Arviat (May 31/04) - Photos of the people of Arviat are gracing a United Nations Web site.

"I'm really happy they got a chance to represent the First Nations of Canada," said George Lessard, the Fort Smith photographer whose pictures were selected.

Jessie Kaludjak wears a traditional amouti at Canada Day celebrations in Arviat in 2002. - photo courtesy of George Lessard

Lessard was working as a media specialist with the Government of Nunavut's Department of Education in Arviat last year when he snapped the photos on his new digital camera.

Later he saw on the Internet that the UN's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was looking for pictures of indigenous people from around the world.

"I thought the chances that anybody in Nunavut would find out about it would be slim," said Lessard.

Nunavut, he knew, was only beginning to get broadband Internet access.

Now photos of life in Arviat -- the 2004 graduating class of the Nunavut Teacher Education Program, Canada Day celebrations, and the skinning of a polar bear, to name a few -- represent Canada on the Web site. In fact they represent North America.

The other two photo galleries on the site are of indigenous communities in Ecuador and Colombia.

Lessard selected photos to send to the UN by looking for shots that represented the community.

"I didn't want the standard polar bear shot," he said.

Still, he sent in photos of dog teams and amoutis, representative of traditional Inuit culture.

"But in Nunavut they're not just a traditional thing -- it's everyday life," said Lessard.

The Web site address is www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii Click on photo gallery, then on Canada.