Her last trip to the Arctic was made in 2019 with her grandson Waylon. 65 years later, she would go on to be one of the first residential school survivors to speak publicly about an experience at such an institution, opening the door for many after her to share their stories. There was nothing she wanted more than to learn how to read. Unlike most children, she begged to go to the residential school, despite the horrific reputation of such institutions. At the age of eight, she travelled to Aklavik, a fur trading settlement founded by her great-grandfather, to attend the Catholic residential school there. Because of this Margaret-Olemaun enjoyed birthdays on the 7th and 11th of June.īeing Inuvialuk, her young childhood was filled with hunting trips by dogsled, and dangerous treks across the Arctic Ocean for supplies in a schooner known as the North Star. Her birth was not recorded until much later, which led to an incorrect date being registered. Margaret-Olemaun was born on Baillie Island in the Arctic Ocean on 7 June 1936, en route with her nomadic family to their winter hunting grounds on Banks Island. She was best known internationally as the indomitable subject of four award-winning children’s books about her time at residential school in the 1940s, and locally she was famous for her beadwork, embroidery, bannock, and wonderful conversation every Saturday at the Farmers’ Market. Margaret Fenton / Olemaun Pokiak left us in her sleep on 21 April 2021.
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