inuitartwebliography

Jessie Oonark: Woman in the Centre

2008-06-08T18:36:00.006-06:00

Flynn-Burhoe, Maureen. 1999. "Jessie Oonark: Woman in the Centre." Inuit Art Quarterly. 14:2:26-27.

For almost fifty years, Jessie Oonark lived the hunter-nomadic life of the Inuit. Widowed she was eventually forced to move to the hamlet of Baker Lake. It was there in a small matchbox house that she produced wall hangings, drawings and prints that singled her out as one of Canada's greatest artists. In 1975 she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts and, the year before she died, she received Canada`s highest award, the Order of Canada.

Oonark's work presents us with a different vision of the world, a new way of seeing. Her visual imagery reflects her traditional spirituality, her Inuktitut language, her thought processes. When she spoke, she talked in circles, turning the subject to many sides as she communicated all the necessary information to her peers.

Western thinking, which is predominantly linear and analytical, is inadequate for a full appreciation of Oonark's work with its multi-layers of meaning and visual puns. Her art needs to be looked at syncretistically, a mode of understanding that has wide currency in psychology, philosophy and religion. Syncretism refers to an uncritical blending, union or fusion of diverse, even conflicting, ideas, beliefs or principles. With analytic vision, only conspicuous features, clearly differentiated, draw our attention. Other features recede and become an insignificant background. Syncretism's lack of differentiation between figure and ground may seem ambiguous and illogical to the western mind.

Swinton had noted that Inuit artists often compress multiple ideas, structures or events into one graphic form. They are "are able to comprehend total events, thoughts and structures without having to first analyse all component parts and details" (Swinton 1971-2:94). Blodgett develops this idea further, rooting syncretism and the mutability of artistic forms in the Inuit world view, which envisions a highly interdependent relationship of people and their environment. In Inuit art, humans become spirits, shamans, animals or constellations (1979:77). A well-known example of this integration of opposing events and spatial orientation is the incised image of a caribou on the Royal Ontario Museum antler knife collected in 1920. The same caribou can be seen either with its head raised and alert or grazing. Another excellent example is the circular, inverted smiling/sad calendar created by Toongooktook and Ikseegah that uses a visual pun to suggest the changing faces of weather.

The work of Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher, manifests a similar interpenetration of different worlds. Escher compressed opposing images into one graphic form in a visible process of mutation. In his 1939 print Day and Night black birds, silhouetted against a light-filled sky, transform into white birds at night flying in the opposite direction. Escher described how the eye seems to switch back and forth between the figure-ground recognizing first one form, then another.

Jessie Oonark's sophisticated imagery fills the viewer with wonderment, a fitting tribute to the complexity and richness of Inuit culture. Her imagery seems to bridge effortlessly the diverging worlds that confronted most Inuit in the 20th century. Her work reflects her ability to absorb change and her certitude in the value of Inuit tradition. From this perspective, she endowed every object with a multitude of possibilities.

Inland Eskimo Woman, 1960, Jessie Oonark, Baker Lake (stonecut print; 19.0 x 11.5 in.; National Gallery of Canada). The print Inland Eskimo Woman is so highly abstracted that its outer form strongly resembles a snow knife. Lines are clean and simplified. Details disappear but enough information is conveyed to describe the amautik, the symbol of womanhood, with its generous, protective hood or nasaq, wide shoulders and long trailing akuq (tail). Oonark, who was known for her sewing before she became a graphic artist, was fascinated by clothing from different northerly regions. She describes the amautik in Inland Eskimo Woman as being from Gjoa Haven, her husband's native region (Jackson 1984). Six of Jessie Oonark's early drawings were so exceptional that they were sent to the newly developed Cape Dorset printmaking shop. Inland Eskimo Woman was one of three prints made of these drawings. This was remarkable in that Oonark, completely unknown at that time, was from another region.

Figure in Striped Clothing, 1972, Jessie Oonark and Sevoga, Baker Lake (stonecut and stencil; 18.25 x 16.625 in.) Jessie Oonark said of this piece: "It's a woman braided with those sticks. But it doesn't show her face or eyes. When a woman has long hair, they would use those sticks and they would wrap it around with caribou skin or something; especially caribou skin without fur - to wrap it around. And those points showing are caribou skin tents. It's as if the woman was looking out through the entrance. Those two - the bottom ones - are the ends of her hair, purple coloured" (in Jackson 1984:15).

References

Blodgett, Jean. 1979. The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Boas, Franz. 1907. "The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay, From Notes Collected by Captain George Comer, Captain James S. Mutch and Rev. E. J. Peck." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 15. no. 2: 351-570. Reprinted in 1975 by AMS Press, New York.

Driscoll, Bernadette. 1981. Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood to Be Full. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Jackson, Marion. 1984. Transcript of interviews conducted with Jessie Oonark and her children; interpretation by William Noah. Ottawa: Government of Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Jackson, Marion. 1985. "Baker Lake Drawings: A Study in the Evolution of Artistic Self-Consciousness." PhD dissertation, University of Michigan.

Jackson, Marion. 1987. Contemporary Inuit Drawings. Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre.

Mamnaqsualuk, Victoria. 1986. Keeveeok , Awake! Ednonton: Boreal Institute of Northern Studies.

Routledge, Marie. 1988. "Justification: Collection of Contemporary Inuit Art." Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada.

Swinton, George. 1971-2. "Eskimo Art Reconsidered." artscanada. 27. no. 6. (December-January): 94.

Maureen Flynn-Burhoe is a visual artist and art educator at Carleton University and the National Gallery of Canada.

Sivuniksaqsiuqtiit

2007-01-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sivuniksaqsiuqtiit

Future Seekers
© 2003 Dave McDonald
Sivuniksaqsiuqtiit | see-voo-neek-saq-see-ooq-tiit, Underground Tunnels, Carleton University.

"Seven Inuit without an Author"

Makpa Amarualik, Julia Kanayuk, Mika Qamanirq, Salomo Kilabuk, Jr., Marty Gendron
Daniel Kangok, Dave McDonald

Timeline:

11/05/03: Filming bio 1 Bytown Market

11/09/03: Invitation to Canadian Museum of Civilization

11/11/03: Day trip to Kitgan-zibi for Elder William Commanda's birthday; filming

11/12/03: Carleton University Campus: filming in Art Gallery

11/13/03: Carleton University Campus: computer lab

11/20/03: Carleton University Campus: computer lab

12/03/03??? Date to be confirmed St. Paul's University Presentation

12/04/03: Editing

12/19/03: Final Presentation with invited guests. Light Luncheon 12:00; Presentation 1:00 - 2:30

01/15/04: to be continued...

HOME | INUIT ART FOUNDATION | First week at Carleton Butterflies |
© Maureen Flynn-Burhoe 2003. Questions, comments and copyright: Contact. Last updated January 2007.

Inuit Art Museums and Galleries

2006-12-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

INUIT CO-OPERATIVES:

Canadian Arctic Producers: Northern Stores is their retail branch and the wholesale branch is
CAP "The first Co-ops in the north were formed in the 60s to produce and market traditional industries such as arts and crafts production. Today, Arctic Co-operatives Limited purchases art from Co-operatives and takes full responsibility for the wholesale and retail marketing of this art. Members are paid a fair price for their product and each piece is tagged to guarantee authenticity. We work exclusively with Inuit and Dene artists to promote their art and distinctive culture to collectors around the world."
Sanavik Co-op Association Ltd: Baker Lake Arts and Crafts
Cape Dorset, West Baffin
Oomingmak 1(888) 360-9665 (outside Alaska): 604 H Street, Anchorage, Alaska
Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts 867-473-8870: Peter Wilson, Manager PO 453, Pangnirtung, Nunavut, X0A 0R0
I visited this extraordinary exhibition-sales and studio in 2003. It has left an unforgettable impression. The work produced by the women in the weave shop will hopefully be fully supported financially so that they can continue to transform works of art by renowned Pangnirtung artists like Malaya Akulukjuk and Joel Maniapik into soft art with a strong visual, textural and aesthetic impact.
Inuit Art Shop 613-224-8189 EXT.22: 2081 Merivale Road,
Ottawa, Ont. Canada K2G 1G9

The Inuit Art Shop is operated by the Inuit Art Foundation, whose Board of Directors consist mainly of Inuit. They have been helping Inuit artists by supporting unique initiatives for many years. The Inuit Art Quarterly has earned international renown for the quality and reliability of its content.
2005 | Arts Alive 05, April 30 & May 1, 2005

PUBLIC MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES: NORTHERN CANADA

Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre 867-873-7551: Contact
PO 1320
Yellowknife, NT
X1A 2L9

Inuit Cultural Institute Collection Art Displays
"These stone carvings are part of a collection which has been transferred to the Inuit Cultural Institute (ICI) from the federal department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND). It is being held by the Northern Heritage Centre until community facilities are developed for its storage and display."

PUBLIC MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES: CANADA

Avataq Cultural Institute: avataq@avataq.qc.ca
P.O. Box 230            819-254-8919
Inukjuak, Nunavik
J0M 1M0 or
Westmount, Québec           toll-free (Canada only) 1-800-361-5029
215 Redfern Ave., Suite 400          514-989-9031
Westmount, Québec H3Z 3L5; The Nunavik Inuit Art Collection (N.I.A.C.)
"Nunavik Inuit Art Collection (N.I.A.C) Avataq is the safe-keeper of many precious works of visual art and traditional Inuit artifacts. The Nunavik Inuit Art Collection (N.I.A.C.) is a continuously growing collection of over 1300 objects. This collection is held in trust for all Nunavik Inuit.The N.I.A.C. began in the late 1980's with a large transfer of historically important works from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. The collection includes prestigious works of historical importance and pieces with cultural significance for Nunavimmiut."
Canadian Museum of Civilization (819) 776-7000 or 1-800-555-5621 TDD: (819) 776-7003: web@civilization.ca
100 Laurier Street
P.O. Box 3100, Station B
Gatineau, Quebec J8X 4H2; Virtual exhibitions
2002-3 Nuvisavik: Inuit Tapestries from Arctic Canada
2001 Canadian Inuit History: A Thousand Year Odyssey
1999 Iqqaipaa
1997 Threads of the Land: Aanatujut: Pride in Women's Work: Copper and Caribou Inuit Clothing Traditions
1997 The Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic: From Ancient Times to 1902
1996-7 "Lost Visions, Lost Dreams" The ancient peoples of the Arctic: Dorset and Thule peoples. This is a five star site with generous content and solid academic material based on the work of Dr. Patricia Sutherland and Dr. Robert McGhee.
Carleton University Art Gallery 613-520-2120: St. Patrick's Building, Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1S 5B6
Sandra Dyck, Acting Director; 2002 Creatures of the World: Animals in Inuit Art" Selections from The Dr. Priscilla Tyler and Maree Brooks Collection of Inuit Art
McMichael Canadian Art Collection 905-893-1121 or toll free 1-888-213-1121: 10365 Islington Avenue
Kleinburg, ON

Permanent collection of Inuit art
2004 Irene Avaalaaqiaq: Myth & Reality | September 18 to December 12, 2004
2001 Elsie Klengenberg: The Legend of Uvajuq; February 3 to March 25, 2001. Organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Circulated by the Kitikmeot Heritage Society, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. "The exhibition Elsie Klengenberg: The Legend of Uvajuq (pronounced "oo-va-yook") has deep roots in generations and generations of oral legend. The beginnings stretch back to a time when people and animals lived in such harmony that
they could speak to each other. The events that long ago shattered this peaceful co-existence have been visually translated from oral legend by Holman artist Elsie Klengenberg into twenty stencil prints commissioned for the premises of the Kitikmeot Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay."
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Canadian Collection (514) 285-2000 or 1-800-899-MUSE: 1379 Sherbrooke Ouest
P.O. Box 3000, Station "H"
Montreal, Quebec
H3G 1K3

Permanent Canadian Collection including Inuit art
Musée de la Civilization 418-643-2158, sans frais Canada et Étais-Unis 1 866 710-8031: 85, rue Dalhousie
C.P. 155, succ. B
Québec (Québec)

G1K 7A6
mcq ATmcq.org

Nous, les premières nations Une grande exposition permanente sur les nations autochtones au Musée de la civilisation à Québec
National Gallery of Canada 613-9990-1985 or 1-800-319-2787: 380 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 9N4
info@gallery.ca

2005 March-June ItuKiagâtta: Inuit Art from the TD Collection "The National Gallery of Canada is proud to present this special exhibition featuring over 45 sculptures from the TD’s collection of Inuit art. ItuKiagâtta, is an Inuit expression: “How it amazes us,” that reflects the quality of the art and the celebratory nature of the exhibition. With works from the historic period to the mid-20th century, the collection represents an early, vital period in the development of Inuit art. The exhibition, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the TD Bank Financial Group, will be circulated to five venues across Canada after its presentation in Ottawa. An illustrated catalogue complements the exhibition."
2004-5 Teeth and Tusks: Sculpture from the Arctic " 30 April 2004 – January 2005 | "Walrus and narwhal tusk, whale and bear teeth – the luminous, smooth surface and durability of ivory make it a preferred carving material in the Arctic. This exhibition illustrates the many creative responses to this beautiful, challenging medium."
2004 Every Picture Tells a Story by Josie Papialuk |7 November 2003 - 18 april 2004 | "Josie Pamiutu Papialuk was born in 1918 near Issuksivit Lake, inland from the present-day community of Puvirnituq in the Nunavik region of Quebec. By the time he was in his sixties, he had lived through several major transitions: from subsistence hunting to trapping and trading furs for store-goods, to the making of sculptures, prints, and drawings in order to survive in a cash economy."
2002-5 ongoing Art of this Land "The installation of wampum belts, bark bitings, snowshoes, beaded clothing, sculpture, and paintings by Aboriginal artists from ancient times to the 1970s transforms the Canadian galleries room by room."
2002 Upcoming "Kenojuak Ashevak: To Make Something Beautiful"; April 12, 2002 - October 18, 2002. "Companion of the Order of Canada (1982), recipient of the Aboriginal Arts Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement (1995), member of the Royal Academy of Arts (1974), and recent inductee into Canada's Walk of Fame (2001), Kenojuak Ashevak is probably Inuit art's best-known personality. For this woman who first began drawing at age thirty, it is a status gained primarily as a result of her impressive graphic oeuvre created over more than forty years."
2002 Kiakshuk: Images by a Hunter Artist; "April 26, 2001 - January 6, 2002.
"This exhibition includes some 13 prints by Kiakshuk that capture the full range of his experiences as an Inuit who lived on the cusp of acculturation. Born in northern Quebec around 1886, Kiakshuk moved with his family to Baffin Island, in the Andrew Gordon Bay area east of Cape Dorset, in the early 1900s. It is said that in his younger years he was a shaman."
1999-2000 Carving an Identity: Inuit Sculpture from the Permanent Collection.; 26 November 1999 - 26 November 2000. "For over four thousand years, Inuit and their ancestors – of the Thule, Dorset, and other ancient Eskimo cultures – have been carving expertly. Included among the things
they produced are exquisitely crafted objects, many filled with aesthetic and spiritual significance. By the mid-eighteenth century, Inuit were also making carvings to trade
with the various outsiders who came to their lands. Their ivory figures and models travelled to all corners of the globe, opening the most recent chapter in the story of
Inuit creative endeavour."
National Gallery of Canada Cybermuse; Cyber collection
Permanent Inuit Art Collection
Royal Ontario Museum: Toronto, ON
"Pillage and Profit: Legal and Illegal Trade in the Inuit and First Nations Art"; "Bone Snow Knives and Tin Oil Lamps: Enduring Traditions Among Canada's First Peoples"; ROM: A School kit
University of Guelph MacDonald Stewart Art Centre: 2004 Marion Tuu’luq |
May 6 to July 18, 2004 | "The works in this exhibition were located by Marie Bouchard in both public and private collections throughout North America, including two wall hangings from the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre collection: Tele-Vision Spirits (c 1980) and Composition (c 1981). Bouchard says that ‘it was a deeply satisfying journey honouring the work of a woman she respects as an artist and loves as a friend.’ The exhibition Marion Tuu’luq features art work showing the particular experience and remarkable imagination of one Inuit woman whose ‘singular vision celebrated the eternal recurrence of life and the conviction that what the Inuit dread most – extinction – will not occur.’"
2002-3 Irene Avaalaaqiaq: Recent Wall Hangings
2001-2004 Nunavut Artists 1950-2000 2001 to July 30, 2004. | "The exhibition Inuit Art 1950-2000 was curated by Art Centre Director Judith Nasby from the Art Centre’s significant collection representing 50 years of Inuit drawings, sculpture, prints and wall hangings. The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre is recognized internationally for its research, publications and touring exhibitions of Inuit art which have been shown throughout Canada, the United States, Denmark, Iceland, India and Austria."
1999-2000 Masterworks from Nunavut | September 23, 1999 - August 04, 2000
1999-2000 Where Myth, Dream and Reality Intersect: The Art of Irene Avaalaaqiaq
| September 23, 1999 to February 20, 2000 | "On Tuesday, October 19, 1999, the University of Guelph presented Inuit artist Irene Avaalaaqiaq the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development of Inuit Art and her leadership role within the Nunavut community of Baker Lake. The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre nominated Avaalaaqiaq for the honorary degree. Her address was given in Inuktitut with translation by Sally Qimminu’naaq Webster, Inuit Art dealer from Baker Lake. Avaalaaqiaq presented her convocation address to graduates of the College of Arts and the Ontario Agricultural College. In her speech, she commented on aspects of her life and her education while living a nomadic life on the land."
1998-9 "New Acquisitions in Inuit Art" | September 24, 1998 to July 25, 1999
1997-1998 "Images of the Child in Inuit Art" | September 30, 1997 to July 26, 1998
1995 "Qamanittuaq(Where the River Widens): Drawings by Baker Lake Artists" | April 27 to September 10, 1995
1994 "Northern Lights: Inuit Textile Art" | Organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art
June 11 to July 17, 1994
University of Lethbridge: Lethbridge, Alberta

The World Around Me
Musée McCord Museum
Inuit: Using their search engine nine digitized documented images are available. However, information about artifacts is sparse. It is not specific even about geographic origin.
Simon Fraser University: Archaelogy Museum
Winnipeg Art Gallery: Inuit Art Collection: "The Winnipeg Art Gallery has had the longest continuous association with Inuit art as a field of collection and research of any other public art museum. The Gallery began to collect Inuit art in the mid-1950s and now has a collection of over 10,000 artworks, making it the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world."
Winnipeg Art Gallery: Recent acquisitions
"Kittigazuit – 1918, BY ABRAHAM ANGHIK. From January 15, 1989 to March 19, 1989, The Winnipeg Art Gallery presented Out of Tradition, featuring the sculptures of Abe Anghik and his brother, David Ruben Piqtoukun."
"Unikaat"
"Inuit Woman: life and Legend in Art" url error http://www.wag.greatart.nt.ca
Virtual Museum of Inuit Art: France
Aboriginal Whaling Museum
NPS Alaska GIS: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve
Dennos Museum Centre: Arctic Spirit: url error http://www.nmc.edu/arctic_spirit/acc0224.htmlNorthwestern Michigan College: Traverse City, Michigan
State Museum: Ice Age
AboriginArt
Arctic Artistry inc
Arctic Inuit ArtJudith Varney Birch Kingsburg, N.S. and Richmond, VG
Musee d'Art Inuit Brousseau39 rue St-Louis, Québec City, Québec,G1R 4S7Canada - 418-694-1828 - Contact: This unique museum whose high acclaim is well-deserved combines a sales-exhibition area with a public museum flavour. Pieces are selected with curatorial saavy. The attached museum provides a cultural and historical context for the work, is designed to nurture an audience for the Inuit art knowledge community.
Canadian Guild of Crafts QuébecThis institution has been involved in the promotion of Inuit art since the early decades of the 20th century.
Dennos Museum Center: Arctic Spirit, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, Michigan USA
Duane's Antiques
Esmay Fine Art
firstpeoplesgallery: Rocky River, Ohio
Kudlik Art Inuit:Quebec City
Galerie Elca London.: "Galerie Elca London is one of the oldest art galleries in Montreal, and Montreal’s only gallery devoted exclusively to the art of Canada’s Inuit. Established in 1960,
the gallery has become renowned for it’s collection of museum quality Inuit carvings, tapestries, and limited edition graphics selected for the discerning collector. Member: Professional Art Dealers Association of Canada" Includes map of Canada's north.
Galerie Inuit Pdls: Timmins-based service est. 1995.
Gallery of the Midnight SunYellowknife
Houston North Gallery: "Welcome to the Houston North Gallery Web Site. I'm John Houston, owner of
Houston North Gallery, and director of the virtual gallery. Houston North Gallery, located in Canada's historic seaport, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, first began serving its artists and the art
loving public with youthful optimism and great excitement at an Open House June 21, 1981. Since the passing in 1997 of my mother, Alma Houston - native Nova Scotian, Inuit art pioneer, and co-owner of the gallery, we have rededicated ourselves to providing a home, a showplace, and a
learning centre for Inuit art, plus a careful selection of the Nova Scotian art that best complements it. Our gallery is physically located in Nova Scotia, Canada, in the town of Lunenburg."
Inuit Gallery of Vancouver Ltd: 206 Cambie Street, Gastown, Vancouver, BC. "Presenting Canada’s foremost collection of masterwork Inuit art and exceptional Northwest Coast Native art since 1979. We continue our tradition of presenting
important exhibitions of Canadian art, featuring new works by senior artists and exploring the work of the talented next generation of artists."
The Isaacs/Innuit Gallery: Now closed.; "The Isaacs Gallery - 1955 to 1991. Av Isaacs opened the Isaacs Gallery in 1955 to represent contemporary Canadian art. In 1970, a separate gallery was opened. The Innuit Gallery was the first gallery devoted exclusively to Inuit art. The gallery specialized in contemporary sculpture, prints, drawings, and wall hangings by Inuit artists from across Canada. It also featured early North American Indian art and artifacts and Inuit antiquities. The Innuit Gallery (since 1991 called Isaacs/Innuit Gallery) collection had an International reputation. Six formal exhibitions organized each year placed important works with National and International corporations and museums."
Marion Scott Gallery: 308 Water Street Vancouver, BC
604-685-1934
Current exhibition: 2005 Summer "Jutai Toonoo"; This gallery's selection of works presents numerous contemporary pieces deserving of long term public exposure in public museums. The gallery owner's vast knowledge of Inuit art is solidly rooted in this intergenerational family business that is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year(1975-2005). The longevity leads to well-deserved confidence and a willingness to promote quality works of art that are not yet properly acknowledged in the Inuit art knowledge community. I would highly recommend this gallery for fledgling and experienced passionate collectors.
Northern Arts Inuit Art Gallery 204.480.0699: This is a new Inuit art gallery. The owner is Jody Baty.
Northern Country Arts: "Northern Country Arts was established in 1993 and sells Inuit art at both wholesale and retail rates. Its sister company, Arctic Express Ltd, offers courier and shipping services worldwide."
Nunavut Gallery Inc.: Winnipeg, MB.
This site offers artists' biographies and illustrations of earlier outstanding prints by renowned artists such as Jessie Oonark and Luke Anguhadluq. "The gallery's director, Richard Kroeker has over ten years experience in the field of Inuit and contemporary art. Richard has been involved at the Winnipeg Art Gallery as a tour guide for over nine years, and is presently in charge of Winnipeg Friends of the Inuit Group. He has also traveled in the arctic."
Upstairs Gallery: "Winnipeg, Manitoba. "Celebrating over thirty years in business the Upstairs Gallery is proud to represent national and local artists. Our specialty is Inuit art, and our large selection includes prints, drawings, wallhangings, sculpture from all areas of the Canadian Arctic." The Upstairs Gallery is a member of the Professional Art Dealers Association of Canada. This is an excellent site, generous with both images and information.
Cape Dorset Print Collection 2001
Sanajuvut: Inuit Fashion Show
Inuit Art Source Gallery: John duVal, Inuit Art Source, La Jolla California, USA
Waddington's Auctionners
WarkInuit - Specializing in Inuit Wallhangings: Kanata, ON
Contact
Whyte Gallery of the Rocky Mountains: "The Art Collection is made up of works of historical and contemporary nature that support the mandate, vision statement, and collection policy of the Whyte Museum (the artist must have lived in the area for at least one year or have worked in the region over a number of years or have used the area as inspiration or subject matter in his/her work)."

