I finally put batteries into the radio that I had friends send up so that I could listen to the CBC in the mornings without firing up the gennie. And with that came sad news from Canada’s high north, the crash of First Air flight 6560 in the remote Arctic hamlet of Resolute Bay. Three survived and 12 died in the crash. I couldn’t even imagine how devastating the event must have been for the tiny community of roughly 200. In a place that small, everyone must have known or been related to someone on board.
This news struck me more than the usually abstract reports of a distant plane crash, since I was in Resolute Bay this time last year. I was travelling with a group of journalists doing a story about an Inuit-owned cruise operation through the Northwest Passage, a trip that started and ended in Resolute Bay.
A couple days later I found out through a group email that the two little girls who had been travelling with their Inuit mother and grandmother on the boat with us, had been on that First Air flight. Gabrielle, 7, survived, Cheyenne, 6, did not. You always hear rosy descriptions of those who have just encountered tragedy, but a quote from a local in a Globe and Mail article about the girls seemed entirely credible, “Those girls have long been the absolute jewels of this entire town…They’re cute, they’re friendly, they greet and charm every last person who came through this town.” I don’t think that there was a person on our boat who wasn’t charmed silly by the girls. It seems inadequate and trite to say that my heart goes out to the girls’ family. I can’t even begin to imagine the depth of their grief.
Through Facebook and email, the journalists and other ship’s passengers, are rallying to drum up some expression of support. One is spearheading a collection of images to send to the family.
Looking back at photos from that trip, made me reflect on living in truly remote places like Resolute Bay and what remains of their traditional subsistence lifestyles. I’ll save it for another post. For now, I’ll just express my heartfelt sorrow for Gabrielle and Cheyenne’s family.