Canadian Center For Architecture

Into The Postcolony

Everyday Infrastructures of Design

Presented by Karen Trivino

John Hejduk, The Pool, Bovisa, 1986. Painting with ink on paper, 100 × 65
cm. DR1988:0436:038, John Hejduk fonds, CCA Collection © Estate of
John Hejduk
 2020 Year → Toward Unsettling
Curated by Alexandra Pereira-Edwards, Misca Birklein-Lagassé, and
Zaven Titizian on the Swimming Pools of Nunavut

“ The pool’s encapsulated wetness speaks to

architecture’s tendency to delimit boundaries; it
presents itself as finite, contained, and separate
from endless, immeasurable seas and murky
unknowns. To consider the swimming pool as a
metaphor for settler knowledge is to uncover the
biases inherent in researching from a distance.”

https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/76155/toward-unsettling

John Hejduk, The Pool, Bovisa, 1986. Painting with ink on paper, 100 × 65
cm. DR1988:0436:038, John Hejduk fonds, CCA Collection © Estate of
John Hejduk
MODES OF COLONIAL CONSTRUCTION
Google Maps View of Iqaluktuuttiaq
(Cambridge Bay)
- Hamlet on Victoria Island
Google Street View, Swimming Pool, Iqaluktuuttiaq
(Cambridge Bay), 2012
https://www.google.com/maps/@69.116532,-105.0549734,0a,82.2y,64.43h,
86.7t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sa0BWW843a_KKszjncvu-dw!2e0?source=api
v3
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cambr
idge-bay-pool-closed-for-repair-1.5231195
 “Pool costs range from $4.7 million for a
modest, all-season pool to $21.2 million for
a much larger complex — and that’s not
counting annual operations costs”
…

“But all these pools are aging and show

signs of deterioration because of poor
design and construction”
…

“The pools, most of with were designed for

seasonal use only, suffer from poor
insulation, high humidity and makeshift
repairs.”

https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/98768_demand_rises_across_nunavut_for_pools_ice_equipment/
“FOSTERING COMMUNITY HEALING: FROM ARENA TO GREENHOUSE”

“The Inuvik Community Greenhouse

stands as unusual example of adaptive
reuse that demonstrates how to provide
an alternative way for food security
through a socio-cultural and economic
model.”

https://sustainableheritagecasestudies.ca/2019/12/24/
fostering-community-healing-from-arena-to-greenho
use/
MODES OF EDUCATION
“ While the reasons that communities may build swimming pools are plenty, one of the major driving
forces behind their construction is the urgent need to reduce drowning rates in the northern territories. In a
2016 report on water-related fatalities in Canada, it was found that people living in the territories die as a
result of water-related incidents at a rate eight and a half times higher than the national average.1 The fact
that water temperatures in Nunavut are often ice-cold even in the summer months, compounded by the
growing unpredictability of ice and water as a result of climate change,2 the pool offers potential as a
space for comfortable submersion and learning.”

- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XGEOlNQ5OCHdcy2RLHbYvo4YxwWyreUl2DjnUxLYT3s
/edit#
"We listen to our Elders. You live longer that way": examining
aquatic risk communication and water safety practices in Canada's
North

“ We argue that aquatic risk communication with northern Aboriginal populations can be
improved by identifying and accounting for the consequences of colonialism in the
context of aquatic risk communication and, in turn, decolonizing water safety programs
north of the 60th parallel-Canada's North.”

Giles, A. R., Castleden, H., & Baker, A. C. (2010). "We listen to our Elders. You live longer that way": examining aquatic risk
communication and water safety practices in Canada's North. Health & place, 16(1), 1–9.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.05.007
https://www.redcross.ca/crc/documen
ts/What-We-Do/Swimming-Water-Sa
fety/water-related-fatality-facts-at-a-g
lance-canada-1991-2010.pdf

Page. 10
→ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22423982.2021.1969744

https://survivalbytraining.com/specialty-survival-courses/cold https://cabinradio.ca/71956/news/beaufort-delta/adapted-cold-water-sur
-water-immersion-course/ vival-course-hailed-as-nwt-success/
CBC News, Red Cross Initiative→ http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2053251139538
POSITIONALITY
 MODES OF ENVIRONMENT
( Here’s some more on articles that I didn’t include in the
presentation if you want to read on. )
 Permafrost
thawing from a
changing
climate.

