Robert G. “Bob” Williamson, Arctic anthropologist, teacher and advocate, dead at 80

The late Bob Williamson had numerous friends throughout the Canadian Arctic. Here, Williamson, (second from right) stands with with Ed Picco, Kowesa Etitiq and Peter Irniq at an event held February 2009 at the Library and Archives Canada building in Ottawa. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Arctic anthropologist and Inuit advocate Robert Williamson died Feb. 12 at the age of 80.

Williamson was born in Oxley, England in 1931 and emigrated to Canada in the early 1950s.

His long-time relationship with the Inuit and the North first began in 1953, when Williamson lived for a time in Pangnirtung, where he learned Inuktitut and travelled through Cumberland Sound.

That sparked a life-long interest in the North that took him to Carleton University to study anthropology and later to Sweden’s Royal University, where he earned a PhD.

Williamson spent his summers employed with the federal Department of Northern Affairs. That’s where he established their Eskimology section, founding the magazine Inuktitut and serving as welfare superintendent for the Keewatin district.

He went on to represent the Keewatin region between 1967 and 1970 as an elected member of Northwest Territories territorial council, the body that later became the NWT Legislative Assembly.

By the mid-1960s, Williamson began teaching at the University of Saskatchewan, where he helped create the Institute of Northern Studies and the Arctic Research and Training Centre.

Williamson’s work made him an advocate for Inuit, through different projects such as a research project to probe the impact of the DEW line on Inuit society.

To some, Williamson was known as Quniguapik, others as Bobbyaluk and to many, simply as Bob.

He received numerous awards and honours throughout his career, including the Order of Canada in 1986.

Williamson leaves behind his wife, Greenlandic scholar Dr. Karla Jessen Williamson and the couple’s two children, along with four children from an earlier marriage.