From the first moment I saw Nunavut from the plane, I knew it was going to be an experience I would remember and cherish.  Seeing the expansive tundra and sharp colours of Frobisher Bay took my breath away.  Here was a land that was part of my home country that I was getting to know for the first time.  Seeing the town of Iqaluit nestled on the shore amid so much land and water spoke to the resilience of the people before I even landed.My own resilience was tested quite soon too as my luggage was not on the plane!  It is one thing to arrive on vacation in the Bahamas without your clothes and quite another to arrive in the Canadian Arctic!  However, I learned very quickly about the hospitality and generosity of the people who live in Iqaluit.  Cindy Roache was there to pick me up at the airport.  It was the first time we met–she had agreed to open her home to  me through the request of a mutual friend of ours from Nova Scotia (where she is originally from.)  And open her home she did!  Her home. Her car. Her food.  Her mittens. :)  She welcomed me to Nunavut and proceeded to introduce me to a number of people at the airport (the airport was a hub of activity and in small town spirit everyone was chatting away and shouting hellos) including the former Premiere of Nunavut who had been on my flight.After taking me to her home (that had the stunning view you see in so many of the pictures I’ve taken!), I was handed her car keys and I dropped her off and drove off to check out the town and the scenery.  The first survival skill of the North that I learned was what Cindy called the ‘Cambridge Bay shuffle’ which is simply taking very small careful steps to avoid falling on the ice.  (Because of the recent warm temperatures and rain, followed by very cold, the entire town of Iqaluit was icy.)   My second survival skill was door slamming.  Metal and wood sometimes shifted with the cold and if you didn’t slam the car door or the house door, you would have instant air conditioning!That night my kind host and her friend Melanie took me for dinner at the Frobisher.  After they picked me up off the floor after seeing the meal prices, we enjoyed a great meal and amazing art.  Local artists come to the restaurant and tour table to table to see if you are interested in buying their artwork.  There were amazing sculptures, beadwork and jewelry.  What a treat!The next day I awakened to that stunning view of the bay that was to become such a part of my experience there, and I was surprised to see hunters out near the flow edge.  It was later explained to me that this was highly unusual and was a result of the warm weather they had had.  Normally hunters would not be seen from the village at all–they would instead have to travel miles and miles out onto the ice to reach the flow edge where they would hunt.  But again, the warm weather had impeded the bay from freezing that far out and so hunters were hunting very near the village.The next day I was treated to a tour and we traveled around sight-seeing, picked up my luggage on a flight that arrived at noon (yay! long johns!) and she drove me to Apex where I took some pictures of one of the first Hudson Bay buildings, saw seal skins drying against a house and saw a local man building a new qamatik for hunting.At 3:15 I had a rehearsal booked with the Inuksuk Drum dancers and I walked into the surprisingly large school anxious to meet them in person.  Their choir director, Trudy, welcomed and introduced me and I took a moment to get to know the girls and to tell them more about the ‘Canadian Girl’ project.   They were so great—excited to be part of the project and had evidently spent some time listening to the song and becoming familiar with their parts.  When I think back to that moment, it is surprising to me how by the end of the recording session I felt like I knew them so well, when we really had such a short time together.  After going over the song several times, we took a break and they did throat-singing for me, drum dancing and sang a traditional song.  It was amazing and I did catch some of it on video and will share that when I am able to upload it.  They were so talented and so proud to share their amazing culture with me.  I felt so honoured.  We parted ways that day knowing that we were all sharing something very special.That evening, Trudy and Heather Daley (the Executive Director of the Alianait Festival) invited me to dinner with them at the Discovery.  I was quickly realizing that my social schedule in Iqaluit was busier than it was in Halifax!  We had a lovely dinner there, great company and great food where I enjoyed learning more about their experiences in the area and about the Alianait Festival itself.The next day I had my interview at CBC North at 10AM and enjoyed meeting the staff there and had a great time chatting on air and sharing a live version of the song (thanks to a very quick guitar loan from Karen Mackenzie) I was to record with the Inuksuk Drum Dancers with the CBC host, Abe.  From there (again with Cindy’s car!) I went directly to the school for a second rehearsal with the girls and then did some sight-seeing, driving out to the pier and going to the museum.The next day was recording day!  We were recording at Chris Coleman’s studio which was in his beautiful home that overlooked the town.  We met there at 6PM and all the girls were EARLY!  This, it was explained, was a first! :)  As Chris was setting up the girls and I had some time to chat and I was able to share the song ‘Canadian Girl’ with them and give them each a gift of a CD and a hand-made maple wood necklace (that I had had made just for them) just like the one I had as a token of appreciation and something that would remind them of being part of this and sharing this journey with me–a tangible reminder of this process that brought us all together and bound us together forever in a song.Chris was wonderful and the room was a great space to work in–the night went so well and felt like such a heart-warming experience, I was sad to see it all end.  The girls shared more throat-singing with me and told me about the history of throat-singing.  That a woman had begun making the sounds when her baby was on her back and noticed that the sounds soothed and calmed her baby.  She shared this with other women and they began to do it together and created a game out of it to see if they could match each others sounds.  This technique was practiced and perfected and while the men were hunting the women were throat-singing and creating something that would be passed on from generation to generation.  It is amazing to watch.  I went to bed that night feeling deeply moved by everything I had just been part of.The next day I went for a walk on the ice and was in awe of the beauty (you can see much of it in the pictures I took during that walk.)  That evening as I was preparing to fly out the next day I learned that some of the video I had taken of the girls did not work, so the next morning I went back to the school and did a bit more video of the girls–I was disappointed the video hadn’t worked but happy to have a chance to see them again before I left.  I even drove up to the store where one of the girls worked to catch her on video too!   From there we went for a community Lunch at the Francophone Association that had great turn out great food!  It felt a little like old home week as I saw Heather, Mylene, Cindy and Karen.  It was a great way to end my visit there and to appreciate how many connections to community I had made in my short time there.The culture, the land, the community and the resilience in Iqaluit was extraordinary.   It is an experience I will always remember and hope that many other Canadians get a chance to experience.   The Inuksuk Drum Dancers sounded amazing on the song, “You Are The Reason” and I knew that I had chosen the right place and right group to be part of a song that already had a significant place in my heart.