Tuesday the sky cleared long enough for lots of planes with most of the people moved both in and out, Air Inuit got in from Nunavik too.

We were down at the airstrip mid afternoon seeing the GD boyfriend as he passed through. This was his second go at getting home to Hopedale, while there the weather started to come down again but the boyfriend made it back home this time.
Still lots of mail and freight to come in, some people getting antsy for their Xmas packages and cheques.

Back to the plane I mentioned in the previous post. That blue twin otter was the first plane to get down since the previous Tuesday, it was full of Nain people coming home for Christmas so you can imagine the excitement.

So once the ramp cleared the plane sat there waiting, next thing comes the arrival of Bill Prankard and his band of visiting and Nain based prophets, eight in all, plus two komatik boxes full of language.
It turned out that Bill had charted the plane for the return trip, incidentally he charted on the way up too.

So a plane that can carry nineteen plus luggage only took eight people, sort of funny considering the seven days of no planes. Wonder what happened to all that love and caring for the “natives”?
Truth is a family of three also got aboard, special dispensations for connected people.

There is something missing in those two pictures. That’s right; there are no happy smiling grateful natives there to see Bill and co off. Not one, zero, zilch.

Ray Whalen of Shinning Light Ministry Inc and his wife embarked also [included in the eight], could it be possible Ray will not be here to administer to his flock over this season of giving and sharing?

So if we calculate the three thousand dollars [approximate] each way for the charters, then the return trips for six Ottawa to Goose Bay at seven thousand dollars [approximate] and a thousand dollars for accommodation and incidentals you come up with a figure of fourteen grand.

Now if they really wanted to cloth and feed the whole community [Bills words not mine] then fourteen grand would buy a lot of caps and mitts and hot chocolate. And why would it take 6 white folks from Ottawa to do the feeding and clothing when Bill has his underling stationed here, after all the claim is there was no shortage of volunteers to do the deed. It is all very confusing to say the least.

Speaking of confusing get a gander of this video Bill took while here. There are a number of visuals and statements made that are straight out of some weird PR company file.

Firstly there is Bills get up, all the while he was here the temperature did not get below -1, so Bill would be a little overdressed.
There is reference to “being in the Arctic” [may explain Bills get up]. Bill must have been behind the door when geography was taught.

Bills references “we opened up the community center” for the big give away. This could be a little misleading for some. The community center is open 6 to 7 days a week. While old and maybe a little small it is the hub of activity for youth, elders, and special events. It is maintained and operated by the Nain Inuit Community Governments recreation department.

There is reference to “making sure the entire community and every household has what is needed to make Christmas enjoyable” [paraphrased].
Off the top of my head I can think of 15 to 20 households who neither asked nor were given any of Bills largess. Why would households with 80 to 100 [not us] grand incomes be given, or more importantly accept, Bills largess? Would it not be more meaningful if a means test was incurred for this type of “give away”?

The reference to “helping the natives” could be offensive to some. Native is not a word that is used at all in my experience in referring to people in the Inuit communities.

Bill makes reference to being “at the ends of the earth”. WTF does that mean pray tell?
Could it be Bill thinks the world is flat? Has he quoted it in the biblical sense? Is Nain that far removed from Bills life experiences that he has to use that term? I find it offensive, especially in this day and age of modes of travel and communication.

So in brief I am flummoxed by Bill and companies inference that Nain is a backward half starving ill clothed bunch of booze besotted natives at the end of the earth.

I am also flummoxed why there has been no official intervention to correct the misconceptions this bloke and his band of used car salesperson's are spreading in the south.

The truth is quite the opposite; we will get into that later.

Later breaking news: The sun is not up yet BUT I can see the top of the hills, on the eight day we were rid of Bill and the fog and drizzle.