Artists' list including Inuit artists

Monica Ataguttaaluk, Queen of Iglulik

2006-12-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Draft: Atagutaaluk survived starvation in 1905 near Pond Inlet. The shaman Palluq and his wife Tagurnaaq and Atuat from Igloolik and Repulse Bay found her near Tariuju, closer to Mittimatalik. (See Rose Iqallijuq 1998)who also described another case of survival cannibalism by Kaagat who was found near Igluligaaijuk.) Later Atagutaaluk married the shaman chief Ittuksarjuat. They lived in a qarmaq, a sod or stone house (D'Anglure 2002:222, Rousseliere 1950).

"Ujarak: My sister Atuat knows this person. She knows the story very well. My sister [Atuat] was the adopted daughter of Palluq and [his wife] Tagurnaaq. Tagurnaaq and her husband could not have a baby of their own, so they adopted Atuat. My sister Atuat, who is also called IttukuSuk, was very young at that time, but she was aware of everything that happened. The family, Palluq, Tagurnaaq and Atuat were on their way to Mittimatalik when they found Ataguttaaluk. The family brought Ataguttaaluk to where there were other people and stayed there for some time. Then they set out to the Kivalliq area and stayed there for quite a while (Iqallijuq, Rose and Johanasi Ujarak 1998)."

The Igloolik shaman Atuat died in Arctic Bay in 1976. She was the daughter of Ava and Urulu. According to d'Anglure (2002) Atuat was the last Inuit to have extensive tatoos (2002:220). Atuat did a drawing in Arctic Bay in 1964 "depicting the last major winter-solstice celebration (Tivaajut) which she attended circa 1910 at Igloolik. At the end of the festivities, shamans paired everyone up into new couples for one night (d'Anglure 2002:219)." See illustration in the 2002 publication which accompanies the film Atanarjuat. According to d'Anglure in the early 1920s there were eighty shamans in the greater Igloolik area which included North Baffin to Repulse Bay region. This included fourteen women. By the 1940s all had converted to Christianity. Thirty were still alive in the 1970s. Today their names are alive through their children (d'Anglure 2002:209). [I taught one of the descendents Tabitha Palluq through CITP. Her reaction to the showing of the film starvation was very moving.]

Knud Rasmussen photographed shamans in 1921-2 expedition including Urulu, Atuat's mother, a woman shaman from the area of Igloolik/Repulse Bayand three shaman brothers from Igloolik/Repulse Bay Ivaluarjuak, Ava and Pilaskapsi. See d'Anglure (2002:211).

I remembered having a similar feeling when watching a video about Apphia's celebrated great aunt, 1 Ataguttaaluk Starvation. The video produced by the Women's Video Workshop in Igloolik is part of a series in which women share stories and demonstrate skills such as stretching skins and lighting the kudlik, the seal oil lamp. It bothered me that the video, when shown in the south, was not contextualized. Viewers only hear the voice of an Igloolik elder speaking in Inuktitut (with English subtitles) telling the story of a woman who ate human flesh to survive starvation. The contrast in audience reaction between Igloolingmiut and those who do not know the full story is remarkable. I am invariably riveted by the personal and emotional comments from Igloolingmiut Inuit viewers, some of whom were related to her. Older Igloolingmiut know the full story which is one of courage and love. Individual families have kept stories of the dreams people had the night Ataguttaaluk was found. The local school was named after her. She remarried and lived a long and productive life. With her second husband Ituksarrjuat (and later her sons) they traveled between Igloolik and the trading post in Pond Inlet trading not only their own furs but those of others, ensuring that people would always have enough to eat. She attempted to bring together the estranged Anglican and Catholic groups that had become part of Igloolik's distinctive landscape. Fierce competition for converts stemming from the earliest arrivals of the Anglican and Catholic missionaries led to a divisiveness that is still present as reflected in Sandra's account. The video is a partial account that is situated within a local knowledge. It recounts only a few months, albiet the most traumatic and formative of Ataguttaaluk's youth. It illustrates the specificity of the geographical and temporal moment. For me its viewing to unprepared audiences that were not Igloolingmiut was inappropriate. I understood that the absence of interpretation and synthesis to prepare a southern audience was intentional; it was out of respect for the voice of the elder. One way of reacting is to assume the responsibility of the reader to inform herself of the larger context. The other is to expect a form of accountability on the part of the facilitator who would know southern audiences and who would therefore be able to share concerns with the Igloolik women who made the video, suggesting they might add something to the video to frame it. While she is not the author, but a co-author, this is perhaps the partial role of the researcher, to be aware of the potential readership and to adapt the text to provide the reader with all the tools necessary for making her own interpretation. Photos shown of starvation while the elder speaks are not of Ataguttaaluk but of a much older woman. This added to the confused image of the event: she was only a young teenager when this event took place. I could only know that through the informed members of the audience. My feelings about this are very strong. They influence and perhaps bias my reading of Apphia's story. It is this kind of anger that motivates my research.

Selected Bibliography

Rose Iqallijuq. 1998.

Rousseliere, Guy Mary. 1950. "Monica Ataguttaaluk, Queen of Iglulik." Eskimo. 16:13.

Early Voyages from Europe to the Land of the Inuit

2006-12-27T22:51:00.000-07:00

Pytheas, a 4th century Greek astronomer from Massilia (Marseilles). He was a contemporary of Aristotle and Alexander the Great. He made his journey north to Thule to the Arctic Circle in 325 BC in a 200-ton galley, man-powered with oars. He saw a substance which ‘can neither be traversed by foot nor by boat.”

Legends speak of Irish monks in 6th century who sailed west and north in currachs skin boats.

By the 9th century the Vikings who had seized Ireland heard of these Irish monks on the island of Thule. Eric the Red and 1500 Icelanders went to Greenland’s southwest coast. (Vikings protected eider ducks, never killing them. They plucked them for their down.)

Antonio Zeno 14th century Venetian claimed to have journeyed to the Arctic. The map he supposedly made including imaginary islands that were considered to be factual even by Mercator in 1569, the Flemish geographer.

Martin Frobisher, an Elizabethan, uneducated pirate-mariner who might have gained his sea experience through the slave trade, attempted the discovery of the Northwest Passage in 1576. He encountered Inuit living in skin tents on Resolution Island at the mouth of Hudson Strait. He lost five of his sailors who left with an Inuit in a boat and were never seen again. This story was told among the Inuit for many generations. The sailors may have preferred life with the Inuit to sailing with Frobisher. The regretted their decision and may have died attempting to rejoin Frobisher. (In 1860 Charles Francis Hall heard accurate accounts by Inuit of Baffin Island on Frobisher’s crew.

On the same trip Frobisher captured an Inuit hunter, his kayak, black rock and took him back to England where he died. The rock was believed to have contained gold and a second trip was undertaken. It was fool’s gold. (Was this the trip where Frobisher got an arrow in the bottom?)

John Davis in 1585 voyaged up what would later be called Davis Strait, along the coast of Baffin Island to the perpetually ice-free sea in north Baffin Bay.

In 1602 Henry Hudson, an unknown mariner on his first voyage found the whaling grounds of Spitsbergen which would become a source of great wealth to the British.

Hudson later returned to North America and entered the inland sea, Hudson Bay. His ship, the Discovery was forced to winter there in James Bay. His crew mutineed and left Hudson, his son and others to die. Some of the mutineers were later attacked by Inuit.
In 1616 Robert Bylot and William Baffin sailed to Hudson Bay.
Aside: Keating described the ice-covered 6,000' mountain on Bylot Island facing the traveller in Lancaster Sound flashing with shards of the sun’s rays against a salmon and apricot coloured sky

Aside: cloud piercing icebergs, Arctic waters create fogs and low cloud formations.

Sarah Ekoomiak’s Life Story “They Called ME Stone Age”

2006-12-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

From the private collection of Sarah Ekoomiak

Sarah Ekoomiak (b.1933, Umiujaq)with the infant of a TB patient in her amaut taken aboard the C.D.Howe where Sarah worked (June through September) with DINA as cultural interpretor. I believe it was taken the Brownie camera Sarah bought in the 1950s.

Ekoomiak, Sarah and Maureen Flynn-Burhoe, 2005, Draft: Sarah Ekoomiak’s Life Story “They Called ME Stone Age”, Wakefield, Quebec. Copyrighted. Do not copy or print without permission of Sarah Ekoomiak and Maureen Flynn-Burhoe.

The contents of this collaborative research are based on conversations between friends that continued over a number of years. They have not been verified. They are uploaded to this site to allow others to comment, question and/or correct.

For decades Wakefield resident Sarah Ekomiak has shared her language skills, gifts and stories enriching countless individuals particularly Inuit from outpost camps to Ottawa.This map dated 1949 shows Kuujjuarapik (Great Whale River ) where Scottish whaler Jimmy Fleming and his Inuk wife Rosie Fleming (1860s- 1930s) lived. Jimmy and Rosie had many children so Sarah has many close relatives in Kuujjuarapik today.

Sarah was born father north in the Umiujaq (Richmond Gulf) area in 1933. By 1943 when William Ekomiak was born, the family was already much farther south near Cape Jones on the coast across from the long island. By the 1950s the family was living near Chisasibi (Fort George). Grandfather Jimmy Ekoomiak Fleming wanted the children to get an education at the Anglican and Catholic schools in Chisasibi (Fort George) on James Bay.

When Sarah was in her late teens she was diagnosed with TB and sent to Moose Factory for four years.

Sarah Ekoomiak was born in 1933 in the area of Umiujaq (Richmond Gulf) on the stunning Hudson’s Bay coastline, north of Kuujjuarapik (Great Whale River). Richmond Gulf is just south of the tree line. The waters cut deeply into the land mass creating a large lake and a huge peninsula. The coast along Hudson’s Bay is fringed with a long chain of islands, the Nastapoka Islands. Sarah was only there in her early childhood but the mountain in Umiujaq was vaguely familiar to her.

Sarah’s great grandfather Jimmy Fleming was Scottish. He had bushy eyebrows like his son Jimmy Ekoomiak Fleming. He and his Inuk wife Rosie (1860s- 1930s) lived in Kuujjuarapik where their numerous descendants remain today. There are so many Flemings that the name Ekoomiak was added to prevent some confusion. Sarah has many close relatives in Kuujjuarapik and keeps in touch with her family there.

There is a powerful story told about Sarah’s great-grandmother Rosie Fleming who was a deeply spiritual woman. She learned about God from her husband but she felt alone in her beliefs since she did not feel she could talk about her conversion. Sarah was only a young child when great-grandmother Rosie died in the 1930s but she remembers the story of the strange phenomenon that appeared in the sky immediately after her great-grandmother’s death. Words written in the clouds appeared in a wide arch across the sky. Sarah and Willy explained the strange letters as Rosie’s message that she did not dare to speak while she was alive. In the early 1930s none of the Inuit there could read so only the Hudson’s Bay company man understood. He was so shaken by the words that converted from the Catholic to the Anglican religion . It was the only spiritual improvement he could think of! Towards the end of her life Great-grandmother Rosie lacked the strength and could no longer work as hard as she wanted. She couldn't help others so she made a promise that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would help others.

Sarah was the oldest of six children who were born of Charlie Ekomiak and Lucy Menarick in the camp of paternal grandfather Jimmie Ekomiak (Fleming) and his wife Annie. Like Sarah and Maggie, their grandmother Annie was a small woman. Jimmie Ekomiak (Fleming) was not tall either. He loved children and played with Sarah like a child would play.

In Sarah Ekoomiak's early childhood years her family lived on the land in a small group of hunters, fishers and trappers.

Sarah was particularly fond of her paternal grandfather Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming (c.1885-1950s) who was camp leader. He seemed to have combined the Christian and traditional spirituality and values. Sarah still speaks of lessons learned from her grandfather that continue to guide her today. She has never been able to swear since he forbade it. Sarah’s childhood unfolded in camp life where adults never spoke in anger to each other or to the children. In her seventies she still carries with her his teachings on patient listening to the frustrations of others and responding thoughtfully rather than reacting impulsively. She remembers those early years where they had so little contact with others she used to think they were the only inhabitants of this land.

Her grandfather was a skilled hunter which meant that he made all his own hunting and fishing equipment and he shared his knowledge with his sons. He used to make cord for the dogsleds from seal skin with a special knife with a curved blade. When they had a successful hunt where they caught the largest seal, the bearded seal Sarah’s grandfather would use the skin to make the strongest ropes. He hung the rope between the trees to let them freeze. When they were frozen he cut it in even strips. He would use this rope to make snares for rabbit and beaver. Indians taught them how to hunt with traps.

Her grandfather knew how to make fish nets. He worked at making and repairing nets. They fished using nets from canoes in rivers, lakes and the Bay all year round. It was a long net with buoys, a piece of a floating wood. They caught white fish and trout and cod, small fish called kanayuk (sculpin). They used to fish in spring when ice cracks would open. They caught cod by jigging with a little stick for a handle. They caught cod by jigging. Sarah could also remember her father and grandfather using wood to cure dried meat from fox, muskrat and other small mammals. They would carve wood to fit the animal skin.

Sarah remembered her father wearing skin clothing so she bought the work of an urban Inuk painter who depicts traditional hunting scenes for her living room in Wakefield, Quebec. Sarah can remember wearing a rabbit skin parka when she was little. It was made by the Cree who often gave them gifts of food and clothing. The Indians used to make rabbit skin into strands and knit blankets out of them.

While Sarah was still just a child Grandfather Ekoomiak Fleming’s camp left Richmond Gulf and moved hundreds of miles moving south following the coast of Hudson Bay traveling on foot and by canoe and kayak. These are Sarah’s closest relatives whose children were like siblings to her. The Inuit families included the Menarick's and Isaac Fleming's with their children. There was not enough room in the boats so people took turns walking. The canoes and kayak remained close by just off shore. Sarah thinks these long walks in her early life explain why she loves walking so much today. They’d stop at night and set up tents. Sometimes they stopped along the way if the hunting was good. At that time when they were moving south there were only Inuit families in their camp.

Sarah can remember when the family first arrived in Kuujjuarapik. She and her little sister Annie who was two years younger than Sarah, were in the canoe. The first time Sarah saw the houses of Kuujjuarapik they were approaching by canoe. Annie expressed her surprise and delight at the red colour of the roof of HBC residence.

Sarah remembers the stairs cut into the steep escarpment where an elderly couple, the Nero’s lived. Mr. Nero was a white man who was married to an Inuk lady, Grandfather Ekomiak Fleming’s step-sister. Mrs. Fleming wore a long dress with a nice apron while making bread. The smell of bread was strange to Sarah.

Sarah and Maggie were baptized in the Church depicted in this drawing from 1949. The church is now a museum.

For awhile they lived in a camp outside Kuujjuarapik in semi-tents with tree branches with moss between and a canvas on top. Spruce branches provided a floor. Her mother would change the branches often. Each family had their own tent. In theirs they had six children and their parents. The grandparents had their own tent. Sarah remembers these as happy years. Inuit laughed all the time. Inuit are good at telling stories. Kuujjuarapik was a laughing place to them.
Sarah was born during the good years when prices for fur were high. Hunters could have large dog teams. In the years leading up to WWII the European market for furs collapsed and Inuit all over the north found their credit with the HBC was no longer available. This combined with the scarcity of game and poor hunting conditions brought in years of hunger and in some regions, even starvation. Animals were scarce and sharing of food became a necessity as each family depended on each other for survival (see Patrick 2003:78-9).

In the fall there was no food because the sea was rough. Every fall it was a hard time to hunt. Sometimes they would catch enough seal or birds just before the worst times. Sarah can remember the periods of hunger when the men were away hunting. She told me this story several times. Most of the time, she would laugh about it but once there were tears in her eyes.

The men used to go away for two weeks at a time. All the men would go. The six children would stay behind with my mother. The children didn't eat as well when the men were gone. Sometimes my mother would catch a rabbit. Sometimes she would fish. One time when my mother was going fishing, she told me to take care of Sammie. He was just a baby. This was before Willie was born. They only had a ptarmigan with very little meat. I was told to chew the food before giving it to Sammie. Instead I swallowed it. I didn’t mean to but I swallowed it.

Even though Sarah was only seven or eight at the time, she felt so bad about this incident that she remembered it vividly sixty years later. As she reminisced about these early years on the land in the 1930s and 1940s, she wondered that she was the same person! She sits beside the fireplace in a comfortable living room in La Peche, Quebec in an Ikea chair and tells her stories. She pulls herself up in the chair and leans forward, feigning surprise, she points to herself and declares, “They called me Stone Age !” She remembers as a young adult in Ottawa thinking back to her days on the land and wondering how her father and grandfather could find the trading post without a map!

When the ship came Grandfather Ekomiak Fleming bought a plaid material like that made into kilts by the Scottish people and a copper kettle for Grandmother Rosie. Grandmother Rosie made shawls out of the plaid material. She hung her copper kettle above a seal oil kudlik (a lamp carved from stone) to keep her tea water warm. She used cloth as a wick. In the morning it would be so cold and her father would make a fire in the morning.

Grandmother Rosie taught her how to make good boots because she told her she would need to know how to sew them. Willie said their Grandmother Annie wanted Sarah to make them perfectly the first time. Grandmother Fleming was very strict. She kept all her sewing tools wrapped in a loon skin. Eight-year old Sarah and her grand Aunt Dinah wanted to look at the sewing tools but they knew they weren't supposed to.

Sarah spent more time with Grandmother Annie Ekoomiak because Sarah loved her Aunt Dinah whom she thought of as a sister. She really wanted Aunt Dinah to be her sister. They slept together at her grandmother's house. Her grandmother told them to go to bed early and get up early or they would be lazy.

Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming was a fiddler and he taught his sons Charlie and Thomas. Thomas bought the fiddle from Eaton's catalogue for $15.

Charlie Ekomiak knew how to make harnesses for dogs. He decorated the harnesses with wool. Sarah would make little boots for dogs using a square with a hole and sew them for the dogs' feet to protect the dogs' feet in the rough ice. Her father Charlie Ekoomiak was a good carver and he carved a doll for Sarah. One of her fondest memories of those good years of living on the land was that of being tucked into the nose of her father's kayak. The kayak was so well-made; the skin so pulled so taut that it was translucid. She could see jellyfish, rocks, and fish. She cherishes this memory.

As they walked they would sometimes come upon ancient abandoned sites where ancient objects spoke of the people who had passed through here before. They found bones, weapons, the tops of tobacco tin cans recycled for oil lamps and even a narwhal tusk… This was the archives, the museum .

Some items, such as Old Sail tobacco, tea and flour, could only be acquired through the traders. Old Sail tobacco was sold in hard blocks. Sarah used to cut off small pieces and hide them as a treasure. When everyone ran out, she would go to her cache and surprise everyone with a treat! She remembers one of the older women looking up at a plane flying overhead and laughingly shouting at it, “Throw us some tobacco!” She sued to cut a little bit with her ulu. It was hard to cut. She used to hide flour. She used to say “Surprise!” Maybe that’s why she likes to still do that today. She used to love to see their faces so happy. Sometimes Indians would bring them things. One day a canoe with Indians came and her mother could understand them.

Sarah’s mother Lucie Menarik Ekomiak died prematurely shortly after an incident in which she dropped her young baby Willie. The infant was badly hurt. His wrist was bleeding and Willie can remember her mother crying very hard after this accident. Sarah was already in school at the time. S. thinks her mother had high blood pressure; she suffered from severe migraines.
It is impossible to link Lucie Menarik Ekomiak’s premature death to the social and economic conditions that contributed to the poor health of Inuit in general. But by the 1930s many Inuit were dependent on trade goods including some hunting supplies , and the HBC was no longer providing them with credit. Sarah’s family was among the first wave of Inuit from hundreds of smaller camps scattered across the north had begun to congregate in and around hamlets which gradually became artificial communities transforming many aspects of Inuit traditional life (Mitchell 1996:118). Some families, like the Weetaluk family who were close friends of Sarah’s grandparents resisted settling in the hamlets. Annie Weetaluk knew the genealogical history of Sarah’s family going back to the arrival of Jimmy Fleming.

The federal government had no policy to assist Inuit through lean years. Poverty and hunger led to a rise in tuberculosis and other diseases (Patrick 2003:80). The leanest years for Inuit communities began in the late 1930s and continued into the 1950s . The more skilled and resourceful hunters like those in Sarah’s camp probably fared better than others.
By1943 the family had already traveled over 150 miles by dogsled from Sarah’s birthplace in Richmond Gulf to Willie’s in Cape Jones on the coast across from Long Island. By the time Willie was ready for school they were living in Fort George where there were only two schools in the region, an Anglican and Catholic school both in Fort George. Jimmy Ekomiak Fleming wanted the children to attend school so he moved the camp south. They used to move often.

Sarah was the oldest of Jimmy and Lucie’s six children and she can remember carrying her youngest sibling, Willie Ekomiak, in her amautik. Willie was born in. He was a chubby baby and Sarah was a tiny person like her Grandmother Annie. She became like a mother to him until he was adopted by Aunt Martha and Uncle Thomas Ekoomiak. There were three or four camps together. Aunt Martha wore a shawl like many women of the time. Sarah can remember Willie crying so hard when he was a baby that he would turn blue. His Aunt Martha had to put cold water on his face to make him breathe again!

Their sister Emilie (b.1941) was also adopted out but she was not well cared for so Charlie Ekomiak got her back from Kuujjuarapik (Great Whale River). Emilie became William's favourite playmate.

Sarah’s family, under the guidance of camp leader Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming, was the first Inuit family to come to the island community of Fort George. Grandfather Ekoomiak Fleming wanted Samie, Sarah, Willie, Maggie and Jeannie Ekoomiak Fleming and the other children from other Inuit families in their camp included the Menarick's and Isaac Fleming's children, to attend the schools that had recently opened on the island of Fort George. In an unusual act of reconciliation between the two competitive religions in the region, he decided to enroll some children in the Anglican school and the others in the Catholic school. Willie and Sarah went to the Anglican school. Maggie was sent to the Catholic school.

Sarah remembers that they lived beside the river. When Sarah was still quite young she remembers standing by a river and watching the river currents rushing towards the Bay. She remembered wishing out loud that she would travel far. Her wish came true.
[edit]

Since the James Bay negotiation relationships between some Inuit and Cree may have become tense but there is a very long history of good relations between the Inuit and Cree. When Sarah was growing up she remembered how the Ekomiaks got along well with the Cree. They spoke Inuktitut at home and Cree outside. Now in her old community they speak three languages, English too. Sarah's mother, Lucie Menarik could speak Cree. The Cree and Charlie Ekomiak camp got along well like a big family. The first time she went to Chisasibi Indians still lived in tents. She remembers them. Some are still living. Claude Querdl, 50-year-old Cree-Montagnais cab driver now working in Iqaluit, used to live in Chisasibi and he warmly remembered the Ekomiaks for their generosity.

The Ekomiaks and the Cree shared flour and food with each other. The Cree used to pull toboggans with all their hunting equipment. Her father had a komatik which is a traditional Inuit sled on runners pulled by dog teams. They shared whatever they had. The Cree seemed to like to hunt with Sarah’s father and grandfather. Sarah’s grandfather was a good and generous hunter and he taught his family to always share food .

In 1945 Sarah and her Aunt Jeannie were twelve years old and Aunt Dinah was thirteen. They were the first of the Grandfather Ekomiak Fleming’s children to attend school in Fort George. They were probably the first Inuit students there. The families remained in Cape Jones and the girls went to the St. Phillip’s residential school run by the Anglican Church on Fort George Island. The girls went home in the holidays by dogsleds. One year Sarah and Aunt Jeannie waitedd but the family didn’t come for her. Perhaps that was the year her mother died. Sarah received a letter from her Auntie Carolyn telling her that her mother had died. Sarah attended school for only four years and remembered little of the English that she learned there. Children did not attend school after they turned sixteen. Other students were surprised when Sarah left. “You’re finished already?”

Sarah’s mother was buried outside Kuujjuarapik, near the Kujjuak river. The place where she is buried is Louisa Fleming’s camp. Louisa’s son drowned near there and she still goes there whenever she can.

Sarah remembered when she was in her early teen years she and Willie were playing a game with pebbles. Their uncle Elijah Menarik, her mother Lucie's youngest brother who was not much older than Sarah approached them. They wanted to play with him but it was hard to communicate because he spoke only Cree. Shortly after that a white teacher Mrs. Heinz, had Elijah sent to Inukjuak when he was 18 or 19 years old so he could learn Inuktitut!

