Preserving elder knowledge
Heritage Centre bridges generation gap

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 03/99) - For the past seven months now, the Baker Lake Inuit Heritage Centre has been helping build a bridge to the past and ensuring the wisdom of local elders is passed on to today's generation and those of the future.

Heritage centre manager Dave Webster said the idea for the facility was launched about six years ago when Barnabas Piryuaq and a group of fellow elders asked for a heritage centre they thought would be of benefit to today's youth.

Piryuaq was worried his culture's oral history tradition was dying in a modern age dominated by television, VCRs and video games. Long gone were the days when the Inuit lived in the igloo and the youth listened intently as the elders passed on their stories and wisdom.

"These days, with all the modern distractions, Piryuaq said the kids just aren't listening. And, when he dies, his knowledge goes with him, but, with a heritage centre, his knowledge and that of the elders in general, lives on in the centre," explained Webster.

The Inuit Heritage Centre opened this past June and a cultural inclusion program was started. The centre includes an elders' room and the program was divided into four different areas so a visiting class could be split up.

The program started with kindergarten to Grade 5 students from Rachel Arngnammaktig elementary school, with each class making four visits.

"We set it up so half the class accompanies an elder into the elders' room and the other half an elder in the main exhibit area," said Webster. "In the main room, the elder would start with a diorama about a caribou crossing, or whatever, and the other kids would be in a different room doing activities with the other elder. After 30 minutes they switch.

"The next week the same class would come back and go to another part of the heritage centre, maybe learn about kayaks, igloos, clothing or place names, and so on for the four weeks."

Webster said the centre was kept busy with three programs a day for most of the fall up until mid-December. He said the program is a huge success and the elders are enjoying it as much as the students.

"The elders really enjoy it because they feel they're getting something across to the youth. They're very pleased and feel really involved. It's an excellent program which is very well organized and run. Next up, we'll be working with the older kids, the grades 6 to 12 groups.

"The kids' reaction to the program has been marvellous. We have a guest book they write in and there's a lot of wonderful comments in there.

One student wrote, 'Cool man, cool. I like it. Keep this up, I learned something.' Some of the others are, 'Very, very good. Wow. Interesting place, very nice, it's pretty cool, awesome, love to come back again.'

"So, you can see from that, the program seems to be making quite an impact with them."