Runamukluk, by kalpurna
Fraser: Well, I grew up with my grandparents in Inuvik.
Vecchio: Really? Is that downtown Inuvik or the outskirts?
Fraser: More the outskirts.
Canonically, we know of three specific places that Benton Fraser lived as a child: Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territories, and Alert, formerly in the Northwest Territories, now in Nunavut. He also seems to have lived in the Yukon, and he must have gone to the RCMP training facilities in Regina (pronounced like "vagina", for reasons known only to Canadians), but that doesn't bear exploring at this juncture.
So, where exactly did our Constable Fraser spend his formative years? Armed only with my laptop, Rodney, a packet of Pringles, and Google, I set out on a quest to find whatever information there was on the Internets regarding Fraser's three hometowns.
Inuvik bills itself as the administrative center (or, well, centre) of the Arctic Circle. It was a planned town, built to replace the village of Aklavik (which had an unfortunate tendency to flood). Inuvik has a fantastic website, which is well worth a look around - my particular favorite feature is under Facts and Figures in the Tourism section, where in addition to information on such basics as "Weather" and "Language", you can find this gem:
Traffic Lights:
There is one traffic light at the intersection of Mackenzie Road and Distributor Street.
OH CANADA.
More information on Inuvik can be found here, its weather conditions at the moment are available here, and some rather pretty Inuvik-ians (?) posing on the cover of the Inuvik Drum can be ogled here.
Alert is the northernmost permanently inhabited settlement in the world. It has, alas, no website, but there is information about the place on Wikipedia here, and at the Canadian Encyclopedia here (some of which casts doubt on the idea that Fraser could have lived there, actually, as it seems to be a purely military base). Some photographs of Alert can be found here, including one shot of an inukshuk.
Tuktoyaktuk, happily, does have a website. While it's not the rich resource that Inuvik's is, the site does offer the information that "Tuktoyaktuk is the anglicized form of the community's Inuvialuit place-name meaning 'resembling a caribou'." Who knew?
I also think it provides some interesting inspiration for fic simply because of how little information there is. For instance, who on earth books a tour with Ookpik Tours & Adventures? Might Ray and Fraser like to attend the Great Northern Arts Festival? What is sold at The Northern? Have the Tuktoyaktuk website organizers even noticed that all their "attractions" seem to be located in Inuvik? Questions for the ages, my friends.
Wikipedia's page on Tuktoyaktuk is here, its weather is here, and there are panoramic videos of the area here.
And in closing, I will leave you with this charming photo essay on some guy's visit to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, featuring such gems as "An boat that has some sort of special significance for the town." Not to be missed.
Vecchio: Really? Is that downtown Inuvik or the outskirts?
Fraser: More the outskirts.
Canonically, we know of three specific places that Benton Fraser lived as a child: Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territories, and Alert, formerly in the Northwest Territories, now in Nunavut. He also seems to have lived in the Yukon, and he must have gone to the RCMP training facilities in Regina (pronounced like "vagina", for reasons known only to Canadians), but that doesn't bear exploring at this juncture.
So, where exactly did our Constable Fraser spend his formative years? Armed only with my laptop, Rodney, a packet of Pringles, and Google, I set out on a quest to find whatever information there was on the Internets regarding Fraser's three hometowns.
Inuvik bills itself as the administrative center (or, well, centre) of the Arctic Circle. It was a planned town, built to replace the village of Aklavik (which had an unfortunate tendency to flood). Inuvik has a fantastic website, which is well worth a look around - my particular favorite feature is under Facts and Figures in the Tourism section, where in addition to information on such basics as "Weather" and "Language", you can find this gem:
Traffic Lights:
There is one traffic light at the intersection of Mackenzie Road and Distributor Street.
OH CANADA.
More information on Inuvik can be found here, its weather conditions at the moment are available here, and some rather pretty Inuvik-ians (?) posing on the cover of the Inuvik Drum can be ogled here.
Alert is the northernmost permanently inhabited settlement in the world. It has, alas, no website, but there is information about the place on Wikipedia here, and at the Canadian Encyclopedia here (some of which casts doubt on the idea that Fraser could have lived there, actually, as it seems to be a purely military base). Some photographs of Alert can be found here, including one shot of an inukshuk.
Tuktoyaktuk, happily, does have a website. While it's not the rich resource that Inuvik's is, the site does offer the information that "Tuktoyaktuk is the anglicized form of the community's Inuvialuit place-name meaning 'resembling a caribou'." Who knew?
I also think it provides some interesting inspiration for fic simply because of how little information there is. For instance, who on earth books a tour with Ookpik Tours & Adventures? Might Ray and Fraser like to attend the Great Northern Arts Festival? What is sold at The Northern? Have the Tuktoyaktuk website organizers even noticed that all their "attractions" seem to be located in Inuvik? Questions for the ages, my friends.
Wikipedia's page on Tuktoyaktuk is here, its weather is here, and there are panoramic videos of the area here.
And in closing, I will leave you with this charming photo essay on some guy's visit to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, featuring such gems as "An boat that has some sort of special significance for the town." Not to be missed.