Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Sep 20/99) - Ensuring that credit is given where credit is due is the other side of coin as far as repatriating Inuit artifacts goes -- or so says Appitaq Enuaraq.

The Baffin board member of the Inuit Heritage Trust said last week that he and the trust were working to make sure that Inuit who had contributed to archaeological finds, many of whom are elders now, would be recognized for their efforts.

He also emphasized the importance of doing it sooner rather than later.

"We're doing it today so that it's done while they're still alive. A lot of times, recognitions like these wait until the person has passed away. We're hoping to do it prior to that," said Enuaraq, a resident of Pond Inlet.

Enlisting the help of people across Nunavut, he explained that nominees from each of the three regions would be collected. Three elders would then be chosen for their contributions and all nine would be honoured at Nunavut Tunngavik's next general meeting.

"IHT will recognize them with a cash award as well as a plaque to commemorate the recognition. From there, hopefully we can do more, like get them an honourary degree or get the Archaeology Society of Canada to recognize them."

Enuaraq said the impetus for the trust's efforts in part stemmed from Father Guy-Mary Rousseliere, a deceased Catholic priest made famous for the work he did in piecing together the heritage of Inuit through the sites and artifacts he collected. Enuaraq explained that, in particular, four Inuit -- Samuel Arnakallak, Allan Mucktar, Cornilius Nutarak Sr., and Joshua Qaunaq -- were instrumental in Rousseliere's work, but for most part, had gone unnamed and unrecognized for their efforts.

"They assisted him most of the time and he didn't give them any credit whatsoever. They were the ones who did the actual work."

Enuaraq said that as well as working as guides and hunters for Rousseliere and leading him to the sites inhabited by their ancestors, they actually did all of the digging for the artifacts, mapped the areas in grids and determined the age and the era of their discoveries by examining the layers of sediment on the old tools and objects.

"These are the unsung heroes of archaeology," said Enuaraq.

Deborah Kigjugalik Webster, the president of IHT and also an archaeologist, further emphasized the importance of recognizing the elders as soon as possible and she commended them for their contributions to modern knowledge of Inuit pre-history and history.

"It's been invaluable to us."