Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Nov 14/01) - Rankin Inlet MLA Manitok Thompson says she can save the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth (CLEY) a whole lot of time and money.

Minister Peter Kattuk recently announced CLEY will spend $300,000 on a study to figure the best way (and place) to preserve Inuit art.

Kattuk wants Nunavummiut to have a say in the type of Inuit Heritage Centre that should be built and in what community.

The Prince of Wales Heritage Centre in Yellowknife currently houses the largest collection of Inuit artifacts.

While Kattuk wants to wait until a survey can be completed and the results released in spring 2002, Thompson says one group of Nunavummiut have been talking about a heritage centre for more than two years.

And, she adds, it's time the Nunavut government starts to listen.

"Minister Kattuk says CLEY needs to hear from Nunavummiut in this very important planning stage," says Thompson. "Well, Rankin Inlet has been speaking about this project for at least the past two years. I've been lobbying for Rankin to be the site of the centre since division in 1999."

Thompson says the Department of Sustainable Development has money in its budget for a Kivalliq Visitors Centre in Rankin.

She says there was $125,000 allocated for the visitor's centre in the 2000-01 budget and another $100,000 will be in the 2001-02 budget.

Rankin's hamlet council has already written a letter to CLEY expressing its desire to have the new centre.

Thompson says if Kattuk wants to be smart about the project, the Nunavut Heritage Centre could be combined with the Kivalliq Visitors Centre to house the two in one central location.

"Because of its mining history, there is a wonderful mixture of people in Rankin Inlet. There is a rich personal history, not just from across the Kivalliq, but all of Nunavut," says Thompson.

"Being the centre of Nunavut, both geographically and culturally, Rankin Inlet is the best location for this project."