"I remember when I was a little boy I used to make many things out of driftwood. Even though nobody paid much attention to me in the qaygiq, I just kept on making things. I used to make bows and arrows that way, and other things too. I used to watch others make things and do as they did. Later I made anything a man could make, like paddles and even a kayak. I also made fish traps for catching blackfish and other fish. These days I work on ivory. Seems I'm always working on ivory, like right now while I'm talking I'm working on this ivory ring. When I was a little boy I learned to carve with wood, but now I work with ivory mostly. I remember the old people who were alive a long time ago. They used to be making things all the time, things that they could use. I watched them make those things in the qaygiq. I used to watch them carefully and learned from them. And when I became a man like them I was able to make things just like they did. When I was growing up, and before the Gussuks came, there was always work to do. We Eskimos were always busy in those days."

interview by Edna Lake