Sarah’s life was irreversibly transformed by the tuberculosis epidemic that devastated all northern and remote communities Canada. When Sarah was diagnosed with TB in 1950 she was sent to Moose Factory. She was one of many family members exiled to either Moose Factory or Hamilton. By 1953 when Sarah was in Moose Factory, the largest year-round Inuit community in Canada was in Hamilton at the Mountain Sanatorium where 332 Inuit patients were being treated. There were 1,578 Inuit being treated in Canadian hospitals in 1953. That meant that 1 out of every seven Inuit was in a southern sanatorium. And one-third of the Inuit population of the 1950s was infected with TB. In some communities everyone has had TB at some time or another.

It was in Moose Factory that Sarah learned that she was able to do anything the decided she wanted to do. Even today when she decides to learn something new she just opens her arms to the world and says, “OK. I’ll try!”

This is how she learned to read and write in syllabics when she was a homesick teenager confined to a hospital bed,

When I was in the hospital I really wanted to write to my Dad. I was so close to my Dad. I asked the next bed lady, Can you help teach me how to write Inuktitut? She would write two letters [syllabics] on a paper. She gave it to me. I tried to read it for her. Then she gave me two more letters, then three, four letters. She’d write to me and I’d answer back. Then I started to write letters to my Dad.

Picture this determined little teenager passing sheets of paper from her bed to the next-bed lady, back and forth over the weeks. By the end of her first year in Moose Factory hospital Sarah was able to send letters home and read the letters sent from home. This special skill would help Sarah after she left the hospital and moved to Ottawa.

While in Moose Factory recovering from TB, Sarah spent almost four years in a hospital bed. From the Cree and Inuit women there she learned how to bead, how to sew, to write syllabics and to speak different dialects of Inuktitut. She continued to develop these skills throughout her life. Some of the beading work she does today is based on designs and templates learned from the women she met in Moose Factory.

In this photo taken in Moose Factory in 1953 when Sarah was twenty, Sarah is dressed like a cowgirl and is holding a toy cowboy and horse. Her auntie Caroline sent her many hand embroidered clothes like this blouse.

By 1954 when Sarah briefly returned home to Fort George-Chisasibi, the federal government had already begun to recognize responsibility for the well-being of the Inuit. In 1953, an admonished Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent admitted, "Apparently we have administered the vast territories of the north in an almost continuing absence of mind. (Parker 1996:32)." The government began to establish about forty permanent administrative centres to provide education, health and economic development services for Inuit (Parker 1996:32).

These were difficult years for the family. Sarah’s father had remarried and his wife had many children. Sarah wanted to contribute so she asked her father for permission to go back to Moose Factory to work so she could send them money. Her father agreed if she promised to never drink alcohol as he had seen the damaging effect of alcohol on many Inuit. Sarah promised and she and Maggie returned to work in Moose Factory for a few years. In the winter they used to walk back and forth across the ice between Moosonnee and the island community of Moose Factory in the middle of Moose River.

Grandfather Jimmie Ekoomiak Fleming was also diagnosed with TB but he came to the hospital after Sarah and Maggie had already left for Ottawa. He died and was buried in Moose Factory cemetery in the 1958. Sarah has often wondered about his grave site. In 2003 when she was over seventy years old, she and her good friend, Ben, made the trip from Wakefield to Moose Factory by car and train. They camped out on Moose Factory island and she caught a very bad cold! But she was unable to find the grave in the St. Thomas Anglican cemetery. It was unmarked.

When camps lost skilled hunters like Jimmy Ekomiak Fleming Inuit were forced to live closer to hamlets and to find other sources of income. In Fort George young William Ekomiak, who could already speak English and Inuktitut and Cree because he was one of the first Inuit to go to school, was offered work. The Indian Affairs clerk was so impressed that William could speak English when he was only 17 years old in 1960 that he hired him as a stores keeper and interpreter. He earned $300 for his job! He also worked as interpreter at the hospital.
In 1954 when Sarah and Maggie moved back to Moose Factory they both found work immediately. Sarah worked as a Nurses’s Aid and Maggie worked with a dentist. One day Maggie overheard a conversation between two nurses. One of them had gone on vacation to Montreal and Ottawa. Maggie came to Sarah and announced, “I am going to Ottawa!” Sarah asked her, “Where’s Ottawa?” Maggie answered shrugging her shoulders, I don’t know!” So they bought their train tickets and headed south! Telling her story today, Sarah laughs in astonishment, “We’re going to Ottawa! We couldn’t speak English! The nerve!”

When twenty-five year old Sarah and her younger sister Maggie first arrived in Ottawa in 1958 they stayed with their uncle Elijah Menarick and his wife Grace for a few weeks. After several weeks Gracie found a social worker to work with Maggie and Sarah to help them find work and a place to stay. They both began working as au pair’s. Maggie worked with a doctor’s family taking care of the house and the children. Sarah first worked with a Jewish family but they found it too difficult because she couldn’t speak English. So Sarah began working with the Clark family who were Irish. The Clarks had two children, Gary and Mona and Sarah took care of them and did the housework. Sarah loved the name Gary so much that she named her own son Gary when he was born many years later. Sarah worked there for two years but in 1960 she was again offered the possibility of an adventure. Mr. and Mrs. Clark didn’t want Sarah to go. But once she had decided to do something nothing would hold her back.

One day Annie Weetaluk came to visit Sarah when she was working at the Clark’s. Annie announced to Sarah, “I am going to work this summer on the ship. Do you want to come with us?” Sarah thought to herself, “I don’t speak enough English!” Annie had her answer ready, “I know you and I know you can do it! You know Rhoda , don’t you?” Sarah knew Rhoda because they worked together in Moose Factory. Annie assured her, If Rhoda can do it you can!” So Sarah said, “OK, I’ll try!” In the same year Sarah began working on the C. D. Howe. She now admits, “My first trip I couldn’t make it very well. I couldn’t understand English. That was a good job I ever had.”

In the 1990s Sarah made the long trip home to Kuujjuarapik. She visited Annie Weetaluk’s grave and thanked her for convincing her to take the job on the C. D. Howe, the best job she’d ever had!

While working on the C. D. Howe Sarah lived in Ottawa in the fall and winter. But for six years her home from July to September was on the on board the ship that visited numerous Inuit outpost camps and hamlets. She worked both trips each year except for the year Gary was born.

Iqa Qamanirq who now works in Ottawa at the Family Services Centre could remember seeing Sarah in the early 1960s when her family lived on the land outside of Arctic Bay. Iqa was afraid of the helicopter but the whole medical trip was a big adventure. She remembered her mother making sets of clothing and kamiks especially for these yearly checkups. As soon as they heard the plane the children were called to come and wash their hair and get dressed as if they were going to a party or going to town!

Sarah has many memories of these trips. In one place a grateful Inuk wanted to give her a narwhale tusk as a gift. She didn't think there was enough room on the helicopter so she had to decline. She laughs now since she knows it is worth about $5000! Sarah continued working every summer offering happily to work both tours until 1966 when Gary was born. Meeka was born in 1968?

When Sarah returned to Ottawa in September of 1960 after her first two tours on the C. D. Howe, she was given jobs at the Department of Northern Resources. Not long after she had come back to Ottawa Sarah was sent on an emergency trip to a Montreal hospital to act as interpreter for a patient evacuated from Nunavik for a medical emergency. She describes this harrowing experience of a young Inuk in her twenties newly arrived in the city. They told her she was the only one in the Ottawa-Montreal area who could interpret Inuktitut-English with the Nunavik Inuktitut!

There’s a doctor in Montreal who needs a translator who needs a translator. I could hardly speak English. I took a train from Ottawa to Montreal. Then I took the subway. I took the subway back and forth three times! I said,

“’Forget it!’ I took a taxi! O my God! Poor me! Gee Whiz!

She describes how she had to learn to type using one of the first type writers with syllabics! She learned how to translate from the Labrador script into syllabics and English!

She put it simply,

“They put me to type. They put me to translate.”

Her response as usual was, “OK. I’ll try!”

When Sarah first came to Ottawa she was part of a small handful of Inuit there. Sarah worked on some of the very first issues of this popular magazine which was published in Inuktitut syllabics as well as the alphabet and in English. Sarah learned to type with a specially designed typewriter , one of the first with syllabics. Mary Paneegoosilk began the first Inuktitut magazine, a publication put out by the Department intended for Inuit all across the north. It was a small magazine. Then Harriet Rustton, an Inuk from Kudjuaq started the Inuktitut magazine with the larger format which had room for Inuktitut syllabics, Labrador Inuktitut and English. Sarah did the translation for Inuktitut magazine for a number of years. She continued to work as interpreter/translator for many years.

The 1960s was the decade many First Nations, Métis and Inuit would later infamously label “the sixties scoop.” Young women were encouraged to give their children for adoption to non-aboriginal families with the promise of a better life and a better future for their children. Maria Fleming, Sarah’s cousin was one of these young women. Sarah has a phenomenal memory and can remember chance encounters decades later at the appropriate moment! She could remember seeing Maria in Ottawa when she was pregnant. This was an image she could share forty years later when Sarah met Maria’s daughter who was actively seeking out her birth family. Sarah was the first Inuk relative Maria’s daughter met. This resulted in a long road trip together to Fort George where Sarah introduced her to the large family that was her family and walked with her along the trails her mother would have walked. Unfortunately Maria had died just the year before her daughter began her search. Sarah remains in close contact with Maria’s daughter today (see Inuktitut 2004). During the sixties Sarah had non-Inuit friends and co-workers who adopted Inuit children from the hamlets.

Through the 1960s and 1970s many Inuit came to join Elijah, Sarah, Anne, Maggie and the few Inuit who were among that first wave of urban Inuit. Their numbers began to increase as many Inuit, First Nations and Métis moved to urban areas in the 1960s and 1970s. In the mid-1960s twenty-one year old Willie Ekomiak, his step-brother Norman Ekomiak and their friend Johnny Weetaluk came to Ottawa to attend school . Willie and Norman began to attend dances, picnics and beach parties hosted by the International Club which the Baha’is of Ottawa had initiated since the nation’s capital attracted people from all over the world. When Willie decided to become a Baha’i he became the first Inuk worldwide to join creating much excitement in the national and even international Baha’i communities. The news of his adherence to the Baha’i Faith was not warmly accepted in his home community which was staunchly Christian . Willie’s father, Charlie Ekomiak seemed to be more accepting of his son’s choice. For many years Sarah as well was not sure exactly what Willie had joined. Today she has many friends in the Baha’i community who have won her trust and deep affection. Gradually she became somewhat reassured that her baby brother was not threatened by being a Baha’i.

By 1969 Sarah’s second baby Gary was just a toddler. This is when she met the love of her life with whom she shared her happiest years. Even today almost ten years after his death, Sarah’s face lights up when she speaks of Paul. Paul Hamelin was from Hull, Quebec. She was 36 years old and he was 50. He was divorced and had already raised a family. Sarah, Paul and Gary lived in a house just outside the village of Wakefield, Quebec where Sarah still lives today. They built their house together. Their relationship was always one of mutual respect where Sarah truly lived the principle of equality. She was used to working hard in camp life. Even though she was physically tiny, she enjoyed physical work and she could chop wood as easily as any man. Paul was a kind, good father to Gary. After his retirement they took numerous long-distance trips including visits to her Nunavik home which was connected to the south since the James Bay project was in place.

When Sarah stopped going on the northern tours on the C.D. Howe she didn’t stop traveling for the Department. She worked with a social worker and they drove to many different hospitals, to Parry Sound, Windsor, Stittsville . . The social worker had a car and they drove from hospital to hospital visiting unilingual Inuit, consulting with them and the medical staff to ensure they were getting the best hospital care in the most suitable hospital setting. One day decades later Sarah and Willie were performing at one of the Inuit Art Foundation’s Qaggit gatherings. Willie was playing the fiddle and Sarah was playing the spoons. A young man came up to Sarah and told her that he remembered her from the 1970s when she came to visit him when he was a patient in a hospital. Sarah came with a social worker and the man who was only a young child at the time remembered Sarah very well. Sarah meets people like this grateful young man all the time. They remember her even if she cannot remember them. Her language skills and calming presence gave them a brief sense of security in situations that were unsettling and isolating.

Sarah continued working at interpreter for the DIANR where her work was greatly appreciated. She has a collection of mementos which include letters from ministers and Deputy Minister’s (such as Arthur Kroeger ) congratulating her on the quality of her translations. She was invited frequently to attend events including a ball organized by the Governor General. She was asked to speak on Inuit art and culture.

By 1978 the Department moved to its headquarters in Hull on Laurier. The building had some kind of environmental toxins and Sarah knew women who worked there and miscarried. Sarah herself lost a baby through miscarriage while working in that building. Sarah is known for her accepting nature. She rarely complains although she uses laughter often to comment on situations that are ludicrous. However, in her relations with the Department in the 1970s, she knows that she was denied certain rights simply because she was Inuk. This is unusual for Sarah to mention this so it accentuates how strongly she feels about social justice. Other women who miscarried at the same time because of toxins in the Laurier complex were eventually compensated. She was not. When she left, her boss, Mr. M, a renowned scientist who still works for the government, refused to sign her papers so she could claim her unemployment insurance. She has never forgotten that missing $400! She explains it today,

“You know me. I don’t speak. I don’t bother. When I quit, I didn’t get my UI because I was Inuk.”

She does receive a small pension from the Department for her years of service.

When Sarah could no longer work for the Department Paul who had retired from his job at the Mint began to work again in 1979. For eight years Sarah and Paul worked for Canada Post delivering mail to rural area in Quebec. He and Sarah took the contract to deliver mail in rural Quebec Paul was working at the Mint. Paul didn’t work then. In 1979 they worked for post office for eight years. They were so much appreciated that when their contract was not renewed, people complained! They had a meeting to try to make them keep on working.

Before Paul became too sick to travel, he used to drive Sarah to hospitals where she knew she could unilingual Inuktitut-speakers. Sometimes they would drive to airports to see if there were any Inuit stranded there. On one of their trips they saw renowned Inuit artist Pitseolak Ashoona alone in a hospital outside of Montreal . Pitseolak was so depressed she told Sarah to take her ulu since she had no use for it anymore.

On another trip they saw an elderly Inuk who had been stranded for 48 hours at the airport. She had been sent out from her hamlet to attend a meeting but no one met her at the airport and there were no arrangements. She didn't even know how to find the washroom. She grabbed Sarah's hands in relief!

Paul was already starting to get sick.

“Doctor opened him. His lungs and heart were covered with tar. The doctor scraped it off. This gave him five more years. He wasn’t really sick but he was weak.”

Paul was a heavy smoker and nicotine is another of Sarah’s few enemies. Paul died in 1990. He spared Sarah the worry of his cancer and didn’t tell her even though she could see he was getting very weak.

“He was only sick for a few months. He had cancer and he didn’t tell me. He lost weight very fast.”

Sarah was younger than Paul and even though she was tiny she was and is very strong. Maybe it was from the healthy living on the land in her early years. Sarah proudly shows a photo of a huge pile of wood for their wood stove in the yard of their home just outside Wakefield. She admits that Paul’s sisters wondered at Sarah working so hard but Sarah explained,

“I used to enjoy splitting wood!”

When Paul died in 1990 Sarah became very ill with grief. A dear friend took Sarah on a trip to Venezuela for two weeks. She walked on the beaches and gathered so many sea shells that the Customs Officer raised his eyebrows in surprise. She still has these sea shells in the craft shed Paul built for her many years ago.

Shortly after Paul died Sarah underwent an operation for intestinal blockage. She was living alone in her little house on a wooded lane outside Wakefield. One day the phone rang. A young woman on the other end of the line said,

“Hello. My name is Catherine Louise.”

Sarah asked, “Who?”
And the young voice repeated,

“Catherine Louise.”

Sarah described,

“I started to scream Where are you? My soreness, my weakness were better very fast.”

Meeka said,

“J. and E. changed my name to Meeka when I was baptized.”

A social worker told me that they would name the baby Catherine Louise in case I was looking for her or she was looking for me. Meeka was in Grace Hospital. Meeka liked to tell the story about how her adoptive parents chose her. They were just about to take to little boy because they already had lots of toys and things for a little boy and then and they saw Meeka and they changed their mind. They are a very nice couple. Meeka said,

“Nobody could have a better mother than Jackie. I’m not sorry you gave me away.”

Meeka used to write her a lot of letters before she had her own baby Julien in 1999.
Sarah’s son Gary had two children. His first partner Jennifer had a baby boy, R. who is now 8. C. had a little girl, G. who will be two and a half on June 28th.

In more recent years Sarah continued to share her stories and language skills informally at the Inuit Family Services in Vanier, when her grandson Ryan attended the day care. Staff there truly enjoyed her visits.

She and Willie are often asked to perform together at celebratory events related to Inuit culture. Although she usually accompanies Willie’s old-time fiddle music by playing the spoons, she can still play the accordion! She has also come to Carleton University to present her beadwork.

Karen Needham’s ex-partner Ben became very fond of Sarah and his new Inuit family ever since he met her in the early 1990s. Since then he has taken Sarah on many trips including the lengthy journey to Kuujjuarapik. When they were there Sarah visited her mother’s gravesite. They drove as far as they could then they took a small plane and finally a boat to reach the spot where her mother died over sixty years ago.

Among the indigenous people living today, Inuit probably stand alone in having peacefully achieved so many political, economic and social gains through negotiation with the government authorities they live under. But alongside these successes are the painful stories of governmental meddling and mistakes. In Sarah’s family there are countless stories of individuals who have made courageous choices which helped to bring about positive change. At the same time, Sarah is constantly hearing from home about stories of young people who have committed suicide, or even murder. Her long-time friend Peter Ernerk called her not that long ago to ask he if she was related to the young Charlie Ekomiak who was recently stabbed to death by his girlfriend in Montreal. He was her step-brother, the stepson of her father Charlie Ekomiak and brother of the artist-author Normand Ekomiak.

In the summer of 2004, in her seventies Sarah Ekoomiak went on a marathon trip with Ben the fireman, to Marathon near Thunder Bay, Moose Factory. She camped outside in Moose Factory and caught a very bad cold. She tried to find her grandfather's grave but couldn't.
Sarah continues to create beautiful dolls, kamiks, beading. Sarah began to learn to sew as a very young child with her Grandmother. But she greatly admired two women relatives who were renowned locally for their skills. Her second cousin Gracie and her cousin Dinah Fleming was known for their skills. Sarah used to watch them sewing. Her cousin Gracie told Sarah that she could copy her patterns because she liked the way Sarah worked. She gave her patterns. Gracie was so much appreciated by her family for her skill that her gravestone is decorated with engraved images of her sewing tools. In all her years working Sarah never stopped sewing and beading. She continues to work today while waiting for her operations to remove cataracts to improve her sight! Recently she surprised a friend with a pair of sealskin mittens. She had never made them before but when she saw her dear friend Ben attempt a pair she thought she could do better than that! She said to herself, “OK. I’ll try it!” She also made a beautiful pair of slippers using beaded tongues that were made in the 1950s! Sarah sells her tiny kamiks in stores like the Inuit Art Foundation. She had also made dolls in traditional clothing. Her hands are never idle.

1820 The Hudson’s Bay Company established their trading post at Kuujjuarapik and named it Great Whale River. Kuujjuarapik has a long history of contact with the whalers and missionaries. The Hudson's Bay Company's Great Whale River was involved in the fur trade, commercial whaling and the processing of whale products. Today Great Whale River refers to the three sections of the region: Poste-de-la-Baleine, the predominately French settlement, Kuujjuarapik on the north shore of the Kuujuaq (big) river and Whapmagoostui, the Cree community, beside Kuujjuarapik inland from the Hudson Bay (see Patrick 2003:22).

1837 The HBC had a post in Fort George (Mailasikkut) since 1803 which was moved to Governor’s or Fort George Island. Chisasibi, where many of Sarah’s relatives live today, is Cree for “great river”, officially known as La Grande River through the infamous project (see Patrick 2003:84).

1856 Two Anglican Church Missionary Society members working in the Hudsons' Bay region, John Horden, at Moose Factory, and E. A. Watkins at Fort George, were producing material in syllabics for Inuit. Watkins noted in his diary of June 19, 1856, that an Inuit youth from Little Whale River wanted to learn syllabics very much so he worked with Watkins. Horden in Moose Factory and Watkins collaborated on producing some Bible selections in Inuktitut.

1865 John Horden and Watkins met in London worked together to modify the Cree syllabic system to the Inuktitut language. The syllabic orthography was very easy to learn that and this enabled the Anglican Church to proselytize successfully over such a wide area of the Arctic. Inuit taught each other. With the assistance of well-travelled native assistants who worked with Peck, Bilby and Greenshield at Blacklead Island, and with Bilby and Fleming at Lake Harbour, a large number of Inuit who had never met a missionary nonetheless had access to the Bible and were able to read it in syllabics. Two of the best-known native assistants were Luke Kidlapik and Joseph Pudloo. As a boy Joseph Pudloo had learned syllabics in Reverend Fleming' s senior class in Lake Harbour. Later he became Fleming's sled driver, taking the missionary thousands of miles on visits to Inuit camps. After that he spent two years working with the Reverend B.P. Smith at Baker Lake, the first native assistant to work in a dialect markedly different from his own.

c.1860s Rosie Fleming (c.1860s- c.1930s), Sarah Ekoomiak's great-great-grandmother was born. She married Scottish whaler Jimmy Fleming and they lived Kuujjuarapik where they had many children. Sarah has many close relatives in Kuujjuarapik. Sarah’s great grandfather Jimmy Fleming was Scottish. He had bushy eyebrows like his son Jimmy Ekoomiak Fleming.

1876 Reverend Peck established the first permanent Christian mission in Inuit territory at Little Whale River near Richmond Gulf.

1880 The Indian Affairs Department was established. "Since Confederation, the responsibility for Indian Affairs and Northern Development rested with various government departments between 1873 and 1966. The minister of the Interior also held the position of Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs after the Indian Affairs Department was established in 1880." INAC WWW,

1882 An Anglican mission was established in Kujjuarapik in 1882 and a Catholic mission in 1890.

1884 Reverend Peck established a mission at Fort Chimo, Kuujuak, to help Reverend Sam Stewart who established the second mission in Inuit territory.

1885? Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming c.1885-1950s was born? He died when he was 65? He became a Christian. He was not tall. Jimmie Ekoomiak loved children. He played with Sarah like a child would play. Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming was a fiddler and he taught his sons Charlie and Thomas. Thomas bought the fiddle from Eaton's catalogue for $15. His father, a traveller, Jimmy Fleming b. 1830s?1860s? was Scottish or English more likely Scottish perhaps with prominent eyebrows like Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming.,

1887-1905 Frederick Haultain, a Conservative, was premier of the Northwest Territories. Sir Wilfred Laurier was Prime Minister. Haultain was born in England and came to Canada when he was three. He discouraged party politics and believed in consensus. (Parker 1996:25).

1890s, early 1900s The catechist Reverend Fleming traveled thousands of miles with Joseph Pudloo visiting Inuit camps, teaching syllabics along with their missionary work for the Anglican Church Missionary Society.

1905 Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick White of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was named Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. He made decisions unilaterally. He never once called together the Territorial Council. (Parker 1996:26.)

1912a The boundaries of the Northwest Territories were set at the boundaries in existence in 1992. (Parker 1996:26).

1912b Quebec was expanded to include Arctic Quebec. (Parker 1996:26).

1914 Charlie Ekomiak 1914-1960s? was born. He was the father of Sarah Ekoomiak b.1933, Annie b.1935, Maggie b.1937, Sam b.1939, Emily b.1941, William Ekomiak b.1943 Charlie Ekomiak married Lucie Menarik when he was 18 years old c. 1932. After Lucie Menarik died in 1944 Charlie remarried. Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming was a fiddler and he taught his sons Charlie and Thomas. Thomas bought the fiddle from Eaton's catalogue for $15.,

1920s early According to d'Anglure in the early 1920s there were eighty shamans in the greater Igloolik area which included North Baffin to Repulse Bay region. This included fourteen women. By the 1940s all had converted to Christianity. Thirty were still alive in the 1970s. Today their names are alive through their children (d'Anglure 2002:209).

