Jessie Oonark: Woman in the Centre

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.

Inuit Art Museums and Galleries

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."

1999 Kids' Views of Nunavut 1999 Part of the "Learning through Art" program

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

PUBLIC GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS: FRANCE

Virtual Museum of Inuit Art: France

PUBLIC GALLERIES: UNITED STATES

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

COMMERCIAL GALLERIES

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

Geocities: Inuit

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

Many faces of Inuit art

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

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.

Draft Timeline of Inuit Social History

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.

Selected bibliography

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