Mary Flaherty – Her Story

Mary was three years old when her family was relocated from Inukjuak to Grise Fiord in 1955. On their way up to the Arctic, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis so when the ship reached Churchill she was taken off the boat to be treated down south. After six month in a sanatorium in Montreal, she was sent back up north but to the wrong destination; Inukjuak, where her family was no longer. Then they sent her to Resolute Bay. It’s only two years after being separated from her family that she was finally reunited with them in Grise Fiord.

My name is Mary Flaherty. I grew up in Grise Fjord. I’m originally born in Inukjuak and lost somewhere for few years. Now I live in Iqaluit.”

“I remember being hungry. When the school open I remember there was food for lunches, making soup for kids. But when we go home in the evening there was not food. So to go to school, can’t wait to go to school in the morning so we can eat even though we were not supposed to speak our language. That’s what I remember. ”

Mary Flaherty – Iqaluit, 2011