Montreal (June 02/03) - Professor Bernard Saladin d'Anglure, an anthropologist with the University of Laval, was honoured with the Northern Science Award in April.

As one of the leading Inuit researchers in the world, d'Anglure has devoted his life to the collection of data on Inuit culture, language and society.

News/North: Tell us about the award.

Bernard Saladin d'Anglure: It was for my scientific life devoted to Inuit studies. Including 30 years of teaching, but mainly publications and also movies about Inuit life. I have collected data written in syllabics and recorded on tape. All that has been celebrated with this award. I also created tools, like the Inuit Studies Magazine and the Inuit Studies International Conference, next year will be the 14th. I have been involved with Arctic College. I participated with the publication of the book Atanarjuat. I made the French version of the book. I was also involved in France with the French version of the CD Atanarjuat. I also made a movie with the parents of the people who made Atanarjuat. It was called Iglulik Nunavut. It was made in 1977. It was two hours long, mixing tradition, religion. mythology and political disposition at that time.

N/N: What attracted you to Inuit culture and way of life?

BS: When I was 17, I was a young student in Europe, I travelled after college in Northern Europe to Lapland. After my first year of university I got a small scholarship, $40, to go back to Lapland and come back with a research report. So, I decided to do research on the life of the Laps and I got a prize, $80. I was encouraged to make another report and I chose to come to Canada. In 1955 I came to Quebec and I decided to go to Northern Quebec, Nunavik. I wanted to go there because the lifestyle was still very traditional. I worked for five months in Montreal to raise some money. After that I started my first experience with the Inuit. I brought back a small 16mm movie about Inuit life and I got another prize for my movie. That was the starting point to continue to study the North. I became an anthropologist. In 1971 Laval University (Montreal) asked me to take charge of the department of anthropology. Since that time I have been doing the Inuit studies program at Laval. I developed a non-profit society Inuksitutiit. It is a corporation in charge of The Inuit Studies Magazine and the Inuit Studies International Conference.

N/N: What role does Laval play in Inuit studies?

BS: Laval has slowly become an important place for communication and research about the Inuit. Our people collaborate with the North. My colleagues and me have been involved in teaching in Iqaluit, Arviat and Rankin Inlet. We also have joint projects with Arctic College. We have a big bank of data we hope to make available on the Web to be available to Inuit and the scientific community. When we heard that Inuit studies was compromised because of lack of funding all of us complained to try and get that program back.

N/N: What do you hope to do next?

BS: My dream is to go back to all the communities I have visited. The children of that time are now the leaders of the community. Tomorrow (May 28) I leave for Sanikiluaq for two weeks. I visited that community some 30 years ago and I made a lot of research at that time. I've never been back and the people are expecting me like an elder, I'm very happy to go back there and bring back some of the data I have collected.

N/N: What do you find the most interesting about the work you have done?

BS: I find this experience very satisfying because it involves elders and young people and they have done a lot of work across generations. I think it is a great example of how things can be done. There are 350 million indigenous people in the world and they are very interested in what is happening with the Inuit. It is really the best way they can imagine. They are traditionally hunters and gatherers and they had to approach that with strength and flexibility. If I can make the comparison they did the same with the Canadian structure negotiating strongly with flexibility. It is very original. It doesn't solve all the problems, every day there are problems in communities but we have to put forward the successes. It is a very unique case internationally and in Canada.

N/N: Compared to other aboriginal groups in Canada the Inuit culture is considered one of the strongest surviving. What do you think is the reason behind that?

BS: The luck of the Inuit is they were living in a part of the country that Southerners had a difficulty staying so long. That preserved them to not be invaded like other aboriginal groups in Canada that lost their land and became very like refugees on their reserves. They are also a very flexible society because of the different life up North. I think because of the difficulty of surviving in such a different part of the world Inuit culture had to develop very strong social tools and very strong ways of trying to survive. I am sure they have very interesting ways that would be very useful to us in modernization and globalization. Inuit have a strong sense of social identity. In the Southern culture there is a big lack of that. There is a lack of social contribution and there is a lack of adaptation.

N/N: Do you believe the Inuit culture has a chance at survival?

BS: I hope and I am almost sure if the Inuit survive they will find ways to adapt traditions, and culture and language to globalization. The Inuit need to remember their collective identity and respect for the past. If they succeed using modern technology like video, movies, recordings then they have a chance.