Follow Up Activity:  A Trading Post

After learning about Angulalik from the Scavenger Hunt activity complete the following trading post activity in the classroom to help your students understand what life was like for Angulalik. 

Angulalik set up a very successful and independently owned trading post in Perry River after the Canalaska trading company and the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) were asked to leave by government order in 1928.  Angulalik provided goods to the local Inuit and was sometimes known for ordering what seemed to be very strange items.  For example:  umbrellas.  The umbrella, when covered in white cotton, was a great camouflaged shield used by the hunters to hide behind when approaching a sleeping seal.  Angulalik operated the post until 1956 and continued to work there until it closed in 1967.

Trading between the Kitikmeot regional groups occurred well before the first European operated fur trading posts were established.  These traditional trading groups and routes provided the basis for the beginning of the fur trade.  In this activity students will set up a trading post in the classroom.

1. Gather the following materials:

• 200 or more sticks or tokens (popsicle sticks, small poker chips or pennies)
• 4-5 long tables
• see the list of items below that students will need to bring from home

2. Ask each student to pick one item from each of the two lists below.  Ensure all items are selected.

Ask the

3. Ask the students to make a representation of their two items.  This could include drawings, cut-outs, models, etc.  They will need to be creative. Their representation of the items should be attractive because that will determine how many tokens are given in exchange. The quantity of their two items they bring in determines the number of tokens they will receive, so encourage the students to make their items of good quality AND quantity!

4. Explain to the students that they will be trading furs for imported goods.  Imported trade goods go behind the counter.  Students keep their Inuk trade items.

5. Discuss with the class what each item was used for and decide how many tokens it was worth.

6. Set up a few tables in the shape of the letter “U” which represent Angulalik’s trading post.  Show the students pictures of what the trading post looked like inside.  Point out that all the products were generally behind the counter, and the trading would happen between the store operator (Angulalik) and the customer (Inuk or HBC).

7. Ask all of the students to hold on to their Inuk items, and to put their HBC imported item in the store.  Take some time to organize the store with the students.

8. Choose a student to act as Angulalik for a few ‘exchanges’.  They will be the only person operating the trading post as the students come up one by one.  Angulalik will decide how many tokens they should receive for their item(s).  Once everyone has sold their Inuk items to the trader and received their tokens, the student may make a purchase with the tokens they are given or they can combine their tokens with others in order to make a bigger more expensive purchase.Allow the students to take turns playing the role of Angulalik!

For Discussion: 

1. How do you think Angulalik made orders for imported goods without the ability to speak English?  (Possible answers found on website are bulleted below.)

Direct the students to the website and click on Scotty Gall of the HBC

• Scotty worked as the supplier for Angulalik’s trading post and mentioned how he and Angulalik were able to communicate.
• When Scotty noticed that the post was low on something, he would order it for Angulalik.
• Scotty trusted Angulalik and said he was an honest man.
• When Angulalik made mistakes on his orders, Gall figured out what he needed.
• They each learned a bit of the others’ language.

2. How do you think Angulalik managed his finances? 

Direct the students to the website and click on Red Pedersen of the HBC

• Red did an annual visit to the Perry River trading post to assist Angulalik with the next year’s ordering of merchandise.
• Red also completed a yearly inventory of the post and checked Angulalik’s books.

3. How do you think imported goods influenced the lives of the Inuit?

• Change in cooking methods (knives, stoves, matches, pots, pans).
• Change in hunting methods (guns, ammunition).
• Inuit now spent their winter looking for arctic fox, which they would have only done occasionally before.

• Increased dependence on these new items meant a decrease in the numbers of Inuit living completely off the land.
• Change in clothing; the women who were incredible seamstresses included cloth in their patterns.
• Dependence on tobacco.
• Robbery of the trading posts occurred.
• Increased importance of oral tradition to preserve stories of those who once lived completely off the land.
• Things were made/completed faster; increase in production of skins, clothing, furs.

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