Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 10, 2007
CAMBRIDGE BAY - The Kitikmeot Heritage Society will celebrate 'Life at Ikaluktuuq' this month, with the grand opening of its latest exhibit.
The multi-media installation paints a picture of life for the Ikaluktuurmiut, whose existence was centred around a short section of river about 30 kilometres outside of the hamlet until the mid-1900s.
The display was completed at the May Hakongak Community Library and Cultural Centre in Cambridge Bay in early summer.
The Kitikmeot Heritage Society (KHS) will host its official launch on Sept. 29 from 1 to 4 p.m.
"We wanted to find a way to show off the information we've gathered, not just a report that's going to sit on a shelf," said Kim Crockatt, president of KHS.
The group has worked with the anthropology department of the University of Toronto since 2000 to record the oral and archeological history of the site.
While Inuit settlement in the area can be traced back as far as 750 years ago, they were preceded by their Thule, Dorset and pre-Dorset ancestors up to 4,000 years ago.
"It is one of the most important links to our past, to Inuit culture. It is so unique, because it was used by not only Inuit," said Emily Angulalik, executive director of KHS.
Local elders provided invaluable input to the researchers by camping on the site and relating their own memories and histories of the area.
"Being there with the elders, taking part in this project, has given me real pride, of being an Inuk and how our ancestors survived in this harsh climate, and how they adapted and worked together to survive," Angulalik said.
The experience of connecting with others on the site of so much history was an "empowering" one for her, she said.
"When I look at the exhibit and see how much work went into these artifacts, with the limited tools that they had back then, I just imagine carving all day long with one simple tool, when it can be done now in seconds now with a power drill," Angulalik said.
"This taught them patience, and that's what I really admired about the people who lived off the land and how they worked together."
The exhibit is accompanied by a booklet that relates the history of the area and Ikaluktuurmiut way of life.
It features sound stations with recorded stories in Innuinaqtun and English, a short silent film and photography.
It also includes casts of a number of the artifacts unearthed at the Ikaluktuuq site, such as fish spears and bows.
"There are the stories, but there's the technological aspect to it, and it's important for future generations to see how really brilliant and well-adapted traditional technology was," said Darren Keith, KHS senior researcher and curator of the exhibit.
One of the elders who worked on the project, Frank Analok, actually lived at Ikaluktuuq as a young boy in the 1920s.
"He has one of the oldest memories of life as it was in that area, and was a huge resource," Keith said.
"He would have participated in the construction of or at least watched some of these articles being made. By the time he was a teenager this all changed ... We'll always be able to do archeology, but (the elders') understanding of the way of life allowed them to easily interpret the artifacts and their relationship with those who came before.
"There has to be people to tell the stories."
