Ferguson, J.D. (1957) A Study of the Effects of the D.E.W. Line Upon the Eskimo of the Western Canadian Arctic, Northern Research Co-ordination Centre (2 volume, unpublished typescript –INAC library rare books E100.E4 F47)

Keywords: Cambridge BayD.E.W. LineemploymentNorthern Co-ordination and Research Centre, shack housingtents

Ferguson reported on Inuit employment on D.E.W. Line construction at Cambridge Bay in 1956. Appears to have collected most of his data from conversations with missionaries, traders, and non-Inuit construction workers. Volume 2 contains original photographs, including exterior and interior of tents and cabins. Similar to Toshio Yatsushiro’s contemporaneous report from Frobisher Bay, Ferguson reports that Inuit live in wooden houses in winter and move to tents in summer. Ferguson connects this to traditional shift from snowhouse to tent (vol. 1, p. 17-18). “As June draws to a close, the Eskimos of Cambridge Bay move from their winter quarters into tents – usually moving a short distance away so that they effectively leave their winter filth behind them (Photo 16). At Cambridge Bay this spring majority move to Area C so that they might easily get to the nearby D.E.W. line site when the ice on the bay was unsafe for travel” (17). 

Ferguson also reports that Inuit continue to hunt, that employment allows them to outfit themselves with better hunting equipment, but also to purchase manufactured clothing and household equipment. He reports that men, when asked, said they liked working for the D.E.W. line construction company, but that no one saw it as long term employment.