Inuit focus of Sirmilik management
National park's management plan celebrates culture and the land
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, January 16, 2017
NORTH BAFFIN
Canada's fourth largest national park, Sirmilik National Park, received ministerial approval for its management plan in November.
The 22,200 square kilometre Sirmilik National Park is sandwiched between Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet and the proposed Lancaster Sound Marine Protected Area. - photo: Lee Narraway/Parks Canada - |
The 38-page plan has three main goals: celebrate the special connection between Sirmilik National Park and the Inuit of Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay, develop Sirmilik's visitor experience program, and increase knowledge and awareness about Sirmilik.
"This management plan guides Parks Canada and the Sirmilik Joint Park Management Committee (the advisory body for the park) that cooperatively manage this park for the next 10 years," said superintendent for Nunavut field unit Jenna Boon.
The 22,200 square kilometre park is sandwiched between Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet and the proposed Lancaster Sound Marine Protected Area.
"It's big," she said.
Developed by the parks planning team with members appointed by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and Parks Canada, the management plan protects cultural sites, of which there are many within the park, and includes place-name work with Inuit-knowledge working groups.
"Those type of activities would be identified through management planning. What we do with cultural sites, when we do it and even how we do it," she said.
"We're working on excavating a site where there are sod houses. We're trying to understand the settlement."
From Boon's perspective, management planning is a joy. First, the committee forms a planning team comprised of people from neighbouring communities and Parks Canada staff.
"The team starts with basic questions, such as: Where do you see the park in 10 years? What would you like to have happen? We get big maps on the table, we get storytelling happening - really trying to focus on what the key values are and what are we wanting to do?
"It comes down to interacting with people on the ground and saying 'What does the park look like in 10 years and how do we get there?'"
Baseline assessments of the ecosystem are also brought to the table, as well as traditional knowledge.
"Inuit are considered part of the ecosystem, and I think that's a deviation from what the normal concept of conservation is. And I think that's changing. It's no longer OK to exclude people from parks."
Inuit are well-represented as employees at Nunavut's five national parks: Sirmilik; Ukkusiksalik, located between Baker Lake and Naujaat; Auyuittuq, between Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq; Quttinirpaaq, between Eureka and Alert; and Qausuittuq, northwest of Resolute.
Five of the six employees at Sirmilik's office are Inuit, most hired from Nunavut Arctic College's Environmental Technology Program.
Indirect employment also stems from research activity, from groceries bought and vehicle and helicopter rentals, for example.
Researchers have been a mainstay in the area, with some research dating back 30 years.
"Sirmilik actually has a few visitors because of the cruise ships that come in. Most of the people who visit would be on business travel, so they're up in Pond working at the health centre and they get a boat ride or a Ski-Doo ride across to the park," said Boon.
"We have a small segment of the population who are the adventure travelers who want to go on a 10-day trek or ski. We get a handful of people like that."