Map: Chris Brackley/Can Geo

https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/arctic-per
mafrost-is-thawing-heres-what-that-means-for-ca
nadas-north-and-the-world/
 Effects of Permafrost melting

“Landslides caused by heavy rains in September 2017 scar the Caribou Hills near Inuvik, N.W.T.
(Photo: Northwest Territories Geological Survey and Aurora Research Institute)”
https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/arctic-permafrost-is-thawing-heres-what-that-means-for-canadas-north-and-the-world/
 “THE IMPACTS OF PERMAFROST THAW ON
NORTHERN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES”

Firelight Research Inc. with the Canadian Climate Institute

“ These cumulative effects include the long-term consequences of other processes in the North
(whether ongoing or anticipated), including but not limited to the impacts of past Canadian
colonial policy, infrastructure gaps, patterns of federal funding, the impacts of resource
development and associated wealth transfers, and gaps in education and data.”

The Firelight Group. 2022. The Impacts of Permafrost Thaw on Northern Indigenous Communities. Firelight Research Inc. Vancouver, BC.page.5.
https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Impacts-permafrost-thaw-Climate-Institute-Firelight-Report.pdf
Bibiography
(CCA), C. C. for A. (n.d.). Toward unsettling. The Swimming Pools of Nunavut. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/76155/toward-unsettling

(CCA), C. C. for A. (n.d.). Toward unsettling. The Swimming Pools of Nunavut. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/76155/toward-unsettling

Anthony, L. (2019, April 2). Arctic permafrost is thawing. here's what that means for Canada's north - and the world. Canadian Geographic. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from
https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/arctic-permafrost-is-thawing-heres-what-that-m

Audrey R. Giles, Heather Castleden, and Ava C. Baker, “’We Listen to Our Elders. You live longer That Way’: Examining Aquatic Risk Communication and Water Safety Practices in Canada’s North,” Health & Place 16 (2009): 6.

Canada's North. Health & place, 16(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.05.007

Canadian Red Cross. “Report: Water-Related Fatality Trends Across Canada 1991 to 2013.” (June 2016),

CBC/Radio Canada. (n.d.). Swimming program aims to reduce drowning risk in indigenous communities . CBCnews. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2053251139538

CBC/Radio Canada. (2019, July 31). Cambridge Bay swimmers left high and dry after community pool forced to close | CBC news. CBCnews. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cambridge-bay-pool-closed-for-repair-1.5231195

Cold water immersion course. International Canadian School of Survival. (2020, January 21). Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://survivalbytraining.com/specialty-survival-courses/cold-water-immersion-course/

Pruys, S., & Sarah PruysCabin Radio journalist specializing in the South Slave (2021, September 3). Adapted cold-water survival course hailed as NWT Success. Cabin Radio. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://cab

Jane George, “Demand Rises Across Nunavut for Pools, Ice Equipment,” Nunatsiaq News, March 28, 2010.

Ross. S.. ( December 24,2019 ) FOSTERING COMMUNITY HEALING: FROM ARENA TO GREENHOUSE”. Retrieved April 17 2023. from https://sustainableheritagecasestudies.ca/2019/12/24/fostering-community-healing-from-arena-to-greenhouse/

Nia Contini, Audrey R. Giles, Gordon Giesbrecht & Tyrone Raddi (2021) The adaptation of the beyond cold water bootcamp course for Inuvialuit communities in Northwest Territories, Canada, International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 80:1, DOI: 10.
1080/2242
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22423982.2021.1969744

The Firelight Group. 2022. The Impacts of Permafrost Thaw on Northern Indigenous Communities. Firelight Research Inc. Vancouver, BC.page.5.