1924 Amendment to Indian Act 14-15 Geo. V Chap. 47 bringing Eskimos under the responsibility of the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs.,

1926 Thirteen Inuit starved to death at an outpost camp in Admiralty Inlet. Tester 1993:21,

1930 Canadian Handicrafts Guild organized an exhibition of Eskimo Arts and Crafts at the McCord Museum in Montreal. The exhibition attracted the attention of the New York Times (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:11).

1930s Reverend Nelson was the minister in the area before the minister came who taught Jimmie Fleming.

1933 Sarah was born in the Umiujaq (Richmond Gulf) area. At the time it was an outpost camp. Umiujaq formed into a community in the 1960s when 150 Inuit moved away from Kuujjuarapik to attempt to maintain a more traditional lifestyle (see Patrick 2003). Sarah was the oldest Charlie Ekomiak and Lucy Menarick's six children all in the camp of paternal grandfather Jimmie Ekoomiak (Fleming) and his wife Annie.

1930s There is a powerful story told about Sarah’s great-grandmother Rosie Fleming who was a deeply spiritual woman. She learned about God from her husband but she felt alone in her beliefs since she did not feel she could talk about her conversion. Sarah was only a young child when great-grandmother Rosie died in the 1930s but she remembers the story of the strange phenomenon that appeared in the sky immediately after her great-grandmother’s death. Words written in the clouds appeared in a wide arch across the sky. Sarah and Willy explained the strange letters as Rosie’s message that she did not dare to speak while she was alive. In the early 1930s none of the Inuit there could read so only the Hudson’s Bay company man understood. He was so shaken by the words that converted from the Catholic to the Anglican religion . It was the only spiritual improvement he could think of! Towards the end of her life Great-grandmother Rosie lacked the strength and could no longer work as hard as she wanted. She couldn't help others so she made a promise that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would help others.

1933-43? In Sarah Ekoomiak's early childhood years her family lived on the land in a small group of hunters, fishers and trappers.

1943 William Ekomiak was born. Grandfather Jimmy Ekoomiak Fleming moved the camp farther south near Cape Jones on the coast across from the long island.

c.1950? When Sarah was in her late teens she was diagnosed with TB and sent to Moose Factory for four years. Inuit from the west coast of James Bay used to go to Moose Factory trading post to pick up mail.

1950s Grandfather Jimmy Ekoomiak Fleming moved the camp near Chisasibi (Fort George). He wanted the children to get an education at the Anglican and Catholic schools in Chisasibi (Fort George) on James Bay.

1950s. Artificial communities formed. Inuit traditional way of life, ideology and economy was changed. Most lived in communities around the trading post and church. Economy: Trade: white fox, subsistence hunting now dependent on guns, etc. Religion: Church vigorously converted Inuit to Christianity. There was competition except in Labrador (Mitchell 1996). Eskimo Cooperative Movement: crucial transforming agency linked traditional practices with Western capitalism. The Eskimo cooperative was state initiated. Coops bridged the gap between the communal/cooperative ideal and the individual/competitive model. Inuit sculptors became simple-commodity producers with more talented carvers earning more. Carvers could earn more money but they became dependent on dollars. This created divisions among Inuit. Some Inuit became bosses, while others became employees. See Mitchell (1996). A Native Ruling Class: Inequalities in wealth and power exist (Mitchell 1996).

1952. William Ekoomiak (b.1943) started school in Fort George. Queen Elizabeth II crowned and William remembered finding it strange to sing to a woman not God Save the King! Sarah Ekoomiak was already in Moose Factory?

1953a. The Canadian government relocated Inuit families Inukjuak area of Quebec on Hudson Bay to the High Arctic islands to form communities: Grise Fjord on Ellesmere Island, Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island and Craig Harbour. Tester and Kulchyski (1994) claim that the relocations took place partly to relieve the HBC of their obligation to continue extending credit to already heavily indebted Inuit (1994:64). (William Ekomiak's sister Ida was adopted by Emily Ekomiak who married Walter Aoudla from south of Fort George. After Emily died Walter married a woman from Resolute Bay and he moved there with William's sister Ida.) A couple of families from the Pond Inlet area of North Baffin Island were moved to these same places to help the southern relocatees adjust to eco-systems and conditions very different from those they had known in Quebec. James Houston accompanied Inuit families from Inukjuak when they sailed north to Ellesmere Island. Akiaktasuk, one of the earliest Inuit artists recognised for his skill as carver was among them. Akiaktasuk died out there in a walrus hunt. It is not surprising considering the difference in hunting environments between the High Arctic and Hudson Strait. Among the families sent to Resolute Bay was the family of Pitseolak Ashoona who had returned to Cape Dorset in ???? because Ashoona had just died in Natsilik Lake area to find that her family were gone!

1953b. The federal Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources was formed in Ottawa. An intergovernmental committee on Eskimo Affairs was reinstated (Crowe 1997:34).
1953c1954. There was mounting criticism of the Eastern Arctic Division and services for Inuit (Grygier 1994:190).

1954-1956-7(?). Sarah went back home to Nunavik for awhile in 1954. She asked her father Charlie Ekomiak if she could go back to Moose Factory to work. Her father said she could if she promised to never drink alcohol because alcohol hurt Inuit. Sarah promised and she Sarah and Maggie went back to work in Moose Factory for a few years. Inuit laughed all the time. Inuit are good at telling stories. Kuujjuarapik was a laughing place to them. Sarah and Maggie walked back and forth across the ice between Moosenee and Moose Factory. Sarah knew Lucille, Jimmy Small's wife. Jimmy Small was Quebec Cree. His children Brenda and ? are very successful. His son was Chief of the Swampy Cree. I met Jimmy Small and his son in the summer of 2001when I was teaching with the Off-Campus Aboriginal program.

1956b. Life magazine did a story entitled "Stone Age Survivors: Eskimo Family" (1956) which was later published as a chapter in Epic of Man entitled "Stone Age Cultures of Today" (1961). Luke Anowtelik and Mary Akjar were featured in this story as Anowtelik and Iya. They had been relocated from the famine-ridden interior like others who had been relocated to Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove. Anowtelik had become one of the most prolific and respected hunters of Arviat. Their lives had changed dramatically. They now had TV, fridge, motor boat, electric stove. Art-making and wage-earning have become the new way of life. Anowtelik's antler swivel figures and the male toy heads are widely imitated. Artists there like to work in groups. He remembers carving a drum dancer when he lived at Ennadai Lake, Drum dancing was common then and it was natural to make up new songs to perform. Since leaving Ennadai Lake not one new song was written. He and his wife carved together. They share their ideas because they are husband and wife. He likes stone and antler. At one time antler was very popular. In one of her carvings Mary Akjar pronounced Iya represents the Inuit family. In talking about it she spoke of her earlier life at Ennadai Lake.

1956c. A wave of southern social workers, economic development staff, mechanics, construction workers joined missionaries, the RCMP and the HBC bringing about an onslaught of unwelcome changes along with a redistribution of power relationships changing roles and status in Inuit communities (Crowe 1997:35).

1956 (?). Grandfather Jimmy Ekomiak Fleming (1880s-1956) was diagnosed with TB, sent to Moose Factory where he died in 1956 (?). He is buried in the St. Thomas Anglican cemetery in an unmarked grave. Sarah Ekoomiak visited the graveyard in 2004 with her good friend Ben but could not find a marker. Jimmie Ekoomiak Fleming died when Sarah and Maggie were in Ottawa. Her maternal (?) grandmother died in 1947 (?). Aunt Carolyn wrote Sarah a letter when her grandmother died. She didn't know how old she was.

1957. By the late 1950s most Inuit were still hunting, fishing and gathering. They earned money from casual work such as handymen, cooks or guides and were already dependent on southern manufactured items (Mitchell 1996:117).

1959. The first Inuit cooperative was founded at George River. They ran a small commercial fishing and lumbering operation with Canadian government support. Until that time the only access to trade had been the Hudson's Bay Company who had enjoyed almost complete monopolistic control granted by a Royal Charter in 1670. Originally many of the Hudson's Bay factors were of Scottish descent.

1960s-a. In the late 1960s the adult education staff of the NA & NR started regional newspapers edited by Tagak Curley, Zebedee Nungak and Joanisie Salomonie. These provided a forum for discussions of self-government and settlements claims (Crowe 1997 Inuktitut :38).
1960s-b. 1960s-70s. Migration of Aboriginal people to urban areas grew in 1960s and 1970s. (Jackson 1993:58);.

1963a. Annie Ekomiak (b.1935-1963) was sent to get water and she fell through the ice and drowned. Annie was challenged intellectually. Willie was upset that she was asked to do something that was too difficult and therefore dangerous for her.

1963b. William Ekomiak and Samuel studied electricity in Winnipeg and they both became electricians. William did not complete the certificate but Samuel did. William told the government he did not want to join the army.

1965a. "The Indian Art Centre of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) is a federal cultural program that supports and promotes the visual arts of First Nations in Canada. The Centre was created in 1965 to support the development of Aboriginal artists working in the traditional art forms, as well as those working in the contemporary fine arts including painting, drawing, print making, sculpture and photography. The Indian Art Centre includes the National Indian Art Collection, an exhibition and loan program, an artist-in-residence program, a Resource Library and the Indian and Inuit Art Gallery http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/art/auqs_e.html ."

1965b. Willie Ekoomiak (21) became a Baha'i in Ottawa when he came south to go to school through the Irwin's. The Irwin's took Willie and Norman to International Club where people from different backgrounds came together. This was unusual. The Baha'is initiated the International Club which held dances, swims, picnics. Ottawa was a stopping place for many people because it was the capital of Canada. Willie went to their homes and he saw the photo Abdul Baha he asked about him. Baha'i youth used to travel teach and they came to Irwin home and they talked about the return of Jesus Christ. Willie had not understood what Lillian Irwin before when she talked about Baha'i. He was 21 years old. He was the first Inuk to become a Baha'i. Johnny Weetaluktuk (b.1930s) also became a Baha'i at the Baha'i school at Beau Lac. Baha'i world was excited about two Inuit becoming Baha'is. National sent a cable gram to UHJ and the UHJ responded welcoming Willie and Johnny into the Faith. Johnny Weetaluktuk married a woman in Iqaluit, worked at a mining camp and became inactive.

1966a. During Prime Minister Pearson's term of office (1963-8) the post of Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development was created. Arthur Laing was the first minister. The minister Arthur Laing and Commissioner Sivertz agreed the vote should be extended to the entire Northwest Territories not just the Mackenzie District. (Parker 1996:50)" There was a Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs in the Canadian cabinet from 1867 until 1936 when the Minister of Mines and Resources became responsible for native affairs. In 1950 the Indian Affairs branch was transferred to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who had responsibility for "registered Indians" until the creation of the position of Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1966. Before 1966 the Northern Development portions of the portfolio were the responsibility of the Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources." Wikipedia.

1966b. June 16, 1966 - Government Organization Act established the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development which was to be responsible for the development of National Parks, the administration of Indian and Eskimo affairs, and the management of Canada's wildlife resources. Control and supervision of the Indian Affairs Branch, with associated powers and duties under the Indian Act, transferred to DIAND from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration (P.C. 19652285) . The five Branches created within DIAND were: Northern Administration; National and Historic Parks; Indian Affairs; Canadian Wildlife Service; and Resource and Economic Development Group. The Honourable Arthur Laing, P.C., M.P., was appointed Minister and Mr. E.A. Cote was appointed Deputy Minister. Nine Regional Offices existed at this time: Maritimes Office in Amherst, Nova Scotia; Quebec Office in Quebec City; South Ontario Office in Toronto; North Ontario Office in North Bay; Manitoba Office in Winnipeg; Saskatchewan Office in Regina; Alberta Office in Edmonton; District of Mackenzie Office in Fort Smith, North West Territories; British Columbia Office in Vancouver; and, Yukon Office in Whitehorse.

1967a. The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council which included as members Doris Shadbolt, took on the major task of organizing and executing the first major international exhibition of Inuit art, Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic (Staples 1992:27). In 1964 she became curator and in 1967 she was acting director. The Arts of the Raven, an exhibition of over 450 Northwest Coast Indian masterworks with a $70,000 budget, that attracted international attention opened on the same evening the new director Tony Emery arrived.

1967b. "DIAND physically reorganized with increased responsibility moved to regional offices as part of the Department's decision to make the Indian Affairs Branch more accessible to native people and to hire more native people in the Regions, to assist in the development of self-government on Reserves. Reorganization of DIAND created the Social Affairs Program which consisted of the Education Branch (bringing together the Education Divisions of Indian Affairs and Northern Administration Branches), and the Operations Branch (former Administrative directorate of the IA Branch). Corps of Community Workers were created within the Indian Affairs Branch Community Development program and Indian Liaison Officers were recruited. The Assistant Deputy Minister of the Indian Affairs Branch was Mr. R.F. Battle with Mr J.W. Churchman serving as Director, Indian Affairs." http://collections.ic.gc.ca/treaties/text/rec_e_tx.htm .

1967c. Minister of DIAND Arthur Laing announced the federal response to the Carruther's Report in a meeting in Yellowknife. Yellowknife would be the new capital of the Northwest Territories.

1968-73. Jean Chretien was Minister of Northern Affairs.

1969b. Willie Ekomiak came south again. Re: Sarah Ekoomiak.

1970s-b. William Ekomiak helped build Baha'i House in Baker Lake. Re: Sarah Ekoomiak.

1970s-c. William Ekomiak was an electrician in Yellowknife. Re: Sarah Ekoomiak.

1971a. The Inuit Quebec Association was formed.

1971b. Inuit Tapirisat was formed.

1973a. "August 8 : as a result of a policy review, the Minister, Jean Chrétien, announced a new policy on comprehensive claims settlement in non-treaty areas of Canada entitled, "Statement on Claims of Indian and Inuit People". With the policy, DIAND accepted comprehensive and specific claims and agreed to deal with both, preferably reaching negotiated settlements." http://collections.ic.gc.ca/treaties/text/rec_e_tx.htm.

1973b. Burland (1973) described contact between caribou Inuit, "The Eskimos who were the most remote from the normal way of life were the Caribou Eskimos of Keewatin. These people lived like late Palaeolithic hunters of the last Ice Age. Fortunately for our understanding they were sought out in the early part of the twentieth century by Canadian ethnologists who have given us a very full series of studies of their way of life. It was fortunate also for the Caribou Eskimo because they were now known to the Canadian authorities, and visited occasionally (Burland 1973:68).

1973-5. William Ekomiak was in Iqaluit working at the Baha'i House. He helped build it. He stayed in Frobisher Bay he worked as electrical engineer starting motors when they broke down.

1974. The Northern Quebec Inuit Association (NQIA), a voluntary citizens' organization dedicated to the betterment of Northern Quebec published this trilingual compilation entitled The Northerners/Les Septentrionaux/Taqramiutwhich which provided Inuit perspectives on communications referring to the four ways people talk together: communications between communities, communications between the land and communities, communication within a community and communication from the South to the communities. Their publication illustrated by Alootook Ipellie, responded to their concerns that, "We the Inuit of Northern Quebec, have long believed that the white people don't know very much about us. Even those people who live among us, don't know us very well." The Northern Quebec Inuit Association was concerned with the preservation of Inuit language, culture, dignity and pride, the unity of Inuit of Northern Quebec and the protection of the rights of hunters, fishers and trappers. Tr. I. b. A. Ipellie. La Macaza, QC: Northern Quebec Inuit Association.

1975-9. The first fully elected Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories was formed. Nine of the fifteen members were aboriginal. This Council pushed for provincial status. Two Dene members, George Barnaby and James Wah-Shee resigned from the Legislature in protest. They argued that the government was not theirs since it was not aboriginal. Peter Ernerk from Rankin Inlet and Arnold McCallum were elected by the full caucus to be Executive Committee. (Parker 1996:67).

1976. Warren Allmand was the Minister of Northern Affairs.

1977. In Barrow Alaska on June 15, Inuit formed an international non-governmental organization, known as the Inuit Circumpolar Conference dedicated to protect and advance Inuit rights and interest on the international level. They represented 150, 000 Inuit in territories governed by Denmark, Canada, the United States and the Russian Federation.
1978. "March 21 : Indian and Eskimo Affairs Program changed its name to Indian and Inuit Affairs Program. March: Tripartite Branch formed within Policy, Research and Evaluation Group with primary responsibility at Headquarters for discussions with provincial governments and Indian associations on priority topics of mutual concern to all parties. The Branch was formed in response to pressure from provincial governments and Indian associations wanting to enter into tripartite discussions on a variety of issues. April 1: Cultural Development Unit transferred from the Education and Cultural Support Branch to the Communications and Parliamentary Relations Branch." http://collections.ic.gc.ca/treaties/text/rec_e_tx.htm .

1979a. Northern cooperatives expanded their line of merchandise and began catering to a growing tourist market in order to compete with the Hudson's Bay Company. They earned $ 9 million dollars (Myers 1981:17).

1979b. Peter Ittinuar became the first Inuk in the Canadian House of Commons. Tom Suluk and Jack Anawak were elected in subsequent elections (Crowe 1997 Inuktitut).

1980. October 1980 Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) passed a resolution calling for the creation of Nunavut, at the annual general meeting.

1980s. Willie Ekomiak was a police office in Kuujjuak for one year but it was too difficult. All the problems were in centre town where he worked. Re: Sarah Ekoomiak.

1984b. The Inuit vividly remember September 30, 1984, when 10, 000 caribou were drowned on the Caniapiscau River, near Kuujjuaq because of the James Bay project.

1990-3. Tom Siddon was demoted to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development position after the crisis in the fisheries while he was Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. "Only months after his swearing in the Oka Crisis broke out, and Siddon was attacked for his inactivity and refusal to negotiate until the Mohawks dropped their arms and removed the barricades. Soon after the exclusion of the First Nations from the constitutional process was one of the deciding factors in the death of the Meech Lake Accord. His greatest legacy and success was also achieved as Minister of Indian Affairs when with the agreement to create the new territory of Nunavut in 1992." wikipedia.

200? Sarah contacted her daughter Meeka who is in the United States. Her daughter was adopted into a good family. She received an excellent education and is now teaching Spanish SFL in the United States. She has a young son.

1994. Sarah Ekoomiak accompanied Ben and Karen Needham to James Bay in October, 1994 so that Karen could meet her relatives for the first time. Karen's biological mother Maria Fleming wanted Karen to have a better life in the south than she could provide in the north. Karen was adopted into a loving family but wanted to meet her biological family. Sarah Ekoomiak is her great-aunt. Sarah had last seen Maria Fleming in Ottawa in 1960 when she was pregnant for Karen. Sarah introduced Karen and Ben to her many relatives in Kujjuarapik. Maria Fleming had died in Toronto in 2003. See Inuktitut 2004.

1999. "Among the indigenous people living today, Inuit probably stand alone in having peacefully achieved so many political, economic and social gains through negotiation with the government authorities they live under. The most important political gains have been the acquisition of Home Rule from the Danish parliament by Greenlanders in 1979 and the recognition of the territory of Nunavut (1999) as a self-governing political entity within the Canadian nation. In both cases the territorial structures where all residents have the right to vote. But since Inuit form the majority, they are guaranteed a de facto self-governing status (d'Anglure 2002:205)."

2004aSarah Ekoomiak went on a marathon trip with Ben the fireman, to Marathon near Thunder Bay, Moose Factory. She camped outside in Moose Factory and caught a very bad cold. She tried to find her grandfather's grave but couldn't.

2004b. Sarah Ekoomiak's son Garry moved to New Brunswick to be with his two-year-old daughter and his partner Chastity.

2005 In recognition of International Woman’s Day, the Bahá'í Community of La Pêche, Quebec, is holding a special evening on March 19th to recognize and honour Sarah Ekoomiak, a long-time resident of Wakefield.

2006 Sarah continued to be in close contact with family members and friends in the North by telephone. She was increasingly worried that conditions in Chisasibi and Sanikualaq Islands were deteriorating in terms of vulnerabilities to violence mainly because of the quantities of harder drugs. Family members received compensation as survivors of residential schools. Sarah did not because there was no evidence she had been at the residential school.

2006 In October, 2006 Sarah’s friend Ben who struggled with depression for decades finally took his own life. Before their divorce Ben and his wife K. took Sarah on a lengthy road trip from Ottawa to Chisasibi so that K. could meet her biological family, Sarah’s extended family. Ben, who was not aboriginal but had shared many experiences of Canada’s First Nations and Inuit through his unfortunate years in residential school, adopted the Inuit community and considered Sarah to be a second mother. He initiated countless trips for Sarah including a return to Moose Factory to try to find the grave of her relatives who had died there of TB. Although they were not able to find the grave the journey was tremendously important to her. Ben tried to learn Inuktitut. Sarah’s Inuit family nicknamed him ‘safety pin’ in Inuktitut because of a mistake he made in pronunciation.

Footnotes:

Chisasibi was the community most directly affected by James Bay Hydro Electric Corporation project. Hunting and trapping territories were flooded; the community itself forcibly relocated. Like at Kuujjarapik there was a long history of trade with the Hudson’s Bay Company. The HBC had a post in Fort George (Mailasikkut) since 1803 which was moved to Governor’s or Fort George Island in 1837. Chisasibi, where many of Sarah’s relatives live today, is Cree for “great river”, officially known as La Grande River through the infamous project (see Patrick 2003:84). Initially the hydro project was planned unilaterally by Quebec without consulting the Inuit and Cree who used the watershed from time immemorial. The plan entailed a 50-year scheme in northern Quebec which would have altered or reversed the flow of 19 major rivers on Inuit and Cree land to create one of North America’s largest hydro-electric dam systems. The flooding resulted in major ecological imbalances not to mention invasion and destruction of Inuit and Cree land (see 1997:269). The Fort George that Sarah and Willie knew in their childhood was relocated to the present site of Chisasibi which is marks the first kilometers of the James Bay autoroute connecting isolated communities in the north to the south. This is the highway that brought Sarah and her Gatineau husband Paul Hamelin back north for visits in the 1980s. Sarah returned again in 200? with her cousin Karin Needham to reintroduce her to her Inuit relatives. Karin had been adopted into a southern non-Inuit family in the 1960s during the infamous period called the sixties scoop.

Umiujaq is the starting point of a popular long-distance dog sled race. It was an artificially created community in which

Many faces of Inuit art

2006-12-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Top row: Left to right: Ida Karpik. Motherless Ookpik. Print. Pangnirtung, NU; Ovilu Tunnillee, Torso, Sculpture in front of photo of Iqaluit, Nunavut -50 degrees; Jessie Oonark's (1906-1983?) OC RCA, wallhanging Striped Figure; Middle row: Left to right: Simom Tookoomee and other elders in consultation, "Interviewing the Elders," Nunavut Arctic College; Bill Nasogaluak at Qaggit, Inuit Art Foundation, Ottawa, ON; My neighbour in Iqaluit, NU carving in front of the Homeless Shelter at zero degree temperatures. Middle row: Left to right: Kananginak Pootoogook's the First Tourist (a detail); the graveyard in Iqaluit, NU; Pond Inlet family of storytellers, drum dancers, (Julia Kanayuk's family) performing at Larga, Ottawa, ON

Some background information:

Ida Karpik was born on the land at a camp called Bon Accord in 1938. When she died in Pangnirtung in 2002 she had earned the respect of her own hamlet for her community work and her art. But she was also acknowledged internationally for her unique prints and drawings.

Karpik left her mark on both the hamlet and arts community. She began to draw seriously in 1974 and worked for 28 years producing hundreds of original drawings on paper, showing different aspects of traditional Inuit life, birds and animals. Many of her drawings are still held in the archives at the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts in Pangnirtung (See Hill (2002-05-17).

In the early 1960s Ida Karpik and her husband, hunter, carpenter and community worker Joannasie Karpik (b. Netsilik on September 1, 1935) moved from their camp Iglugaarjuk to the hamlet of Pangnirtung. Like their contemporaries in the Cumberland Sound region they wanted to be near their children who were attending school in Pangnirtung. During this period Inuit were actively engaged in community building in Pangnirtung. Joannasie Karpik served on numerous Boards including the Inuit Co-op, (where he was chairperson for six years) the Local Education Committee, Hamlet Council, Hunters and Trappers Organization, and the Anglican Vestry.

Her sister, Geela Sowdluapik is also a respected artist in Pangnirtung.

