Cold Edge of Heaven, by Whit FraserHandout
- Title: Cold Edge of Heaven
- Author: Whit Fraser
- Genre: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Boulder Books
- Pages: 250
The first Mountie died by suicide with his service revolver. The second accidentally shot and killed himself with a rifle while hunting alone. The third lost three fingers to frostbite and was later discharged from the RCMP on medical grounds. That’s the official history of the failed three-man mission to establish a sovereignty assertion outpost at Dundas Harbour, in what is now Nunavut, from 1924 to 1927.
Nearly a century later, Whit Fraser brings us an alternative, more compelling account. This is a work of historical fiction grounded firmly in real life.
Fraser has spent decades in the Arctic, working for the CBC, chairing the Canadian Polar Commission and serving as executive director of the national organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. He knows the North, its people and their history.
Fraser tells his story through the eyes of Will Grant, a Nova Scotian who has returned from the First World War and joined the RCMP. The young veteran is experiencing the wonders and dangers of the Arctic for the first time, and we share in his journey.
From the awe-inspiring, full-sky aurora borealis to the stealthy, ever-present threat of polar bears. From the biological abundance of the Arctic summer to the psychological perils of the completely sunless winter.
We meet the three Inuit guides – two men, one woman – who teach the Mounties how to survive. Through them, we learn how to find and harvest wildlife, survive brutal storms, drive dog teams over shifting sea-ice, and tell the temperature of the air by the squeakiness of the snow.
Fraser provides us with a clear window into the world of the Inuit as it existed before they were forced off the land and ice and into permanent settlements, with all the social traumas that came with that.
Through the three Mounties, we learn about the challenges facing Canadian society in the 1920s. From the shell shock (now called post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD) that crippled a generation of young men returning from Europe, to the waves of influenza and tuberculosis that rolled across the nation.
From the racism, homophobia, and other hatreds that were unleashed on minorities, to Canada’s tenuous hold on its sovereignty in the North. A tenuous hold, at least as described in the promises and plans of federal politicians and civil servants, who sought a national project to inspire Canadians after the horrors and hardships of the war.
Fraser lets us know what he thinks of this. As his protagonist says to the two other Mounties: “The government acts as though we are the only people here. They think this little oil lamp and a building put up almost overnight means something. What about the hundreds, perhaps thousands of seal-oil lamps, hollowed out from stone, that flicker in a thousand igloos? Why don’t they mark Canada’s presence?” Or as Inuit leaders say today, as they describe a desperate need for housing, health care, education and jobs: “Sovereignty begins at home.”
This is a multifaceted book: a murder mystery, survival saga, history lesson, cultural immersion, social commentary and story of personal and religious growth. If this sounds overdone, Fraser actually pulls it off.
Fraser even teaches his readers some Inuktitut, and thanks his wife, Mary Simon, for assisting with the translations. That’s Mary Simon the Governor-General of Canada, which makes the refreshingly down-to-earth Fraser our viceregal consort. One might think that their relationship, between an Inuk from Nunavik and a qallunaaq (white man) from Nova Scotia, informs the book in other ways.
Fraser has modelled Will Grant on his own great-uncle, and the young Mountie quickly falls in love with Naudla, the female guide. And while this is not a particularly racy book, the Queen’s representative in Canada has provided her husband with a translation for tussungniayuq, which the sexiest word that you will read today.
The myth of Canada’s imperilled Arctic sovereignty also persists; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just last month hosted NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a sovereignty assertion exercise at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
The soldiers, sailors and aviators who took part in Operation Nanook, the sovereignty operation, will be just as sincere about their mission as the three young Mounties in this book. But make no mistake, as they march around the community – seldom venturing beyond a cellphone signal – they are following an official history that has shaped this country for a century or more. Whit Fraser doesn’t buy it. He knows who Canada’s Arctic heroes are.
Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of International Law and the Arctic, which won the 2013 Donner Prize.
Expand your mind and build your reading list with the Books newsletter. Sign up today.