Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 20, 2007

PANGNIRTUNG - A photo album full of Northern faces found its way back to Pangnirtung last month after being discovered in a Saskatchewan attic.

The community gathered at the local visitors centre to share stories and point out family members in the book of black-and-white snapshots, taken in the hamlet between 1934 and 1936. The photographs also captured sights like the blubber house, tupeks and whaling boats.

"It brought back a lot of memories," said Ooleepeeka Arnaqaq, manager of the Angmarlik Visitor Centre. "It was a lot of fun and it was very exciting for a lot of people in the community."

The album, which was found in Kamsack, Sask. in 1997, was compiled by Dr. A.G. MacKinnon, who worked in the community in the '30s.

How it landed in Saskatchewan is a mystery to local historians, but it eventually made its way into the hands of Reg Forbes, in Moose Jaw.

He travelled to Pangnirtung late last month to return it to the community.

"I was very surprised. I got very excited about the pictures when we first started talking last year in July," Arnaqaq said. "I set up a meeting with the elders for (Forbes) so that they could have a chance to look at the photos first, then hosted an open house for the community at the visitors centre. It turned out really well. We had quite a few people showing up that day."

The album is an especial boon to the community, because MacKinnon carefully noted many names or nicknames and dates under most of the pictures.

Arnaqaq found a picture of her namesake, her mother's mother.

"She passed away when my mother was pretty young. In that album they had called her Blondie because her hair was very light," she said with a laugh.

"I'm named after my grandmother, but I'm not a blonde!"

Billy Etooangat also found a photograph of his grandfather, Etuangat, who would have been well known to the doctors.

"My grandfather was a medical dog team guide who used to transport patients to and from the hospital from the '30s to '60s," Etooangat said.

His grandfather died in 1995, a few months after receiving the Order of Canada.

According to Arnaqaq, the community is always on the lookout for photographs like MacKinnon's.

"People are still looking for pictures because Inuit didn't have cameras at the time. Some people in town barely remember their families, so we get really excited," she said. "A lot of people say that the nurses, doctors, RCMP took a lot pictures from those days, so there are still a lot of pictures we haven't seen."

Forbes gave the community a scanned copy of the album as well as the original, and took many photographs of his own during the week he spent in Pang.

"I wanted to go to the North, and this was a good reason to go," he said.