Joanasie has also been a member of the Inummariit Board for six years and a member of the Niutaq Cultural Institute Board since the beginning. Joanasie is the Elders Representative on the Qikiqtani Inuit Association Board of Directors and a member of the Dog Slaughter/Relocations Committee and the Social/Cultural Committee. Joanasie Karpik is the Elders Representative with QIA. For more see here

Ovilu Tunnillie: High Heels, Airplanes and Other Inuit Legends

2006-12-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

Flynn-Burhoe, Maureen. 2001. "Ovilu Tunnillie: High Heels, Airplanes and Other Inuit Legends," Qaggit, Inuit Art Foundation, Ottawa, ON.

Edit in process: Ovilu Tunnillie’s imagery is riveting both in her words and in stone. She accepted an interview with me during a break from her carving in the workshop of the Ottawa School of Art, where visiting Inuit artists have been welcomed for a number of years. She was part of a small delegation of Inuit artists selected to be honoured at the bi-annual Qaggit gathering organised by the Inuit Art Foundation, Ottawa, ON.

Ovilu Tunnillie's work is recognized nationally and internationally for her powerful, innovative approach to carving in stone. She is represented in numerous major galleries and prestigious collections including the National Gallery of Canada and the Ontario Gallery of Art. She is regularly featured in commercial galleries in numerous southern cities including Vancouver where she is a favourite of the respected Marion Scott gallery. There Judy Kardosh has exhibited an almost life size wooden sculpture carved by a British Columbia sculptor of Ovilu Tunnillie wearing a Mother Hubbard. Her work has been the subject of numerous articles and several books. She has become a world traveler. She is respected both as artist and community leader.

Her work involves a relational subject, one capable of using a number of lenses. One of the more demanding tasks for an artist is to relate the parts to the whole. She is able to manipulate entire figures into intricate and complex relations. This is evident in her early work, for example the Fighting Dogs, Hawk Eating Char as well in her self-representations with the qabblunat in Manitoba, her mother, and in my favourite piece, her granddaughter Tye. Tye is the adorable baby tucked into the Ovilu Tunnillie's amaut in the photo accompanying her text in Women Artists from Cape Dorset.

Ovilu Tunnillie's work which spans three decades has included small carvings, even jewelery. Her diminutive size and her small hands, in stark contrast to the size of her sculptures, astonish her many admirers. Her strength is not immediately apparent but she works like an athlete. She even wears a towel slung over her shoulders like an athlete in a workout! She dresses appropriately. She skillfully uses the tools of her trade.

Her practical and humble explanation for why she works large astounded me. Apparently for her there is less cramping and therefore less strain on her hands when she works the larger stones! (She has had several operations on her hands.)

This paradox reflects her work. Her work has been described as subtle and sensual, fresh and feminist. It has also been described as ambiguous, ironic even subversive. Her works turns heads and stops viewers in their tracks. Years ago Marybelle Mitchell, Director of the Inuit Art Foundation and editor of the Inuit Art Quarterly, described her as an artist to watch.

Her work reflects a keen sense of observation complemented by an astounding capacity to retrieve embedded memories in three dimensional detail. This gift of recall is demanding intellectually. When she described the process of sculpting, she emphasizes with her hands the difficult task of thinking it into being first. It takes a great deal of concentration and she does not like to interrupt her work. She carves constantly and she carves big!

In order to fully appreciate how impressive her work is, it is helpful to situate her childhood, youth and early adult years against the backdrop of irreversible structural changes taking place all around her. Ovilu Tunnillie's (b. 1949) childhood on the land was interrupted by the diagnosis of tuberculosis in 1955. Like thousands of Inuit in the 1950s she spent years away from her close knit family, in sanitoria in southern Canada. (By 1956 the largest year-round Inuit community in Canada was in Hamilton at the Mountain Sanatorium where 332 Inuit patients were being treated. There were 1,578 Inuit being treated in Canadian hospitals such as Clearwater Sanitorium, MN, Mountain Sanitorium, Hamilton,ON, Charles Camsell Indian Hospital, Edmonton, AB and Moose Factory, ON in 1953(Grygier 1994:1)! Inuit and Indian girls and women shared and learned new stitches, acquired patterns, language skills (Conversations with Sarah Ekoomiak).

By the time Ovilu Tunnillie made the return trip on the C. D. Howe to Baffin Island, she was ten years old. By the late 1950s most Inuit of her father's generation were still hunting, fishing and gathering. They earned money from casual work such as handymen, cooks or guides and were already dependent on southern manufactured items (Mitchell 1996:117).

She had forgotten much of her homeland and her language. As a mature adult artist she translated into stone her early fears of the strange women she encountered in the south, white women whose faces were hidden behind veils. Her sculpture entitled "This has Touched my Life" (1991-2) depicts four figures, a child, an man wearing a suit and tie and two women wearing veils. This memory was very clear to Ovilu who wondered why these women wore veils. (Inuit Women Artists 1999:223-5). She described one of her favourite sculptures, one she carved five months ago. She vividly portrayed the moment of her return from the southern tuberculosis sanitorium to Kangia, her father Toonoo Toonoo’s camp on Foxe Peninsula. She could describe in minute detail the expression on her baby brother’s face, (Jutai) as he peered at her from her mother’s (Sheojuk’s) amaut. In her year long absence she had become a stranger to this baby whose birth she had witnessed.

In a way Ovilu Tunnilee's work is like a series of autobiographical life scenes, powerful statements of separation and reuniting as experienced by a child and remembered by a mother and grandmother. She traces the strength evident in her work and in her life to these pre-adolescent years where she was pulled between alienation and belonging between Baffin Island and sanitoria in Manitoba, between Inuktitut and English.

Throughout the 1960s when she could accompany her father on his trips by dogsled she was drawn to collecting stones. When she was seventeen she attempted her first carving just to see if she was able. It was unusual for women to carve at that time. It meant working outdoors and it was considered to be men's work. Women, like her own mother, Sheojuk Toonoo, were encouraged to provide drawings for the newly opened Co-op print shop while her father Toonoo Toonoo and other camp members Niviaqsi and Kudjuakjuk made carvings to supplement their earnings. The year that Ovilu returned coincided with the year the opening of a Co-op in the hamlet of Cape Dorset. The first Inuit art print collection was published in 1960. Inuit across the Eastern Arctic were encouraged to carve and draw for an emerging, carefully nurtured southern market.

Tragedy struck in 1969 when her father was shot with a rifle. With Toonoo Toonoo gone the family could no longer live the semi-nomadic lifestyle. They moved permanently to Cape Dorset.

She began carving regularly in 1973. In the 1970s she experimented with making jewelery. She learned to cast bronze. She produced a small bronze casting "Man and Bear" in c.1974-6. She also learned to make lithography prints in the Cape Dorset print shop(1978-9).

A number of factors prevented Inuit across the North from continuing to subsist in a semi-nomadic eco-centric lifestyle moving from hunting camp to fishing camp that Ovilu Tunnillie experienced as a young child. Previously, epidemics of imported diseases had devastating Inuit camps but none were as destructive as TB. Outpost camps lost valuable members to the TB exiles and were forced to move closer to HBC trading posts (Mitchell 1996:119). In the 1950s one-third of the Inuit population was infected with TB. In some communities everyone had TB at one time or another(Grygier 1994:1)! i953 Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent stated: "Apparently we have administered the vast territories of the north in an almost continuing absence of mind. (Parker 1996:32)" The government recognized that it had a responsibility for northern people. The government began to establish about forty permanent administrative centres to provide education, health and economic development services for Inuit (Parker 1996:32). Inuit from hundreds of smaller camps scattered across the north, began to congregate in these hamlets (Mitchell 1996:118). The federal Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources was formed in Ottawa. An intergovernmental committee on Eskimo Affairs was reinstated (Crowe 1997:34).By 1954 there was mounting criticism of the Eastern Arctic Division and federal services for Inuit (Grygier 1994:190). In 1953 James Houston flew to Cape Dorset and other outpost camps in his function as Crafts Officer for the Department of Mines and Resources.

It was easier to sell Inuit arts and crafts in the post-DEW line era as there was a greater possibility of more air connections. While the Inuit community was struggled to survive there was a growing interest in things made by Inuit, part of a broader fascination with what was called "authentic primitive art," things made by the indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas. Long before Alma and James Houston settled in Cape Dorset in 1955 and became active in encouraging carving and
handicrafts, the market for things made by Inuit was already being primed. The Museum of Modern Art in New York bought the first set of Cape Dorset prints. Governor General Vincent Massey gave an Inuit print to Princess Margaret as a wedding present. Things made by Inuit reached a larger population in 1953 when Charles and Peter Gimpel opened an exhibition entitled "Eskimo Carvings" during the Coronation celebrations at their gallery in London, UK (Vorano 2004:9-18). Charles Gimpel had traveled to Canada's far north taking photographs along the way in the 1950s and 1960s long before this became a popular tourist attraction. See Tippett and Gimpel (1994). Their Coronation exhibition caught the attention of international media including Time International, Mayfair, The Observer, The Times. By the time Charles Gimpel and Terry Ryan visited James Houston in Kingait in 1958 Inuit art was already easy to market. By 1957 there was a permanent Museum of Primitive Art established in New York (Errington 1998:, Phillips 2002:46-7).

She not only describes traditional life; she also comments on these experiences in her art. By 1981 when she had a solo exhibition in Montreal she was already producing work that examined vulnerabilities of Inuit in the modern world. A very interesting one is "Thoughts Create Meaning" (c.1980)

The hand represents the grip of drink on Inuit. I thought about the drinks taking grip on Inuit.... This [the head] is the mind. Inuit were given alcohol by the government. The hand which is the symbol of Inuit, is pointing a finger at the government official. No one in particular, but qabllunat (white people). You will notice the man isn't wearing kamiit because the person's white. If I'd meant to depict Inuit as if they had brought it (alcohol), then it would feature an Inuk. I am attempting to depict that the man is thinking: I', attempting to depict that his mind is being affected by this head. This was my thought at the time. I disliked alcohol for what it can do to people. 1991 interview with Odette Leroux.

In the same 1991 interview she discussed, "Woman Passed Out." She described how liquor was brought up from the white people, not from the Inuit. This woman may not mean to be the way she is here. She has had too much alcohol and she has passed out. Statement by artist: "This is a work of aesthetic inspiration and not intended as a social commentary".

Her carvings of Airplane (c.1986), Football player, (1981). She watches football now. Also Seaman, Seawoman and Fish. c.1981 50 cm. This is taleelayu. Ovilu has never seen one. It's from her imagination. She wonders about the inhabitants of the sea: if they had lives like the Inuit. and in 1992 she was director of the West Baffin Island Eskimo Cooperative.

While she does not balk at depicting the everyday life of embodied urban Inuit, she is still intrigued by beings that exist only in the Arctic such as Taleelayao. The fish like Taleelayo are marine beings so she "just included them." One of her personal favourites is "Taleeyalo" (1994) a 68cm high white marble sculpture now in the National Gallery of Canada.
She also likes to carve bird wings spread out very thin. "I Made this with my Hands" 1990 is very much like the theme of Oonark's "My Hands are like Birds" "The hands are the most creative part of us.
"Woman on High Heels", 1987. In 1970s in Montreal on television she saw nude women wearing high heels. This sculpture is of a true white woman. Inuit women hardly ever wear high heels. "Skier" 1993 NGC 30 cm. Skater 1988.

Ovilu Tunnillie is cited as the example of feminism in Inuit art, the argument for placing contemporary Inuit sculpture with contemporary southern artists, an artist who has broken constraints and dissolved stereotypes.

I had brought photos of her work to discuss during our interview. She looked through them and excitedly stopped at the sculpture entitled "Football Player." She exclaimed that there were things she wanted to tell me about this work that she could not say with her limited English.

Ovilu married in 1969. She has adult children and four grandchildren. She is proud of being able to make carvings like a man.

Some additional notes on specific works: (Draft)

Errington, Shelly (1998) The Death of Authentic Primitive Art and Other Tales of Progress.

Suicide Epidemic Among Inuit Youth, Letters2Cyberspace

2006-12-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Flynn-Burhoe, M. 2003. "Suicide Epidemic Among Inuit Youth" Ottawa, ON. http://www.carleton.ca/~mflynnbu/Letters2Cyberspace. October 20?, 2003

I had just spent three weeks in Iqaluit, Nunavut getting this academic year's courses underway. Within a few days of my return to the Ottawa area the youth suicide epidemic struck again. I wrote this letter to cyberspace but I really did not expect any response.

To: The Editor of the New York Times
To: The Editor of the Nunatsiak News

The fireplace is casting a blanket of warmth through our cottage home but I still feel chilled. The small lake is as clear as a mirror today, leaves reflected in and floating on the surface burn with rich colours but I can’t really enjoy them today.

Yesterday my urban Inuit students in their course on Inuit art, spoke of death --- too many deaths, too many funerals and fresh graves in small communities where almost no one is left untouched. Another youth, Jimmy took his life last weekend in Iqaluit, Nunavut. The suicide rate in North America’s far north has no equal anywhere on our globe. We couldn't just talk about sculpture, prints and drawings. I strained to hear not just to listen . . . to force time to slow down. I was out of sync with the cadence of their voices. These are supposed to be the learners but I am learning from them. They were grappling with the loss of someone who was a real embodied presence throughout their youth and childhood. I needed them to help me understand. I speak too fast with too many words.

Seventeen hours later after trying to watch brain candy or tranquilize my mind with the hues and saturations of the lake leaves, I am still unable to settle in to my real world obligations. So I am writing letters to cyberspace addressing them to journalists. We are connected. NYT journalists do not simply produce our news stories, they construct our communal archives. The political philosophies that appear in the Times columns inform conversations internationally. Decisions made, policies enacted, interventions, transactions and agreements undertaken in New York, California, Washington, Kyoto, Rio Janeiro, The Hague, Tel Aviv, Baghdad, Beijing, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto have as much --- if not more --- impact than conversations and consultations held in Nunavut. Assumptions and debates about the market, big or small government, direct democracy, policing, racial profiling, drugs, welfare, poverty, taxes that are covered in the pages of the New York Times impact far beyond the space on the grid of a New York mile and the time contained in a New York minute.

This is not Jimmy’s story. Inuit have tried hard to teach me that I cannot tell their stories. I can only tell my story through my eyes and my experience. Jimmy used to live in Iqaluit, Nunavut. He had a good construction job and his friends knew him as a young man who had a lot to live for.

Construction in Nunavut is booming. Entrepreneurs come north for several years or decades and legally amass fortunes as they rush ahead to improve southern Canada’s GNP by building, renting and leasing northern dwellings at prices several times the cost of a similar dwelling in the south. This is a boon to government workers and the upper middle class both Inuit and non-Inuit. According to the logic of the marketplace, this will eventually trickle down to the Inuit who are the most disadvantaged in the North in regards to underemployment, access to education, health and housing. But the youth are dying so quickly I don’t know how many will be there to benefit when help finally does arrive. In the midst of this construction boom many Inuit are still living in overcrowding conditions shockingly comparable to the Third World. Nunavut is a conflicted region of great promise after negotiating a more equitable relationship to the rest of Canada but it is also a region of ever-deepening despair. Extremes of wealth and poverty co-exist with intimacy that is too close for comfort.

Last week Jimmy was part of the boom. He was one of the fortunate Inuit who had found a job. The friends who introduced me to Jimmy through their memories of him, described a young man full of promise. The cadence of the conversations yesterday, like many kitchen table conversations with First Nations, Inuit and Metis friends resonates with the dialogue and silences that narrate the ‘long take’ vistas of a Zach Kunuk video. One of the students from the Igloolik area --- where Atanarjuat was filmed --- spent yesterday afternoon tracing intricate trails in red on a university photocopy of a 1-125,000 map of the islands, waterways and mainland that he knew intimately from his years of traveling with his grandfather. As he traced the pathways, he meticulously wrote the names of familiar places in red syllabics. From time to time he would explain the meaning of these coded words. Each place name described the physical space so accurately it was as though he succeeded in breaking the code that unlocked Borges’ ‘Art of Cartography.’ As he spoke, Julia whispered warnings about imposed flag post place names like Fury Strait. He created a virtual image for me --- and anyone else in the room who strained to listen. The images, sounds and smells he evoked were themselves Hauntings. As he traced and retraced these red pathways that barely covered inches on the photocopied map --- I, the cyborg collector of digital archives, could take a Janet Cardiff’s Wanås Walk… three-hour hikes… seven-hour hikes to his favourite places… seeing panoramas vicariously through his eyes… hearing silence and the wind, tasting… smelling. The place names acknowledged the super natural market of food supplies available to travelers who had local knowledge. He indicated and word painted the tiny island called Tern Island where his father was born.

He fingered the miniscule unmarked place on the map haunted by the toxicity of the abandoned Dew Line site that is socially, historically, politically, emotionally and physically charged. These stories of these sites, like the stories of the many suicide martyrs, have been erased from communal memory. But the threat of their toxins is a constant reminder of the fragility of the micro ecosystem of this unique place.

The island of Igloolik --- the place of many dwellings --- is where the family of my guide on my vicarious journey, returned for generations. Centuries of overlapping circular trails could be traced on this map in sharp contrast to the grid-like pattern of modernity cut into a New York mile of urban architectural spaces. The layered trails would represent countless seasonal journeys from hunting camp to fishing camp traveling on foot, by dogsled, kayak, Peterhead, snow machine or by foot. Like so many isolated places in the North --- Igloolik --- has been inhabited by the semi-nomadic Inuit for centuries if not millennia. Travelers walking on the land still come across centuries-old natural museums, archives and caches that should have been forgotten. Because the archives are not written, there is an assumption that they do not exist. But the tundra itself has written the story of the early travelers in vivid colours on ancient abandoned sites. Tiny resistant plants that flourished on organic accumulative remains unlock the entrance to the site of ancient bones and tusks. Discarded objects and ancient bones tell stories of those who traveled before.

How far can you go in a New York minute? How many miles are encompassed in the Wall Street grid? How much widescreen and close-up geography can be covered in the longue duree, the ‘long take’, the extended view that echoes natural time. Jimmy’s identity was a personal geography he inhabited, composed of endlessly repeated everyday habits haunted by a communal history that resists the forced act of forgetting.

This week Jimmy’s life and story is beginning a process of being wiped out, completely erased, deleted from communal memory. In an everyday life process his image is beginning already to move from opacity to transparency in the painful but unspoken process of total erasure from a community’s memory. Once the local memory is completely gone, the tiny byte of time and place that he once occupied will be irretrievable from the meta files of data being processed in this the age of the great flood of the archives. If he had children they will never know their father’s story. His image will not be found in photo albums nor will laughter at his exploits be shared around kitchen tables. His name --- if it ever does come up again --- will be spoken only in whispers. Jimmy is not being cruelly punished for dying young. His memory, his life is doubly and triply erased in a desperate attempt to save the youth around him. In Iqaluit, Nunavut there is still nowhere for those youth-at-risk to go for help. They are living and dying through the worst epidemic of suicide on the planet.

When my granddaughters are reading the socio-economic, cultural and political histories of North America several decades from now, how will the story be told? How can and will the bones of this entire generation of our youth be explained and justified? These are our youth. They are not Canadian or American. They are North American.

Maureen Flynn-Burhoe
October, 2003
Bell Lake, Quebec, Canada

I had just returned from Iqaluit, Nunavut where I had set up two courses. I had developed a northern-centred course on Human Rights that was I was teaching along with the Introduction to Sociology I had taught from January to June in 2002. I didn't really want to return to Nunavut but the Director and administrators of the Centre for Initiatives in Education really wanted me to go again. Last term was such a success they had signed an agreement with Nunavut Arctic College President, McClenning. But the Inuit Art Foundation in Ottawa wanted me to teach their courses again as well. So I was commuting between Iqaluit and Ottawa. My own PhD was moving too slowly.

Email correspondence in response to letter

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 16:01:08 -0400
Subject: Re: An Epidemic of Youth Suicide
To: Maureen Flynn-Burhoe

From a friend and mother who works in education in Iqaluit, Nunavut

Thank you for your for sensitive insights and for taking action. Your letter is very eloquent and persuasive. I am at my wits end with the number of deaths as it impacts so terribly on the youth left behind. I had to get my x out of town once again at the end of August after a friend died in a wasteful and tragic car accident. x stayed out visiting family and friends, then joined x and I for Thanksgiving in our x house. It was so peaceful and sane. We all returned on Sunday. The very first phone call to x was from a friend informing x of Jimmy's suicide. x had worked with Jimmy last summer at x. x just collapsed and all the healing seems for nought. Yet x went to the funeral yesterday, but today x hasn't really risen from bed. And at lunch today, I heard that x's step son (really her grand son) died last night, a possible suicide, but we won't know until the autopsy is completed. He was only 19. I think we may have to move away, just in order to keep our x healthy and optimistic about life and youth. Again, though you letter so beautifully articulated the problem. I hope they respond.

From a friend, an anthropologist in Israel working with an off-campus Social Work program for Bedouin women:

Your letter arrived just in the right time to strengthen my belief that, after all, we are connected by some sort of a great path leading us to the same places, meeting us at some crossroads. In two days I am about to start a new course named "Inter-cultural Training in Human Services". Your letter will certainly be shared with the students at the beginning of the course, used as a starting point. I thank you so much for letting me be part of your healing -I consider it as our mutual need for healing. I know from very close the feelings of self-devastation, just from hearing about the silent violence in their lives. But we need to heal ourselves so we can continue hearing the stories and expand the message as far as we can, to as many ears we can, especially to those who can make changes. The act of hearing itself is, I believe, a direct healing process, a humanizing process, we experience with the direct victims of the community, all hurt by the violence. Be strong and courageous to go on in this painful task and remember to take care of yourself. I am always here for you (despite the distance) very close to you in my thoughts and feelings. wish you all the best and warm hugs to x, x

From a university student

Your story was emotionally moving. It is truly unfortunate how there are not enough articles that try and explain the truth, that will attempt to reveal an alternate side to what is actually going on. The newspaper is a valuable source of information, however if we cannot rely on it to report factual accounts than how are we to remain informed? I find that in today’s society it is getting harder and harder to experience true reality. Organizations that are supposed to relay news to us (the individuals) such as CNN, The New York Times, The Ottawa Sun, etc… seem to always have an incredibly bias view on things. It is unfortunate that instances like these occur yet; it seems that if they were to print the truth they would have too much to lose thus, resulting in uninformed patrons, such as yourself and others like me. The account you heard about Jimmy, appears to be a common story in native life these days, and it makes me sore inside. This summer on my way to Vancouver I had the pleasure of being seated next to a lovely young girl named Suzie. She was a young lady from Coral harbor – a small island off the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavut. As we flew I found out many interesting things about the life she lived. The way hers differed from mine was substantially significant. She told me about her life up north, how she witness first hand a good friend of hers commit suicide, she experienced her brother take his own life, and even her local high school, it seemed like there was another case of suicide every other week. She was flying back to Victoria where she attended a fashion design school. Talking to her really opened my eyes up as I am sure your students opened yours. It was wonderful to see how far she had come along; taking into account the experiences she had gone through.

I believe part of the problem these youth face is the way in which society “has” regarded them. In the past native people have always been looked down upon and have been pushed around physically and mentally. There have been many repercussions created to alleviate the Native community, however many of these things have come a little too late. Obviously the argument can be made stating that these repercussions are better than nothing, yet it still doesn’t account for the losses native youth will suffer.

