Far Northduring a period for which there is little documentation.

"It gives a glimpse into a way of life that even Nunavut people might not recognize today," saidSweeney.

She notes that his pictures have been used "very little" so far. But she hopes that will change "and [the photos will] provide new insights that researchers can take advantage of."