PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG - One of four Hudson Bay Old Blubber Station has been restored and will be preserved for all to enjoy.

"It is a good place to see our history, a way to educate our children to show the younger generation where we come from and to preserve and keep our culture in Cumberland Sound," said mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapik.

The building was constructed in the mid-1920s after the Hudson Bay Company built a trading post in Pangnirtung which began to attract Inuit to the area.

The 70-square-metre building was where whale blubber was processed, said Cameron DeLong, manager of parks planning and operations, Nunavut Parks and Special Places Division, Department of Environment.

He said European whalers and Inuit processed the blubber, which involved boiling it and then putting it in barrels before it was shipped to be sold to foreign markets.

Sowdlooapik said at first bowhead oil was made and then it was beluga oil.

Since 2007, Nunavut Parks and Special Places has been working on the restoration project to preserve the buildings and update interpretative signage.

Work was first done out at the Kekerten Island whaling station found within Kekerten Historic Park, about an hour and half boat ride from Pangnirtung. During the 1850s and 1860s, Inuit and Europeans worked from this location.

"Whaling is part of our history in Cumberland Sound and Pangnirtung as between 1850 to 1921 there used to be a lot of whaling activity in our waters," Sowdlooapik said.

At the end of September, near the beginning of October, contractor Charlie Qumuatuq began to restore the old blubber station.

Described by DeLong as being rundown, vandalized and in a "state of disrepair," the building, he said, is a "diamond in the rough."

The strong winds that blow through Pangnirtung don't help the cause, said Sowdlooapik.

The building's siding, roofing, doors, light fixtures and sign were replaced at a cost of $60,000. The project was completed early this month and DeLong visited the site on Nov. 15.

The building houses a couple of replicas of old whaling boats.

In Inuktitut, the sign reads roughly translated "the place where blubber is boiled," but he said one syllabic is not quite right and a new sign has been ordered.

This is only the first phase of a multi-year project which, if all goes well, DeLong said will continue next year depending on the department's budget. Next on the list to restore is the second largest building on the site which requires a bit more TLC, said DeLong, as it only has siding screwed into the frame.

For Sowdlooapik, the fact the buildings are being restored means not only are tourist attractions being preserved but it adds employment to the community. The mayor said there used to be a tourism committee in the hamlet during the 1980s and people were talking about restoring these sites.

"The completion of this work and the potential start-up of this committee again goes hand-in-hand," DeLong said, adding "it would be positive if they could get that up and running again and help them how to figure out how to make this historic site in the community shine next season."

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