In order to understand what is actually going on in places such as Iqaluit there needs to be a proper healing process. Having stories printed in newspapers about those who have suffered are only the beginning of the healing process. Marilyn Manson, a famous musician was asked what he would have done to prevent the shooting that occurred at Columbine High School. He said “I wouldn’t have said anything to them; I would have listened to them, and what they had to say.” This is an attitude that should be adopted by many more school officials that deal with students and stressful environments. The youth of Iqaulit not only deserve someone to direct them in correct directions they NEED someone who is willing to listen and to understand their problems. Peter Tenute

Draft Timeline of Inuit Social History

2006-12-01T16:41:00.000-07:00



9000 BC Ice Age came to an end. Arctic climate warmed.
7000 BC Dogsleds used by Palaeo-Eskimo in northern Siberia?
3000 BC The Denbigh culture of western and northern Alaska dates as far back as this.
2500 BC Migration Theory: Paleao-Eskimos migrating across Arctic North America. (in McGhee, Robert)
2200 - 1500 BC Stable northern climate.
2000 BC Umingmak Palaeo-Eskimo site on Banks Island.
c.1700 BC Oldest known Early Palaeo-Eskimo portrait of a human, an ivory maskette found on Devon Island.
1800 BC Palaeo-Eskimos occupied most Arctic regions. Independence culture musk-ox hunters of the extreme Arctic regions.
2000 BC - 1 AD Worldwide environmental change. In the north: the first chill. Cooler summers.
2000 BC Cooler conditions set in North.
500 - 1 BC Early Dorset Tyara maskette found at Hudson Strait.
1 - 1500 Dorset culture.
1 - 600 AD Middle Dorset culture: Igloolik flying bear carving.
500s AD Legend: Irish monks in currachs sailed west and north?
800s AD Eric the Red and 1500 Icelanders traveled to Greenland's southwest coast? The Norse landed in Labrador before
1000 AD and attempted to colonize along the coasts of Ungava, Baffin Island and Labrador. They were the first Europeans to reach the: Canadian Arctic. (Hessell 1998:7) )
650 - 1250 AD Mediaeval Warm Period in Arctic North America.(McGhee 1997).
600 - 1300 AD Late Dorset culture, wand found on Bathurst Island.
1100 - 1700 AD Thule culture: bow-drill handle found near Arctic Bay, Baffin Island; swimming bird and birdwoman figurines found in the Eastern Arctic. (Illustration Hessel 1998:17)
c.1650 - 1840 AD Little Ice Age forced the Thule to break up into small, nomadic groups.
1576 ?Martin Frobisher, an uneducated pirate-mariner attempted to find the Northwest Passage. He encountered Inuit on Resolution Island.: Five sailors jumped ship and became part of Inuit mythology. The homesick sailors tired of their adventure attempted to leave in a small vessel and vanished. Frobisher brought an unwilling Inuk to England. On his next trip to Baffin Island an Inuit hunter shot Frobisher in the buttocks with an arrow after Frobisher had lost a wrestling match?
1585 John Davis voyaged up Davis Strait.
1602 Henry Hudson traveled to the whaling grounds of Spitsbergen which became a source of great wealth to the British.
1616 Robert Bylot and William Baffin sailed to Hudson Bay. 1670 Hudson's Bay Company newly formed is granted trade rights over all territory: draining into Hudson Bay. The fur trade develops.
1749 The first trading was established at Richmond Gulf.
c. 1749 Trade of small stone carvings. The HBC began trading glass beads to the Caribou Inuit in the 18th century. Women used them to: decorate parkas. Ivory cribbage boards with skrimshaw engravings (like the whalers) were the most popular. (Hessel 1998:24)
1750s Moravian missionaries arrived in Labrador. (Hessell 1998:8)
1771 Moravian missionaries settled in Nain in northern Labrador heralding the beginning of the Historic Period. Well-crafted miniature carvings: were traded with missionaries, whalers, explorers...
1770s - 1940s. The missionaries are said to have introduced the art of basketry to the Inuit (Watt 1980:13).
1771 Samuel Hearne of the HBC reached the Arctic coast at Coppermine.
1789 Alexander Mackenzie follows Mackenzie River to Beaufort Sea.
1820. The "Hudson's Bay Company opened a trading post called Great Whale River in 1820 on the site of today's Kuujjuarapik. The main: activities at the post were processing whale products of the commercial whale hunt and trading furs." www
1821-3. D'Anglure (2002:205) stated that the British Naval Expedition (1821-3) led by Admiral Parry, which twice over-wintered in Foxe Basin,: provided the first informed, sympathetic and well-documented account of the economic, social and religious life of the Inuit. Parry stayed in Igloolik over the second winter. Parry's writings with pen and ink illustrations of Inuit everyday life (1824) and those of Lyon (1824) were widely read.
1822 William Parry's expedition to Igloolik.
183? Captain George Back made the first descent of the Back River.
1830s - 1860s. A man named (Jimmy?) Fleming (b. 1830s?1860s?) remained behind when the whaling ship left the north. He was given an: Inuktitut name and he married an Inuk. Jimmy Fleming was a traveler; Jimmy Fleming was Scottish or English more likely Scottish perhaps with prominent eyebrows like Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming. His son was Jimmy Ekoomiak Fleming (c.1865-1950s), Sarah Ekoomiak's grandfather. Annie Weetaltuk, Johnny Weetaltuk's cousin knew the story about the man called Fleming and she told William Ekomiak the story.
1850s - 1950s Christian missionaries spread throughout Arctic. 1860 - 1915 Second wave of contact. Whaling in Hudson Bay with foreign: whalers: Scottish, American particularly in the Roes Welcome Sound.
1856 Two Anglican Church Missionary Society members working in the Hudsons' Bay region, John Horden, at Moose Factory, and E. A. Watkins: at Fort George, were producing material in syllabics for Inuit. Watkins noted in his diary of June 19, 1856, that an Inuit youth from Little Whale River wanted to learn syllabics very much so he worked with Watkins. Horden in Moose Factory and Watkins collaborated on producing some Bible selections in Inuktitut. Re: Sarah Ekoomiak's story.
1861 Edward Belcher wrote an paper entitled 'On the manufacture of works of art by the Esquimaux' which is archived in the Department of: Ethnography in the British Museum in London. See J. King Franks and Ethnography. This may be the first paper written on Inuit art., London, Department of Ethnography in the British Museum.http://pittweb.prm.ox.ac.uk/Kent/musantob/histmus5.html
1865 Pangnirtung has a long history associated with Scottish and American whaling. Whale oil made from animal fat was used as fuel. In 1865?: petroleum was developed as fuel, replacing whale oil. Whaling had become became the largest industry in North America, with 20,000 American seamen out in a single whale-hunting from "... New England. P.(Houston, James. 1996:151).
1865 John Horden and Watkins met in London worked together to modify the Cree syllabic system to the Inuktitut language. The syllabic xorthography was very easy to learn that and this enabled the Anglican Church to proselytize successfully over such a wide area of the Arctic. Inuit taught each other. With the assistance of well-travelled native assistants who worked with Peck, Bilby and Greenshield at Blacklead Island, and with Bilby and Fleming at Lake Harbour, a large number of Inuit who had never met a missionary nonetheless had access to the Bible and were able to read it in syllabics. Two of the best-known native assistants were Luke Kidlapik and Joseph Pudloo. As a boy Joseph Pudloo had learned syllabics in Reverend Fleming' s senior class in Lake Harbour. Later he became Fleming's sled driver, taking the missionary thousands of miles on visits to Inuit camps. After that he spent two years working with the Reverend B.P. Smith at Baker Lake, the first native assistant to work in a dialect markedly different from his own.
1865 Rawlings, Thomas The Confederation of the British North American Provinces; Their Past History and Future Prospects; Including Also: British Columbia & Hudson's Bay Territory; With a Map, and Suggestions in Reference to the True and Only Practicable Route from the Atlantic London Sampson Low, Son, and Marston 1865, first edition, octavo, xii, [1] -244 pp., 4 plates, large folding map, original flexible cloth covered boards, covers detached but present, scattered light foxing to text, else a good, clean copy. Early efforts of the explorer, geographer and navigator, Hudson's Bay Co., the fur trade, Red River Settlement, Rocky Mountains, discovery of gold, railroads, etc. The plates include two early views of Victoria, British Columbia, one of St. Paul, Minnesota and a farm scene. Eberstadt 133:851; Decker-Soliday IV:483; Lande 1408; TPL 4442; Peel 206; Sabin 68006
1873 North-West Mounted Police.
1876 Reverend Peck established the first permanent Christian mission in Inuit territory at Little Whale River near Richmond Gulf.
1880 British Crown transferred many of the Arctic Islands to Canada. These islands became part of the Territories. (Parker 1996:23)
1880s - Whalers from San Francisco and Seattle whaled in the Beauford Sea. They wintered at Herschel Island. (Parker 1996:22) American: whalers hunted in eastern Arctic. Greelandic Inuit hunted on Ellesmere Island. (Tester 1993:14)
1880 The Indian Affairs Department was established. "Since Confederation, the responsibility for Indian Affairs and Northern Development rested xwith various government departments between 1873 and 1966. The minister of the Interior also held the position of Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs after the Indian Affairs Department was established in 1880."
1882 An Anglican mission was established in Kujjuarapik in 1882 and a Catholic mission in 1890.
1883 Regina was named as capital of the Northwest Territories. The railway reached Regina. (Parker 1996:23)
1883-4 Anthropologist Franz Boas, studies Inuit culture, Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island.
1884 Reverend Peck established a mission at Fort Chimo, Kuujuak, to help Reverend Sam Stewart who established the second mission in Inuit: territory.
1885? Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming (c.1885-1950s) was born? He died when he was 65? He became a Christian. He was not tall. Jimmie Ekoomiak xloved children. He played with Sarah like a child would play. Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming was a fiddler and he taught his sons Charlie and Thomas. Thomas bought the fiddle from Eaton's catalogue for $15. His father, a traveller, Jimmy Fleming (b. 1830s?1860s?) was Scottish or English more likely Scottish perhaps with prominent eyebrows like Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming.
1887-1905 Frederick Haultain, a Conservative, was premier of the Northwest Territories. Sir Wilfred Laurier was Prime Minister. Haultain was: born in England and came to Canada when he was three. He discouraged party politics and believed in consensus (Parker 1996:25).
1888 The first Legislative Aseembly was held with 22 elected members. Arguments started over the control of the public purse. The Federal: Government held the Advisory Council responsible for governmental expenditures without giving them full control over taxation and financial transfers. (Parker 1996:24),
1890s, early 1900s. The catechist Reverend Fleming traveled thousands of miles with Joseph Pudloo visiting Inuit camps, teaching syllabics: along with their missionary work for the Anglican Church Missionary Society.
1893 Chicago World's Fair: There was an ethnographic exhibit including "Esquimaux snapping whips and in their kayaks..."
1896? Reverend Edmund Peck introduced syllabics as a written form of Inuktitut. His system was adapted from Reverend Evan's syllabic system xadopted by the Cree.
1898 Yukon was created as separate territory. Gold was discovered. (Parker 1996:25).
1900 Scottish mine owners open a mica and graphite mine near Lake Harbour and employed Inuit miners.
1901 Film clip of Inuit games and dogsleds performing at the Buffalo Exposition.
1902 A whaling ship captain, Comer purchased Igloolik Qingailisaq's shaman's coat. A photo of a replica of the coat illustrates the publication: accompanying the film Atanarjuat. D'Anglure described Qingailisaq's coat as the "most superbly decorated shaman's coat." "It is a woman's coat, a replica of the one worn by an ijiraq female spirit that he encountered while hunting caribou in the back country. She became one of his helping spirits and he wore the coat to honour her. Its appearance calls to mind certain aspects of his encounter with the female spirit." This coat is now in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (2002:217).
1903 Northwest Mounted Police (RCMP) detachments set up in Canadian Arctic.
1903-6 Roald Amundsen completes Northwest Passage?
1904? The artist remembered the names of many of the people involved. Joe Talirunili (1899-1976) from Povungnituk made numerous carvings: and drawings referring to this migration. One of the drawings (c.1960-70) illustrated and described in Blodgett's exhibition catalogue 1983:208) entitled "The People Takatak, Kinuajuak and Kanavalik includes a text which reads, "The people Takatak, Kinuajuak and Kanavalik on land were wondering if the canoe was carrying white people or Indians. They were scared because they never expected a boat in July. They thought they were near death when they heard someone shouting to them from the boat. This is what they heard: 'We're Eskimo, we're not Indians or white people. We were caught in the ice but this is the first time we have seen land in a long time.' Woman shouting is Aula (Myers, Joe Talirunili: 50). "Blodgett 1983) described the incident third hand, "According to Johnny Pov in the memories of Joe (Myers p.6), several travelling Inuit families became stranded on an ice pan after it broke away from the coast. Blown out to sea as the ice pan began to break into smaller and smaller pieces, the travellers, using the wood from their sleds and skins they had with them, made a makeshift umiak to carry them over the water back to the mainland. Crowded into their boat, the people, the young Joe in his mother's parka among them, finally reached safety. In later life, when carving teh episode from his childhood, Talirunili could remember the names of all the people on the boat.
1905 Atagutaaluk survived starvation in 1905 near Pond Inlet. The shaman Palluq and his wife Tagurnaaq and Atuat from Igloolik and Repulse: Bay found her near Tariuju, closer to Mittimatalik. (See Rose Iqallijuq 1998) who also described another case of survival cannibalism by Kaagat who was found near Igluligaaijuk.) Later Atagutaaluk married the shaman chief Ittuksarjuat. They lived in a qarmaq, a sod or stone house (D'Anglure 2002:222). Ittuksarjuat died in. See also 1950 Rousseliere, Guy Mary. 1950. "Monica Ataguttaaluk, Queen of Iglulik." Eskimo 16:13. "Ujarak: My sister Atuat knows this person. She knows the story very well. My sister [Atuat] was the adopted daughter of Palluq and [his wife] Tagurnaaq. Tagurnaaq and her husband could not have a baby of their own, so they adopted Atuat. My sister Atuat, who is also called IttukuSuk, was very young at that time, but she was aware of everything that happened. The family, Palluq, Tagurnaaq and Atuat were on their way to Mittimatalik when they found Ataguttaaluk. The family brought Ataguttaaluk to where there were other people and stayed there for some time. Then they set out to the Kivalliq area and stayed there for quite a while (Iqallijuq, Rose and Johanasi Ujarak 1998)." The Igloolik shaman Atuat died in Arctic Bay in 1976. She was the daughter of Ava and Urulu. According to d'Anglure (2002) Atuat was the last Inuit to have extensive tatoos (2002:220). Atuat did a drawing in Arctic Bay in 1964 "depicting the last major winter-solstice celebration (Tivaajut) which she attended circa 1910 at Igloolik. At the end of the festivities, shamans paired everyone up into new couples for one night (d'Anglure 2002:219)." See illustration in the 2002 publication which accompanies the film Atanarjuat. According to d'Anglure in the early 1920s there were eighty shamans in the greater Igloolik area which included North Baffin to Repulse Bay region. This included fourteen women. By the 1940s all had converted to Christianity. Thirty were still alive in the 1970s. Today their names are alive through their children (d'Anglure 2002:209). [I taught one of the descendents Tabitha Palluq through CITP. Her reaction to the showing of the film starvation was very moving.] Knud Rasmussen photographed shamans in 1921-2 expedition including Urulu, Atuat's mother, a woman shaman from the area of Igloolik/Repulse Bayand three shaman brothers from Igloolik/Repulse Bay Ivaluarjuak, Ava and Pilaskapsi. See d'Anglure (2002:211).
1905 Invention of plastic marks the end of the exploitation of the baleen whale by American and European whalers. The declining market for xwhale oil and baleen led to the aggressive development of the white fox fur trade by the HBC.
1905 D'Anglure (2002) described a photo of a flight of the shaman séance in 1905 among the Avilik people. The Avilik lived next to the Igloolik: Inuit. "The shaman is tied from head to feet (as at the beginning of the legend of Atanarjuat) and gets ready to send his soul travelling (2002:212)." See also (Iqallijuq NAC 1998) "Iqallijuq: The first time he performed ilimmaqtuqtuq I did not hear why this was being done. The following year, I saw him ilimmaqtuqtuq again. We were living in Salliq. Aullannaaq and some other men had gone to Igluligaarjuk. They were overdue and we were starting to wonder if they were on their way back or if they had gotten lost. Makkik performed ilimmaqtuqtuq to find out how they were. He saw them from above. He told us the whole story after his retum. The group was ready to cross through at Aivilik to return to the island. No one was sick in the group and they were all alive and well, he said. The first time I saw this I was really too young to understand what was going on. I don't recall where he had gone or what news the angakkuq had brought back."
1905 Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick White of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was named Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. He made: decisions unilaterally. He never once called together the Territorial Council. (Parker 1996:26),
1906 According to Rose Iqallijuq an Inuk and his wife survived starvation through cannibalism but only confessed when confronted by a: shaman. Kaagat, who is buried at Iglulik Point, lived for a long time. (Iqallijuq 1998).
1906 The Canadian Handicrafts Guild was founded. This national organisation had its headquarters in Montreal.
1909 Admiral Robert Peary and Matthew ... reach North Pole.
1909 Reveillon Freres, Paris established a fur trading post at Inukjuak. The HBC arrived in 1920. The HBC purchased the Reveillon Freres in: 1930s.
1909 Anglican mission established at Lake Harbour.
1911 First permanent trading post in south Baffin was at Lake Harbour, in Keewatin it was at Chesterfield Inlet.
1912 Burland (1973:92) referred to a famous event which took place in 1912 about an overcrowded whale boat. Burland makes constant errors: so she is unreliable as a source.
1912 The boundaries of the Northwest Territories were set at the boundaries in existence in 1992. (Parker 1996:26),
1912 The northern boundary of Manitoba was extended to the 60th parallel. (Parker 1996:26),
1912 Quebec was expanded to include Arctic Quebec. (Parker 1996:26),
1913 Cape Dorset's trading post was established.
1913 -1918 Canadian Arctic Expedition: Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Diamond Jenness.
1913 Edward Beauclerk Maurice (1913-2003) was born September 10th or 16th? In Claredon, Somerset
1914 Charlie Ekomiak 1914-1960s?) was born. He was the father of Sarah Ekoomiak (b.1933), Annie (b.1935), Maggie (b.1937), Sam (b.1939),: Emily (b.1941), William Ekomiak (b.1943) Charlie Ekomiak married Lucie Menarik when he was 18 years old c. 1932. After Lucie Menarik died in 1944 Charlie remarried. Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming was a fiddler and he taught his sons Charlie and Thomas. Thomas bought the fiddle from Eaton's catalogue for $15.,
1916 - 1926 HBC operated a trading post at Okpiktooyuk near present day Baker Lake.
1918 Oil discovered at Norman Wells (Parker 1996:26).
1919 W.W. Cory became Commissioner of the Northwest Territories (Parker 1996:26),
1920s early According to d'Anglure in the early 1920s there were eighty shamans in the greater Igloolik area which included North Baffin to: Repulse Bay region. This included fourteen women. By the 1940s all had converted to Christianity. Thirty were still alive in the 1970s. Today their names are alive through their children (d'Anglure 2002:209).
1921 Federal government appointed a Territorial Council of six members. (Parker 1996:26),
1921 - 1924. Danish explorer, Rasmussen's Fifth Thule Expedition was undertaken crossing the Canadian Arctic much of it in dogsled. For some: remote groups of Inuit, like the Utkuhikhalingmiut, he represented the first white contact. Listen to CBC radio interview with Mame Jackson to hear the voice of Jessie Oonark describing this encounter when she was in her teens. Along the way Rasmussen photographed Urulu, a woman shaman from the area of Igloolik/Repulse Bay. He also photographed and worked with three shaman brothers from Igloolik/Repulse Bay Ivaluarjuak, Ava and Pilaskapsi. See d'Anglure (2002:211).
1921-4 Knud Rasmussen photographed Urulu, a woman shaman from the area of Igloolik/Repulse Bay. He also photographed and worked with: three shaman brothers from Igloolik/Repulse Bay Ivaluarjuak, Ava and Pilaskapsi. See d'Anglure (2002:211).
1922 Nanook of the North:First documentary..
1923. Mariano Aupilardjuk was born. He grew up near Nattiligaarjuk, Committee Bay where there was lots of 'old ice' and therefore Qallupilluq: (Ernerk 1996)] Nunavut's commissioner, Peter Irniq, has a special respect for Aupilarduk, because their families lived together in an outpost camp near Repulse Bay when Irniq was a child (Rideout 2001a). Mariano Aupiliardjuk was honoured with an Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2001 for his contributions as a bridge between generations, Inuit governance, local residents, on how to use IQ in modern society. In local Rankin Inlet elementary and secondary schools, at NAC, across Canada, advises RCMP, facilitates community and pan-territorial healing, works with youth to help them acquire land skills.
1924 Anthropologist Diamond Jenness received tiny ivory artifacts from Cape Dorset area. With this archaeological evidence the existence of xthe Dorset culture (800 BC - ) was established. c.
1924. Amendment to Indian Act (14-15 Geo. V Chap. 47) bringing Eskimos under the responsibility of the Superintendent General of Indian: Affairs.
1924. Government interested in buying totems. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (of England) requested the preservation of totem poles in British: Columbia. In a response letter to Doyle, Chas Stewart of the Dept. of Indian Affairs wrote that ".the Government has been commissioned to take up the matter, perhaps to buy out the totem poles in the Skeena River." File number: Public Archives Indian Affairs. (RG10, Volume 4086 file 507,787-2). http://www.haislatotem.org/chronology/chron_main.html
1926 - 1927 Anglican and Catholic Missions open in Baker Lake.
1926. Thirteen Inuit starved to death at an outpost camp in Admiralty Inlet (Tester 1993:21).
1929. Pitchblende was discovered at Port Radium on the Great Bear Lake. Gilbert Labine began working his mine in 1930. This was the first: major mining activity in the Northwest Territories. It produced radium and then uranium. (Parker 1996:26).
1930s. Americans were self-consciously constructing their identity as separate from Europe (Leclerc 1992:36-8).
1930s. Reverend Nelson was the minister in the area before the minister came who taught Jimmie Fleming.
1930s-1960s. "The use of the term 'colony' may sound odd, but it originated with civil servants who entered public service in the 1930s and: felt they were doing work similar to the pioneering on the prairies of the nineteenth century. The term disappeared when they retired in the 1960s. See Tester and Kulchyski, Tammarniit (cited in note 134), p. 186. RCAP" " Tester and Kulchyski, Tammarniit (cited in note 134), p. 111. The authors also caution that the term xep riment must be seen in the context of the administrative culture of the day. The civil servants involved in northern administration considered that they were opening up the North in a manner parallel to what had happened on the Prairies following Confederation--- (p. 119). Experiment, at least in this context, had noble rather than sinister connotations." RCAP.
1930s Poor hunting years in the North led to deprivation among the Inuit. (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:11). Period of transition: between the whaling period and the advent of trading posts.
1930 Bears teeth used as counters.
1930? Maurice was inspired to join the Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay Company when the Archbishop of the Arctic visited: his school.
1930 On April 7 Edward Beauclerk Maurice, a sixteen and a half year old teenager went to Pulteney House, on Pulteney Road, a large, elegant: Victorian house set in its own picturesque south facing gardens, overlooking Bath Abbey, Bath in Somerset county. He was there to sign a contract with the Governor and Company of the Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay Company. George Binney was the representative of the Company. The signing of the contract was witnessed by Laura Clifford and Mr. Belmont.
1930 Edward Beauclerk Maurice arrived in Montreal on his way to the Arctic. England Pangnirtung.
1930 Canadian Handicrafts Guild organized an exhibition of Eskimo Arts and Crafts at the McCord Museum in Montreal. The exhibition attracted: the attention of the New York Times. (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:11)
1931. The "first Catholic mission was established by Father E. Bazin at Avvajja, three kilometres north of Igloolik, in a qarmaq. The great: shaman Ituksarjuat and his wife Ataguttaaluk, the last great isumataq (traditional leaders) of Igloolik (Atanarjuat 2002:7)."
1931. Hugh Rowatt was appointed as Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. There were budget cuts due to the Depression.: (Parker 1996:28).
1931. Ittuksarjuat converted to Catholicism. He asked to be buried alone on a small island near Igloolik. Ittuksarjuat requested that Inuit: "abandon the winter camp of Avvajjaq where bad spirits caused his illness (D'Anglure Atanarjuat 2002:226)."
1932. Ste Therese hospital was built in Chesterfield Inlet in 1932. Source Alexina Kublu Inuit Studies, Nunavut Arctic College.
1933. Sarah Ekoomiak was born in Richmond Gulf on the coast, not far from Kuujjuarapik, Hudson's Bay. She was the oldest of six children who: were born of Charlie Ekomiak and Lucy Menark in the camp of paternal grandfather Jimmie Ekomiak (Fleming) and his wife Annie (name?). Annie was small. The name was supposed to be umiak. Jimmie Ekoomiak Fleming was calling out Umiak! Umiak! So they gave him the name Umiak. Jimmie Ekoomiak died and was buried in Moose Factory cemetery. He was there in 1950s. William Menarick (Willie's grandfather from his mother's side). Menarick means smooth. William Menarick is the father of Simon, Caroline (b. strong woman, hunter who walked with a limp, liked Sarah, didn't want her to get married).
1933-44. In Sarah Ekoomiak's early childhood years before her mother's premature death in 1944, her family lived on the land. Her grandfather: Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming was camp leader. Grandfather Ekomiak was very skilled. He used to make cord from seal skin with a special knife with a curved blade. He made this cord for the dogsleds. Her father Charlie Ekomiak knew how to do this too. Her grandfather knew how to make fish nets. They fished using nets from canoes in rivers, lakes and James Bay all year round. It was a long net with buoys, a piece of a floating wood. They caught white fish and trout and cod, small fish called Kanayuk (sculpin); [need picture of different kinds of fish] used to fish in spring when ice cracks would open. They fished with a jig with a little handle, stick. Caught cod by jigging. Sarah (b.1933), Annie (b.1935), Maggie (b.1937), Sam (b.1939), Emily (b.1941), William (b.1943) were there when Sarah's mother was alive until 1944. They moved to Kuujjuarapik. In 1941 or 1942 when Sarah was 8 or 9 they left Kuujjuarapik. They moved outside Kuujjuarapik. They lived in semi-tents with trees branches with moss between and a canvas on top. Spruce branches on the floor. Her mother would change the branches six children and mom and dad; Jimmie Ekoomiak Fleming and with his wife had their own tent. Grandmother Fleming was very strict. We lived in camps a lot. Grandmother Fleming kept all her sewing tools wrapped in a loon skin. Eight-year old Sarah and her grand Aunt Dinah wanted to look at the sewing tools but they knew they weren't supposed to. Her father Charlie Ekoomiak was a good carver and he carved a doll for Sarah. He used to go away for two weeks at a time. All the men would go. The six children would stay behind with her mother. The children didn't eat as well when the men were gone. Sometimes her mother would catch a rabbit. Sometimes she would fish. Once when Sarah's mother was going fishing, she told Sarah to take care of Sammie who was only an infant c. 1940. Sarah was only seven or eight years old. Thsi was before Willie was born. They only had a ptarmigan a little meat. Sarah was told to chew the food before giving it to Sammie. Instead she swallowed it. Sarah felt so bad about this incident that she remembered it in 2004. She told me this story several times. Most of the time she would laugh about it but once their were tears in her eyes. Grandmother Rosie still had a seal oil kudlik to warm her teapot. She used cloth as a wick. She hung her kettle above the kudlik. In the morning it would be so cold and her father would make a fire in the morning. Charlie Ekomiak did carvings and he made harnesses for dogs. He decorated the harnesses with wool. Sarah would make little boots for dogs using a square with a hole and sew them for the dogs' feet to protect the dogs' feet in the rough ice. I had experienced that vicarious museum-effect while Sarah Ekomiak told stories of her childhood on the land near Chisasibi, Nunavik in the 1930s. Sarah's family was semi-nomadic. As they moved from hunting camp to fishing camp, they would sometimes come upon ancient abandoned sites where ancient objects spoke of the people who had passed through here before. They found bones, weapons, the tops of tobacco tin cans recycled for oil lamps and even a narwhal tusk& This was the archives, the museum. When Peter Outridge came to present slides at our home one evening on his Arctic travels, he brought items that were collected from abandoned camps. This sparked Sarah's memories. Sarah's mother, Lucie Menarik could speak Cree. The Cree and Charlie Ekomiak camp got along well like a big family. The first time she went to Chisasibi Indians still lived in tents. She remembers them. Some are still living. Claude x 50-year-old lived in Chisasibi and he remembered the Ekomiaks. They shared flour and food with each other. Indians used to have toboggan with all their hunting things. Her father had komatik. They shared whatever they knew. Her aunt married an Indian. She died. They were happy together. They had seven children who are part Inuk and part Cree but now they don't speak Inuktitut. They were the only Inuit family in Chisasibi. They brought us there to go to school. They got along well with the Cree. They spoke Inuktitut at home and Cree outside. Now in her old community they speak three languages, English too. Sarah's grandmother taught her how to make good boots because she told her she would need to know how to sew them.
1934. Gold was discovered in Yellowknife. In 1938 the Con mine began production. Two local community supporters were Ingraham, a: bootlegger and Giegerich, manager of Consolidated Mining and Smetling Company, now called Cominco. (Parker 1996:28) The Alaska Highway was pushed through BC and the Yukon. The Canol Pipeline was constructed from Norman Wells to Whitehorse through the Mackenzie mountains to carry oil. It was later abandoned. (Parker 1996:29).
1935. In the mid-1930s Atagutaaluk and her husband the shaman chief Ittuksarjuat lived in a qarmaq, a sod or stone house: (D'Anglure x2002:222) in Igloolik which was illustrated by her daughter Suzanne Niviarsiat for the publication accompanying the film Atanarjuat (2002:213). Atagutaaluk survived the famine of 1905. A shaman Palluq from Igloolik and Repulse Bay found her. Ittuksarjuat died in. See also 1950 Rousseliere, Guy Mary. 1950. "Monica Ataguttaaluk, Queen of Iglulik." Eskimo 16:13.
1935-6. Inuit lands and peoples were under the authority of the Department of the Interior, Annual Report 1935-36, p. 36.
1936. The "Department of Indian Affairs was made a branch of the Department of Mines and Resources (1 Ed. VIII Chap. 33). The Indian: Affairs Branch was placed under Dr. H.W. McGill as director. The branch included the following components: Field Administration (four inspectors, one Indian Commissioner and one hundred and fifteen agents); Medical Welfare and Training Service (responsible for schools, employment and agricultural projects); Reserves and Trust Service (responsible for land matters and timber disposal); Records Service (responsible for current files and historical material)." http://collections.ic.gc.ca/treaties/text/rec_e_tx.htm
1936. Dr. Charles Camsell was appointed Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. His father was a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company: (Parker 1996:28).
1936. The Hudson's Bay Company post was established at Igloolik.
1936. Responsibility for Indian Affairs passed to the Minister of Mines and Resources. The position of Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs: which was part of the Canadian cabinet from 1867 until 1936, was abolished.
1936. "There was a Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs in the Canadian cabinet from 1867 until 1936 when the Minister of Mines and: Resources became responsible for native affairs. In 1950 the Indian Affairs branch was transferred to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who had responsibility for "registered Indians" until the creation of the position of Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1966. Before 1966 the Northern Development portions of the portfolio were the responsibility of the Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources."
1937. The Catholic mission was built on Igloolik Island at Ikpiarjuk near the town of Igloolik.
1938. These were good years of living on the land for Sarah Ekoomiak and her family. She was only five years old. She can remember being: tucked into the nose of her father's kayak and she could see jellyfish, rocks, and fish. She cherishes this memory.
1938 Roman Catholic mission established at Cape Dorset.
1939 The Indian committee of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild was changed to Indian and Eskimo Committee to include the encouragement of: Inuit work. Committee members included Alice Whitehall, Dr. Diamond Jenness. The Inuit collection at that time included miniature baskets, a kerosene lamp, fine fur work, walrus tusk ivories including an altar frontal made by the women of Pangnirtung.(Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:11)
1939 The Supreme Court of Canada ruled the Inuit were entitled to the same health, education and social services as the Indians were granted: in the 1876 Indian Act. (Hessel 1998:190)
1939 The Canadian Handicrafts Guild exhibited Bishop Fleming's Inuit art collection.(Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:11)
1939. Inuit relocations in the Arctic began in 1939 (Tester and Kulchyski 1994).
1939? Just before she died Sarah Ekoomiak's paternal grandmother, Rosie (1860s- c.1937) lacked the strength and could no longer work as: hard as she wanted. She couldn't help others so she made a promise that her grandchildren would help others. Greatgrandmother Rosie Fleming was very spiritual. She became agitated because she could not tell her people about God so when she died a cigar-shaped form appeared in the sky writing letters of smoke in the heavens. The Hudson Bay company man could read it but none of the Inuit could. Sarah claims that she saw this so it must have been in the 1930s? when she died? The HBC man changed his religion because it was the only improvement he could think of. He changed from Catholic to Anglican. This happened in Kuujuarapik (Great Whale River).
1939 The Canadian Handicrafts Guild exhibited Bishop Fleming's Inuit art collection (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:11).
1940. Lascaux caves were discovered. Carbon dating provided proof that the human ancestry could be traced much farther back in time than: previously understood (Leclerc 1992:36-9).
1940 It was noted in the minutes of the meeting of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild that the art of basketry was practiced in a section of the: Ungava region. Basket making had been introduced there c. 1740 by the Moravian missionaries. (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:12)
1940s RCMP conducted census of Inuit populations. They assigned the infamous identification numbering system using discs. These disc: numbers were dropped during the "Operation Surname" in the 1960s. Canadian government assumed responsibility for Inuit welfare in the late 1940s. (Hessel 1998:8) 1940s. According to Bernard Saladin d'Anglure (2002 Atanarjuat: 225) shamanism was eradicated in the Arctic. An era of intense rivalry between Anglicans and Catholics began ending only in 1962-5 with the Second Vatican Council. Catholic missionaries encouraged Mark Tungilik in Repulse Bay to carve miniature ivories. There was widespread awareness of the threat of atomic bomb in the south. Certitudes in the West were shattered and philosophy was shaken (Leclerc 1992:36-8).
1940s According to Bernard Saladin d'Anglure (2002 Atanarjuat: 225) shamanism was eradicated in the Arctic. An era of intense rivalry: between Anglicans and Catholics began ending only in 1962-5 with the Second Vatican Council.,
1940s Catholic missionaries encouraged Mark Tungilik in Repulse Bay to carve miniature ivories.,
1940s There was widespread awareness of the threat of atomic bomb. Certitudes were shattered. Philosophy was shaken (Leclerc 1992:36-8).
1940 -2 RCMP schooner St. Roch completed Northwest Passage from west to east?
1940 -2 Peter Pitseolak (1902 - 1973) experimented with watercolours and collage dressing a magazine image of Clark Gable with Inuit fur: clothing. He would go on to become a skilled photographer. (Hessel 1998:25)
1940 - 45 Guild activities were cut back during WWII. (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:12)
1941.S. Arneil, Investigation Report on Indian Reserves and Indian Administration, Province of Nova Scotia (Ottawa: Department of Mines and: Resources, Indian Affairs Branch, August 1941). RCAP.
1943. E9-630 Willie Ekomiak was born in Cape Jones on the coast across from Long Island. His mother dropped Willie when he was a baby and xhe was hurt. His wrist was bleeding very badly and she cried very hard. His mother Lucie Menarik Ekomiak died shortly after that. They were living in camp somewhere out in Kuujjuarapik. Before her mother died Sarah carried Willie on her back. Their mother died when Sarah was still in school. Sarah was the oldest girl. William was born when the family was moving south from Great Whale River to Fort George because Jimmy Ekomiak Fleming wanted his children to go to school. There were no schools farther north. William, his brother Samuel, Sarah, Maggie, Jeannie all went to school in Fort George. Other Inuit families included the Menarick's, Isaac Fleming's children. Jimmie Ekomiak Fleming was the camp leader. They lived by the river.
1944. Lucie Menarik Ekomiak, Sarah Ekoomiak and Willie Ekomiak's mother died. She had bad migraines perhaps from high blood pressure. When: she died he was adopted by his Aunt Martha and Uncle Thomas Ekoomiak. There were three or four camps together. Aunt Martha wore a shawl like many women of the time. Their sister Emilie (b.1941) was also adopted out but she was not well cared for so Charlie Ekomiak got her back from Great Whale River Kuujjuarapik. She became William's favourite playmate. Great Whale River, Kuujjuarapik (by the Inuit) or Whapmagoostui (by the Cree).
1945. "Indian Health Services was transferred from the Department of Mines and Resources to the Department of National Health and Welfare: (P.C. 1945-6495). At this time Eskimo Health Services was also transferred from the responsibility of the Northwest Territories Division of Lands, Parks, and Forests Branch. R.A. Hoey was appointed director of Indian Affairs Branch." http://collections.ic.gc.ca/treaties/text/rec_e_tx.htm
1945-7. Jimmy Ekomiak Fleming moved south so that the children could attend school in Fort George. Sarah Ekoomiak lived in Chisasibi. Sarah: Ekoomiak attended school in Fort George. Her grandfather decided that some of the children would attend Anglican school while the others attended the Catholic school. She tried to play with her uncle Elijah Menarik, her mother Lucie's youngest brother, but it was hard to communicate because he spoke only Cree. They had made up a game using pebbles. Ask her about this. Elijah Menarik (1931-1991) was the youngest of ten children. The others were Lucie (Sarah Ekoomiak's mother), Moses, Neeala, Johnny, Maggie, Marianne and Elijah. Marianne is still alive but she has developed alzheimers disease. His sister Lucie was Sarah Ekoomiak's mother. Elijah was brought up with a Cree family with ten children and he could not speak Inuktitut until he was in his late teens. A white teacher Mrs. Heinz, had him sent to Inukjuak when he was 18 or 19 years old so he could learn Inuktitut! Elijah was active in the Co-ops in Iqaluit. He also worked in Inuvik for awhile. Sarah has his story and photo. Elijah's success led to his alcoholism as every success was celebrated with alcohol. When he was young he worked as an orderly in Moose Factory hospital. His daughter Jeannie, Sarah's first cousin lives in Africa with her millionaire French husband, originally from Montreal, who made a fortune in aircraft.
1945-61. Oblate missionary Father Franz van de Velde was the only white person in the remote community of Pelly Bay. He encouraged the: production and marketing of ivory miniatures and scenes. He sold them through the mail (Hessel 1998:109).
1945 Maurice, at 32 years of age moved to New Zealand, became a bookseller in an English village and never traveled again.
1946 Canadian Army's Arctic military exercise "Operation Muskox" at Baker Lake. Major Cleghorn noted the high quality of carvings in the: Keewatin area and suggested this potential developed.
1946. American capitalists began to invest in Canadian companies. Prior to WWII British investors were the principal investors in Canadian: companies (Leclerc 1992:36-8).
1946. Barnett Newman (1946) wrote the opening paragraph 'Northwest Coast Indian Painting' in an exhibition catalogue for the Betty Parsons: Gallery in New York, in which he argued that, "It is becoming more and more apparent that to understand modern art, one must have an appreciation of primitive arts, for just as modern art stands as an island of revolt in the stream of Western European aesthetics, the many primitive art traditions stand apart as authentic accomplishments that flourished without benefit of European history (Cited in Houle 1982:3)." 1946. La philosophie francaise souffrait d'une mise en question. La guerre et l'occupation avait mis fin a l'anti-intellectualisme bergsonien (compromis par une obscrue parante avec l'irrationalisme allemand). En 1946 des hegelians et les existentialists commence a monter.1946 La philosophie francaise professionelle commence a naitre, souverain, temoin et juge exterieur a la vie, distingue par leur distance (la vie spirituelle). (Lefebvre 1958:12).
1946 La philosophie francaise souffrait d'une mise en question. La guerre et l'occupation avait mis fin a l'anti-intellectualisme bergsonien: (compromis par une obscrue parante avec l'irrationalisme allemand). En 1946 des hegelians et les existentialists commence a monter.1946 La philosophie francaise professionelle commence a naitre, souverain, temoin et juge exterieur a la vie, distingue par leur distance (la vie spirituelle). (Lefebvre 1958:12),
1947 Dr. Hugh Keenleyside was appointed Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Under his leadership education, social service and health xprograms were implemented. (Parker 1996:30),
1947 In connection with Operation Muskox, a weather station was established in Baker Lake.
1947 M.V. Nascopie sinks off Cape Dorset.
1947 The Guild was asked to encourage Inuit in the Ungava region to continue carving as a much needed source of additional income. Hunting: was poor, the price of fur was down and the Inuit had proven their gift for carving. The Guild emphasized the need to maintain the artist's individuality and independence. A one-page letter was sent to northern communities asking them to carve ivory models, brooches, pendants... (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:12)
1947 James Houston from Grandmère visited Port Harrison.(Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:12)
1947. Dr. Hugh Keenleyside was appointed Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Under his leadership education, social service and health: programs were implemented. (Parker 1996:30).
1947. Jock McNiven, manager of Negus mine in Yellowknife, was appointed to the Council of the Northwest Territories. (Parker 1996:30).
1947. Three years after the death of his first wife Lucie, Charlie Ekomiak married Maggie Tootoo (tuktu). William was in the hospital when he: was three. He was a chubby baby.
1947. "The Welfare and Training Division was split into a Welfare Division (responsible for welfare, family allowances, Veterans' Land Act: administration, and handicrafts) and an Education Division." http://collections.ic.gc.ca/treaties/text/rec_e_tx.htm
1947. Henri-Georges Clouzot's classical film Quai des Orfevres was shown portraying the dance halls and historic crime corridors of 1940s Paris.: Various furs -- fox furs, sunburst, coats, collars, trim, hats --- worn by Jenny Lamour, the ambitious singer with stars in her eyes, in the chilly interiors of poorly heated Parisian buildings, were important 'actors' in this classical film.
1947. The western part of the Mackenzie delta area was added to the Yukon Territories. (Parker 1996:30).
1948. Communists took over Czecheslovakia. There was a threat of an iron curtain dividing Europe along a north-south axis. The Cold War began with democratic and communist countries in tension each holding the other in atomic terror (Leclerc 1992:36).
1948. Polio struck the Keewatin region. By 1949 there was a serious epidemic in Chesterfield Inlet. Quarantine was put into affect which: included the surrounding regions. Mark Kalluak, wrote about his childhood experience with polio in a 1997 article for Inuktitut magazine.
1948-52. These were the years William Ekomiak (b.1943) remembers as the hungry years. Sarah was between 15 to 19 years old. Willie was: between 5 to nine years old.
1949 - 1953 Early years of contemporary period of Inuit art.
1949 The Guild sponsored James Houston's trip to Povungnitok region in order for him to purchase Inuit arts and crafts.(Canadian Guild of Crafts: Quebec 1980:12)
1949 Canadian Handicraft Guild of Montreal sale of Inuit art on Peel Street. Guild members C. J. G. Molson (Quebec branch)and Alice Whitehall xencouraged James Houston to return north to buy more carvings.
1949. According to Hessell for several years in the late 1940s the federal government, the HBC and the Canadian Handicrafts Guild were: partners in Inuit art (Hessell 1998:190). Hessel claimed James Houston purchased Inuit art at the HBC for the CHG which was funded by the federal department of NR. I am unsure of this. TBC.
1949. The Canadian Handicraft Guild sponsored the James Houston project promoting Inuit carvings in the south. From this time onwards public: galleries began small collections of Inuit art (Jessup 1992:xiv)? Confirm?
1949. "Indian Affairs Branch transferred to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration (13 Geo. VI Chap. 16). The administrative structure of: the Branch remained virtually unchanged. A Construction and Engineering Service, however, was created. 1948 - Maj. D.M. MacKay appointed director of Indian Affairs Branch." http://collections.ic.gc.ca/treaties/text/rec_e_tx.htm
1949. Striking of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences popularly known as the Massey Commission xafter its Chair, Vincent Massey.
1949-50. The NWT Ennadai Lake Signal Detachment of Operation Muskox? arranged an airlift of the Kazan River Inuit community. The group: was in danger of starvation after migrant caribou herds by-passed the area. The Inuit returned the next year and were frequent recipients of the detachment's medical aid until the detachment closed three years later. In that year there was widespread starvation. Comment: Was there a relationship between the disappearing caribou herds and Operation Muskox?
1949 Molson, C. J. G., Alice Whitehall, et al. 1949. The Guild sponsored James Houston's trip to Povungnitok region in order for him to purchase: Inuit arts and crafts (Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:12). Canadian Handicraft Guild of Montreal sale of Inuit art on Peel Street. Guild members C. J. G. Molson (Quebec branch) and Alice Whitehall encouraged James Houston to return north to buy more carvings. The Guild held a sale of Inuit art on Peel Street, Montreal marking the beginning of the contemporary period of Inuit art. (Wenzel 1985:81) (1949-53). Montreal, Canadian Handicraft Guild. The Guild sponsored James Houston's trip to Povungnitok region in order for him to purchase Inuit arts and crafts.(Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec 1980:12) Canadian Handicraft Guild of Montreal sale of Inuit art on Peel Street. Guild members C. J. G. Molson (Quebec branch) and Alice Whitehall encouraged James Houston to return north to buy more carvings. The Guild held a sale of Inuit art on Peel Street, Montreal marking the beginning of the contemporary period of Inuit art. (Wenzel 1985:81) (1949-53)
1940s - 50s Polio in the North.
1950. Cape Dorset gets a one-room school.
1950. Federal day school opened in Igloolik. Anglican mission established in Igloolik.
1950. From 1850 to 1950 concepts such as Wilderness and North informed Canadian visual and literary arts. See Heath (1983:46).
1950. Heinrich's (1950) article entitled "Some Present-Day Acculturative Innovations in a Nonliterate Society" published in the American: Anthropologist focused on his study of the emergence of the ivory carving as a Diomede Eskimo of Alaska cultural industry. The Inuit innovated and expanded on cultural products for the tourist market.
1950. Hugh Young, a strong army man, was named Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. In 1925 he had established Aklavik as an army xsignals station (Parker 1996:30).
1950. "In 1950 the Indian Affairs branch was transferred to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who had responsibility for "registered: Indians" until the creation of the position of Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1966. Before 1966 the Northern Development portions of the portfolio were the responsibility of the Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources." wikipedia.org.
1950. Inuit first vote in a Canadian election (Alia).
1950. A nursing station was built at Baker Lake.
1950. The "offices of Minister of Mines and Resources and Minister of Reconstruction and Supply were abolished by Statute and the offices of: the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys and Minister of Resources and Development created and proclaimed in force on 18 Jan. 1950." wikipedia.
1950. Rousseliere, Guy Mary. 1950. "Monica Ataguttaaluk, Queen of Iglulik." Eskimo. 16:13.
1950. There were only five galleries advertised in the Montreal Star. By 1972 there were already forty-five. Harold Town graduated from the: Ontario College of Art in 1944 was not able to see a single non-figurative painting until 1953. See Withrow (1972:8). Town noted that at that time their were few art teachers because of the war. Town grew up in a rough working-class WASP neighbourhood in Toronto. He worked as commercial illustrator to support his own studio work in the 1940s. His reputation grew when he exhibited with the Painters Eleven in 1952. His work was highly cotés which allowed him to have a comfortable home in Toronto with his family.
1950 A nursing station was built at Baker Lake.
1950s Puvirnituq developed around a HBC post.
1951 Anglican church is built in Cape Dorset.
1951 James Houston visited Pangnirtung and showed crafts and carvings. He noted that the area did not have really good carving stone. But: the women could create art with a needle by sewing on their clothing.

1952 Doug Wilkinson produced Land of the Long Day about Joseph Idlout from Pond Inlet, a respected hunter and camp leader.The 1967 two: dollar bill depicted a still from the film with Idlout.
1950s Slump in fox fur trade.
1950s In Rankin Inlet some Inuit employed by nickel mine.
1952 Canadian government promotes Inuit art. Akeeaktashuk carvings of Hunter, Bear...
1952 Salluit began its art project and by 1955 70% of the adult population were carving (1998 Hessel).
1953 Pangnirtung used to be largest settlement in the eastern or central Arctic. Famous old center for Scottish whalers. Small hospital. C. D.: Howe anchored there. Pannirtung Fjord is particularly beautiful. Mountains are blue, snow capped.
1953 Houston visited Pangnirtung again and saw some enormous Arctic bowheads (Houston, James. 1996:151).
1955 Alma and James Houston settle in Cape Dorset and are active in encouraging carving and handicrafts.
1955 DEW Line was built.
1955. Turquetil Hall residence was opened in 1955(?) in Chesterfield Inlet. Source Alexina Kublu Inuit Studies, Nunavut Arctic College.
1957 - 58 Widespread starvation in the Keewatin area. Back River camps move into Baker Lake.
1957 A federal dayschool opened at Baker Lake. Pre-fabricated subsidized government housing constructed from the mid-1950s. Northern: Services Officer Doug Wilkinson encouraged the development of the arts and crafts industry in Baker Lake.
1958 James Houston studies printmaking in Japan.
1958 The Povungnitok Sculptors' Society formed in 1958 and became the Povungnituk's Co-operative in 1960 (Myers, M. ).
1959 West Baffin Cooperative first print collection printed in 1959 was shown at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1960.
1960s Jorgen Meldgaard excavated Palaeo-Eskimo occupations at Igloolik. 1961 Bernard Saladin d'Anglure was shown petroglyphs Dorset sites: of the coast of Nunavik.
1961 West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative is incorporated.
1963 Rankin Inlet ceramics project introduced.
1960s The Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of Civilization (the National Museum of Man) started to collect, research and exhibit: Inuit art.
1964 The first 'matchbox" houses are brought to Cape Dorset. Cape Dorset gets its first telephones.
1969 The S.S.Manhattan, an American icebreaker-tanker made the $40 million northwest passage through Canadian Arctic waters .
1970 Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) a national political association, formed by Inuit students living in the south. Inuit politics was born.: Before the 1970s the co-op was the only organized voice Inuit had. (Myers 1980:139)
1970 Baker Lake's first print collection published. This was the year after the arrival of southern artists Sheila and Jack Butler. Sanavik: Co-operative is incorporated in 1971.
1971 "Arctic Quebec cooperatives combined with the community councils to begin negotiating a form of regional government within the: province of Quebec."(Myers 1980:143)
1971 Inuit sculpture showcased in international exhibition, Sculpture/Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic(Canadian Eskimo Arts Council).: 1970s Igloolik artists begin to produce art in quantities in 1970s.
1973 - 1988 Pangnirtung printmaking co-op is established as a territorial government sponsored project.
1976 The annual Cape Dorset print collection included Pudlo Pudlat's controversial print entitledAirplane.
1977 Inuit prints showcased in international exhibition, The Inuit Print/L'estampe Inuit(National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada).
1977 Inuit Circumpolar Conference adopted Inuit as the designation for all Eskimos, regardless of local usages. (1996) Arctic Perspectives.
1977 Baker Lake print shop, its drawing archives and 1977 print collection are destroyed by fire.
1980 "Inuit arts and crafts generated five million dollars in personal income for Inuit(Myers 1980:141)."
1980 The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre acquired over 400 drawings dating from the 1960s to the 1990s by Canadian Inuit artists.
1980s The National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario begin to collect, research and exhibit Inuit art.
1983 Economy of the North: Until 1983 cash came from seal skins.
1987 The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre presented its touring exhibition Contemporary Inuit Drawings, the first survey exhibition of drawings xby Inuit artists.
1989 First Inuit art exhibition in the National Gallery of Canada's new building: Pudlo: Thirty Years of Drawing. Pudlo Pudlat attends opening.
1992 Pangnirtung's Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association opens its weave shop, built a new print shop and began releasing collections.
1994 Baker Lake Art Symposium, Baker Lake which included the opening of the exhibition Qamanittuaq: Where the River Widens.
1998 First Inuit art history survey textbook published Hessel, Ingo. Inuit Art. He described how more than 4,000 Inuit have made over one: million works since the 1940s. (Hessel ix) 35,000 Inuit live in about 50 small communities in the North. (Hessel 1998:9)
1999 April 1, Nunavut
2000 Edward Beauclerk Maurice was 87-years-old completing his book on his youthful experience in Canada’s North in the 1930s. He worried: about the use of the word Eskimo instead of Inuit. His manuscript was already complete and when he was in the North Eskimo was the term used.
2001. In September 2001, "the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples commenced hearings to develop An Action Plan for Change:: Urban Aboriginal Youth . Upon examination of issues affecting urban Aboriginal youth in Canada, in particular, access, provision and delivery of services, policy and jurisdictional issues, employment and education, access to economic opportunities, youth participation and empowerment and other related matters, the Committee is expected to table its report no later than June 28, 2002. So far, the Committee has held seven meetings and heard evidence from witnesses of the Department of Human Resources Development Canada, the Privy Council Office, Statistics Canada and the Department of Justice Canada." See SSCAP (2001) http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/lpearson/htmfiles/hill/22_htm_files/v22_SenateStudy.htm
2001. Inuit elder, artist, cultural worker and activist, Mariano Aupilardjuk was honoured with an Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2001 for his: contributions as a bridge between generations, Inuit governance, local residents, on how to use IQ in modern society. In local Rankin Inlet elementary and secondary schools, at NAC, across Canada, advises RCMP, facilitates community and pan-territorial healing, and works with youth to help them acquire land skills.

Parker, John. 1996. Arctic Power: The Path to Responsible Government in Canada's North. Peterborough: The Cider Press.
Tester, James and Peter Kulchyski. 1994. Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic 1939-63.Vancouver: UBC Press.
SSCAP. 2001. Hearings to develop An Action Plan for Change: Urban Aboriginal Youth: http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/lpearson/htmfiles/hill/22_htm_files/v22_SenateStudy.htm

inuit art webliography: Museums, Galleries

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Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit

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Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit […] is more than a government policy; it is our collective means of interpreting our world. As a theory of knowledge, (IQ) is a set of practical truisms about the interrelationships between nature and society that have been passed orally from one generation to the next. It is a holistic, dynamic and cumulative approach to knowledge, teaching and learning. (IQ) recognizes that one learns best by observing, doing and experience (Okalik 2003)."

An Inuit-centred lexicon of human rights is emerging[1] based on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit concurrently with the emergence of institutions, their mandates and publications, such as, the Bathurst Mandate (GN 2000), the Clyde River Protocol (Okalik and Kusugak 1999) and the Interviewing the Elders Series (Laugrand, Oosten, and Rasing 1996). Consultations leading to the formation of Nunavut and to the development of a Human Rights Bill[2] (GN 2003), the Government of Nunavut Hansard[3] (Irqittuq 2003) for Nunavut (Amagoalik 2001) also provided invaluable material for understanding the changing teaching, learning and research environment in Canada’s North. Inuit legends such as the Kiviuk epic legend, the legend of the blind boy and orphan boy can be used to illustrate traditional ways in which stories revealed consequences of violating the rights of the disadvantaged and marginalized. A number of videos including those made for and by Inuit were also used in the course to enhance understanding of issues related to human rights in Nunavut (Hansen 1991; Richardson 1993; SWC 1998; Tassinari 1995).

At this conference Premier Okalik acknowledged the challenges of transforming a society afflicted with inherited social wrongs. Governance for the new territory is based on traditional Inuit values respected for the full weight of the history it reflects, as a proactive means engaging the transition. Inuit culture remained intact until relatively recently unlike other indigenous peoples in North America. Okalik described one of the pivotal values of Inuit governance resides in un(IQ)ue form of communication based on listening to others while never losing one's own horizon in a process that is as complex in execution as it is simple in expressing. In this way Nunavut governance evolved using the best of the Westminster style of government but with un(IQ)ue Inuit traits that reflect Inuit culture and knowledge Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. The application of (IQ) is contemporary and continues to evolve although it is steeped in tradition (Okalik 2003).

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: (IQ) encompasses all aspects of traditional Inuit culture including values, world-view, language, social organization, knowledge, life skills, perceptions, and expectations.'

Aajiiqatigiingniq: the concept of consensus decision-making. (Arnakak 2000).

Ajurnaummat: commonplace Inuktitut expression meaning ‘It can't be helped (Amagoalik 2001).’

Ajurnarmat: change the things that can be changed; accept those that cannot (Coccola and P. 1955; Jenness 1928; Minor 1992; Stefanson 1921; Stefanson 1951).

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: (IQ) encompasses all aspects of traditional Inuit culture including values, world-view, language, social organization, knowledge, life skills, perceptions, and expectations (ITK).

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami: ITK means "Inuit are united in Canada." ITK president Kusugak, claimed that, politically, Inuit are united, which is reflected in this name.

Inuk Inuit: pl. person

Inummariit: Brody describes the concept of Inummariit (the free Inuk) refers to a person who has overcome physical, emotional and spiritual barriers (Brody 1991:125-45 cited in Minor 1992:104).

Inuuqattigiitsiaqnik: ‘a way for human beings to get along with each other’ (Amagoalik 2001).

Inuuqatigiittiarniq: “the healthy inter-connection of mind, body, spirit and environment.” “The health of Nunavut depends on the health of each of its physical, social, economic and cultural communities, and the ability of those communities to serve Nunavummiut in the spirit of Inuuqatigiittiarniq” (“Healthy Communities." Bathurst Mandate).

Inuuqatiinniq: interpersonal relationships, community kinship, a collective community process (Under "Healthy Communities" Bathurst Mandate).

Issuma: ability to reason - This “includes a social and group consciousness, taking into account all skills, knowledge and social and environmental influences and relationships Minor 1992:56).”

Issumatuq: In settling disputes the issumatuq could arbitrate a course of action if consensus could not be reached by dissenting parties (Minor 1992).

Makimajjutiit: ‘A tool to be able to stand for oneself" or “a tool against being put down, or oppressed (Amagoalik 2001).”

Nunavummiut: An inclusive term for the people of Nunavut.

Pijitsirniq: or the concept of serving. This principle lays out the roles and relationships between the organization and the people it serves (Arnakak 2000).

Pijunautinngit: ‘a tool you can use to get something’ or ‘an ability to get something’ (Amagoalik 2001)

Piqutiqaqatigiinniq: group communalism (Minor 1992)

Qallunaaq, kabluna, qablunaa non-Inuit

Tukisititsiqqiniq: communication competence (Minor 1992)

Sanaqatigiinniq: collaborative relationships (Minor 1992)

Selected References

Alia, Valerie. 1994. Names, Numbers, and Northern Policy: Inuit, Project Surname and the Politics of Identity. Halifax: Fernwood Publications.

Amagoalik. 2001. "Introduction: Human Rights Consultation Workshop." in Human Rights Consultation Workshop. Iqaluit, NU: http://www.nunavutcourtofjustice.ca/library/Publications/HumanRight20010429.htm.

[1] Consultations surrounding the formation of Nunavut and the development of Nunavut Bill of Rights provide a rich reference source. Janet McGrath completed her MA in Conflict Resolution through St. Paul’s University in 1995 and is currently working on her PhD in Canadian Studies at Carleton University. She is using a radical participatory research methodology under the guidance of Netsilingmiut Inuit elder to collect and analyze traditional methods of conflict resolution in pre-contact Inuit communities. Conversations with Janet informed my work in 2005.

[2] The Government of Nunavut’s Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, ancestry, ethnic origin, citizenship, place of origin, creed, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, pregnancy, lawful source of income and a conviction for which a pardon has been granted.

[3] “Our rights as Inuit did not seem to be recognized through that Human Rights legislation. It seemed like a waste of time to have to recognize the rights that we already have. Inuit rights and traditions are very strong if we apply it. I can use for example, in Igloolik, an elder had requested some muktaaq while he was still alive and because we were forbidden to hunt Bowhead Whales, when I first became a Member of the Inuit organization, they were just about charged because it was an international regulation that they breached. Mr. Speaker, we realized that the strength of the elders and the strength of the Inuit. If the elder had not requested it then the hunters would have been charged and have to pay a hefty fine. And because we followed with the needs of Inuit, the lawyer was able to win the case and not have them charged, and that is how we realized the strength of Inuit and the elders. We still have that strength. We can still use it, even when it is not in legislation. We all know the issues in our communities and we all know the wrongs that were done to Inuit. As Inuit, we have fought collectively for our needs in 2003 and now we have buildings like these that are for Inuit (Irqittuq 2003).”

Older Version of Selected Bibliography (to be updated)

2006-11-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

Berlo, Janet.(1990) "The Power of the Pencil: Inuit Women in the Graphic Arts" Inuit Art Quarterly, Winter.16-26.

Berlo, Janet Catherine. (1995) "Drawing and Printmaking at Holman" Inuit Art Quarterly , Fall.

Berlo, Janet Catherine.(1998) "Drawing (Upon) the Past: Negotiating Identities in Inuit Graphic Arts Production," in Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds, edited by R. Phillips and C. Steiner, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 176-191.

Berlo, Janet Catherine.(1998)"Arts of Memory and Spiritual Vision: Plains Indian Drawing Books," in Native Paths: American Indian Art from the Collection of Charles and Valerie Diker, edited by A. Wardwell, New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 10-24.

Berlo, Janet Catherine.(1995) "Our (Museum) World Turned Upside-Down: Re-Presenting Native American Arts," (with Ruth Phillips), Art Bulletin 77 (1):6-10.

Blodgett, Jean.(1977) Karoo Ashevak. Winnipeg: The Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Blodgett, Jean. (1978) The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Blodgett, Jean.(1979)Eskimo Narrative. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Blodgett, Jean.(1983) Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Kramer Family Collection of Inuit Art. 1 ed. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario.

Briggs, Jean. Inuit Women, the Makers of Men.

Butler, Sheila Inuit Art, An Art of Acculturation.The First Passionate Collector: the Ian Lindsay Collection of Inuit Art, Ed. Winnipeg Art Gallery. Winnipeg, 1990. 33 - 4.

Cook, Cynthia Waye. (1993) From the Centre: The Drawings of Luke Anguhadluq. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario.

Cornelius, Carol. (1999) Iroquois Corn: in a culture-based curriculum: A Framework for Respecting Teaching About Cultures. Albany: State University of New York Press.

d'Anglure, Bernard Saladin. Inuit Studies/Etudes Inuits.

Dewar, Patricia.(1994) "You Had to Be There" Inuit Art Quarterly Spring. 20-29.

Driscoll, Bernadette. (1980) The Inuit Amautik : I Like My Hood to be Full. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Driscoll, Bernadette.(1982)Inuit Myths, Legends and Songs. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Driscoll-Engelstad, Bernadette.(1994) "A Woman's Vision, A Woman's Voice: Inuit Textile Art from Arctic Canada." Inuit Art Quarterly.4 - 13.

Flaherty, Robert.(1922) Nanook of the North. Reveillon Freres. sound track 1939.

Fox, Matthew.(1996)"Mike Massie of Labrador." Inuit Art Quarterly, Spring.16-24.

Goetz, Helga.(1977) The Inuit Print-L'estampe Inuit Ottawa: Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada.

Goldfarb, Barbara. "Artists, Weavers, Movers and Shakers."Inuit Art Quarterly, 1989. pp.14-18.

Graburn, Nelson H.H. (1987) "Reflections of an Anthropologist: The Graphics behind the Graphics" Contemporary Inuit Drawings. Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. 21-72.

Hessel, Ingo. Essays.Visions of Power.

Hessel, Ingo. 2000. Inuit Art. Vancouver. Douglas & McIntyre.

Hessel, Ingo, and Marie Routledge. (1990) "Regional Diversity in Contemporary Sculpture" Inuit Art Quarterly, Summer.

Hickman, Deborah. "Malaya Akulukjuk" Inuit Art Quarterly, Spring, 1996. pp. 53 - 56.

CBC Infoculture: McMichael Gallery takes an indepth look at Inuit carvingsMay 25, 1999

Jackson, Marion E. (1985) "Inuit Prints: Impressions of a Culture in Transition" LSA 9.1: 6-12.

Jackson, Marion, Judith Nasby, and William Noah. Qamanittuaq: Drawings by Baker Lake Artists. Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 1995.

Kitchen, Robin, and Alootook Ipellie.(1992) "Two Reviews of Between Two Worlds." Inuit Art Quarterly, Summer/Fall.46-48.

Kunnuk, Simeonie, and Janet McGrath.(1995)"Judas Ullulaq" Inuit Art Quarterly, Summer.14-22.

Kunuk, Zacharias. (1989) Qaggiq (Gathering Place). Video.

Kunuk, Zacharias. (1991)Nunaqpa (Going Inland). Video.

Leroux, Odette. Inuit Women Artists: Voices from Cape Dorset. Hull: Museum of Civilisation, 1995.

Martijn, Charles A.(1967)"A Retrospective Glance at Canadian Eskimo Carving." The Beaver, Autumn.4-19.

McGhee, Robert.(1996)Ancient People of the Arctic. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Millard, Peter.(1994) "Meditations on Womanhood: Ovilu Tunnillie" Inuit Art Quarterly. Winter. 20-25.

Mitchell, Marybelle.(1991)"Two Artists at Banff: Ashevak and Hay" Inuit Art Quarterly,Summer. 18-22.

Moore, Charles H. (1986) Keeveeok, Awake! Mamnguqsualuk and the Rebirth of Legend at Baker Lake. Edmonton: Ring House Gallery, University of Alberta.

Muehlen, Maria. (1989) "Baker Lake Wall-Hangings: Starting from Scraps" Inuit Art Quarterly, Spring.6-11.

Myers, Marybelle, ed. (1977)Joe Talirunili: a grace beyond the reach of art. Montreal: La Federation des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec.

The Ottawa Citizen Online - Sunday 23 February 1997 Surfing the world from the frozen North

Paskievich, John, and Sharon Van Raalte. (1992) Sedna: the Making of a Myth. Zemma Pictures National Film Board of Canada.

Raymont, Peter. Arctic Spirits. Investigative Productions.

Ryan, Terry. Eskimo Pencil Drawing.

Sutherland, Patricia.(1993)"The History of Inuit Culture."In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilisation. pp.313-332 of Mercury Series Paper 124. Ed. Canadian Ethnology Service.

Swinton, George, and William Taylor. (1967) "Prehistoric Dorset Art" The Beaver. Autumn. pp32-47.

Swinton, George. (1992) Sculpture of the Inuit. 2 ed. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart The Canadian Publishers.

Swinton, George.(1992) Aesthetics - Inuit vs. Kablunait Sculpture of the Inuit. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.129-134.

Vastokas, Joan M.(1971)"Continuities in Eskimo Graphic Style" artscanada 6:69-78.

Vastokos, Joan. (1967)"The Relation of Form and Iconography in Eskimo Masks."The Beaver,Autumn. 126-131.

Wight, Darlene.(1991) "Inuit Tradition and Beyond: New Attitudes toward art-making in the 1980s" Inuit Art Quarterly. 9-15.

AVM Sedna

Aboriginal Voices Magazine

Above and Beyond - Magazine of the New North.This site is presently under construction.

Macleans: "The New North". 1998

Northern News Service

Nunatsiaq News MEDIA, NEWS

Nunanet Worldwide Communications

CBC North

CBC North: audio

Kiviuk legend from books for children through the National Library of Canada

EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

JOURNALS, MAGAZINES

Inuit Studies

Inuit Art Quarterly

FILMS AND VIDEOGRAPHY

Evans, Michael Robert. "Sometimes in anger: the struggles of Inuit video" Fuse Magazine 22:4 (January 2000) : 13-17.

National Film Board: Inuit

Flaherty, Robert.(1922) Nanook of the North. Reveillon Freres. sound track 1939.

Between Two Worlds."

Kunuk, Zacharias. (1989) Qaggiq (Gathering Place). Video.

Kunuk, Zacharias. (1991) Nunaqpa (Going Inland). Video.
Paskievich, John, and Sharon Van Raalte. (1992) Sedna: the Making of a Myth. Zemma Pictures National Film Board of Canada.

Raymont, Peter. Arctic Spirits. Investigative Productions.

Qimmiq: Canada's Arctic Dog: National Film Board

Arnait Ikajurtigiit (1992) Ataguttaaluk Starvation colour 23:00 "An Igloolik elder relates the tale of Ataguttaaluk, a woman who survived a starvation and lived to become an honoured resident of Igloolik in the Women's Video Workshop Production."

Arnait Ikajurtigiit (1992) Qulliq colour 12:00"Members of Arnait Ikajurtigiit utilize the "new" technology of video to joyfully re-enact an older technology: the ritual of Qulliq or lighting of the seal oil lamp. They tell the story in song."

Women's Video Workshop (1994) Piujuk and Angutautuq colour 27:24

Cousineau, Marie-Helene (1996) Travelers colour 37:04"Travelers is an experimental "documentary" about my relationships with the women of Igloolik. I have been producing videos with in the last 6 years. It is a self-portrait of the distances I covered in my life in Igloolik, and a portrait of my women friends there. Distance is not only about airports. This video explores the meaning of travelling to all of us - in geography, in culture, in imagination, in personal growth and courage. Viewers will meet a group of women who, in their own remarkable ways, share with us their world.Travellers reflects the interactions and relations between some women who happen to be mostly Inuit and mostly from Igloolik. Travellers they are: in space, time, emotions and levels of reality. This video was shot between Igloolik and Ottawa, from Spring to Winter 1996."

Arnait Ikajurtigiit, Mary Kunuk (1996) Aqtuqsi colour 5:00
Banning, Kass. 1991. "Local Channels: Zach Kunuk Remodels T.V." Parallelogramme 17, 1:24-31.

Berger, Sally. (1996). "Time Travellers." Inuit Art Quarterly 11, 2 (Summer):4 - 11. Article is reprinted from felix: A Journal of Media Arts and Communications Vol.2. No. 1: 1995.

Fleming, Kathleen. (1996) "Igloolik Video: an Organic Response from a Culturally Sound Community." Inuit Art Quarterly 11, 1 (Spring): 26-34.

George, Jane (1997) "Inuit-made TV docudramas as popular as soaps in North," The Ottawa Citizen. February 26.

Hendrick, Stephen and Fleming, Kathleen. (1991) "Zacharias Kunuk: Video Maker and Inuit Historian." Inuit Art Quarterly 6, 3 (Summer):24-8.

(1982) "The Kaminuriak Caribou Herd Videotape Project. Inuktitut 50 (May):89 - 93. Innis, Harold (1984) The Fur Trade. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ipeelie, Alootook. (1992) "The Colonization of the Arctic," Indigena: Contemporary native Perspectives, exhibition catalogue, G. McMaster and Lee-Ann Martin, eds. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Kroker, Arthur. (1984) Technology and the Canadian Mind: Innis/McLuhan/Grant Montreal:New World Perspectives:129.

Nemiroff, Diana. (1992) "Zacharias Kunuk" Land, Spirit, Power.

Waugh, Tom. (1991) "Words of Command: Notes on Cultural and Political Inflections of Direct Cinema in Independent Documentary," CineAction! (Spring)

Phillips, Todd. (1996) "Videographer racing against time." Nunatsiaq News. March 15.

Roth, Lorna and Gail Guthrie Valaskakis. (1989) "Aboriginal Broadcasting in Canada: a case Study in Democratization," Communication for and Against Democracy. Montreal: Black Rose Books. Article is reprinted from felix: A Journal of Media Arts and Communications Vol.2. No. 1: 1995.

Inuitartwebliography

2006-11-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

INUIT ART WEBLIOGRAPHY

A PERSONAL RESEARCH TOOL: RESOURCES ON THE NET RELATING TO INUIT ART AND CULTURE

Under construction

This webliography is a personal research tool developed to access resources on the internet related to Inuit art and culture. It is part of an ongoing doctoral research project examining issues of representation and culture.

The poetics and politics of representation, particularly of aboriginal culture, have become major themes in art interpretation and diffusion. As Inuit art becomes increasingly represented on the WWW, its oversimplification could lead to a Disney-fictional culture that leaves little space for real world Inuit.

The Nunavut cultural and ecological tourism industry is expanding and developing. In Canada, Inuit art production is a multimillion dollar cultural industry. Current trends in many cultural institutions policies are strongly influenced by business models of profitability. This could prove detrimental to issues of identity, quality and representation and to an adequate reflection of the complexities of aboriginal knowledge.

I am interested in Inuit art in relation to the social context in which it is produced. There is a discrepancy between the representation of Inuit art and the complex social reality of contemporary Inuit communities. Contemporary Nunavummiut, Nunavikmiut, Inuit of the Western Arctic and many urban Inuit live between two worlds. Nunavummiut seek economic self-determination and are visibly tuned in to new technologies. A rapid perusal of the WWW makes this abundantly clear. However, communities are also plagued with high-unemployment, youth suicide, sexual abuse, addictions and the problems addictions create.

The convergence of the nonlinearity of Inuit art and hypertext was an integral part in the application I developed for my MA in Canadian Studies. I will continue to explore this convergence as this project develops.

PLAN OF STUDY "Nanuk in cyberspace: Mapping Inuit cyberarchives"

When cultural objects become commodities that are sold before any visual or textual documentation is gathered, what happens to the links to cultural memory and where are the archives? I will explore the numerous barriers to the development of appropriate Internet technologies which could enrich the understanding of Inuit art as archives of collective memory not just a commodity. The Internet offers the potential for collaborative, cultural initiatives between artists, cultural workers and new media technicians that would nurture cultural diversity. Numerous Canadian Inuit have participated in the cultural industry as carvers and printmakers. However, Inuit are rarely involved in the diffusion or in the knowledge community of Inuit art through interpretation, education or curating. Inuit artworks have become Canada's silent ambassadors.