“Extraordinary Arctic” museum festival encourages igloo-building practice

Daisy Rubinstein, left, and her twin sister Maggie, both of Ottawa, see who has the strongest fingers during a finger-pulling contest at the Canadian Museum of Nature April 13. As part of the museum’s Extraordinary Arctic exhibit, kids can learn traditional Inuit games such as the one-foot high kick and the muskox push. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)

First-year Nunavut Sivuniksavut students Sippora Amarualik, left, and Suzanne Aqatsiaq, volunteer at the Canadian Museum of Nature to help answer questions from visitors attending this month’s Extraordinary Arctic exhibit. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)

It didn’t take long for a group of children to build an igloo at the Canadian Museum of Nature April 13, but they did have an advantage over igloo builders in the North: the blocks were sponge foam, and they were all numbered in sequence.

The igloo-building exercise in the museum’s rotunda is part of a month-long exhibit called “Extraordinary Arctic” celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1913-1916 Canadian Arctic Expedition.

The exhibit will feature 24 screenings of new and classic films from the National Film Board of Canada as well as animated shorts from Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and the Inuvialuit region.

One of those NFB films, Douglas Wilkinson’s 1949 classic “How to Build an Igloo” was showing in the rotunda, just in case children, and staff, needed some hints.

Two first-year Nunavut Sivuniksavut students in traditional amautis took time out of studying for final exams to volunteer at the museum that Saturday afternoon to help answer questions and serve as Arctic ambassadors.

Suzanne Aqatsiaq of Repulse Bay and Sippora Amarualik of Igloolik admitted they had never built an igloo on their own but said they had helped friends and family members by filling in the cracks between blocks of snow.

As part of the exhibit, museum visitors this month will also enjoy presentations highlighting scientific research and adventure in the Arctic along with numerous Inuit cultural events such as throat-singing, drum dancing, Inuktitut lessons and traditional games.

The games are played in the museum’s “Discovery Zone” which is a hands-on learning area for children on the fourth floor. Numerous brave and giggling youngsters stepped up to try the muskox push, the one-foot high kick and the finger pull, last Saturday afternoon, April 13, while others played string games and coloured pictures of northern animals.

But the highlight that day was a performance by Ottawa throat-singers Abigail and Charlotte Carleton in the museum’s “Lantern,” the glassed in performance space above the museum’s main entrance.

A few dozen visitors gathered in chairs for the 3 p.m. performance but as soon as the sisters began singing, their rhythmic voices echoed into the vaulted ceiling prompting dozens more to gather on the staircases above.

Two nights before, on April 11, viewers were treated to the NFB feature documentary, Vanishing Point. Directed by Stephen A. Smith and Julia Szucs, Vanishing Point tells the story of two Inuit communities on Baffin Island and in Greenland, which are linked by the migration led in the late 1800s by the shaman, Qidtlarssuaq.

In the film, Navarana, an Inughuit elder and descendant of Qidtlarssuaq, goes on hunting trips with families from the two communities. She discovers that while the two groups share common values, they are adapting differently to outside influences and to changes affecting their way of life, says information about the film.

The Extraordinary Arctic festival is organized by the Canadian Museum of Nature with the NFB, Students on Ice, the National Arts Centre’s Northern Scene festival, the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre and Nunavut Sivuniksavut.

For complete details, visit the Canadian Museum of Nature website or call 800-263-4433 or 613-566-4700.

Sisters Charlotte, left, and Abigail Carleton of Ottawa wowed an audience of children and adults April 13 throat-singing in the Glass Lantern of the Canadian Museum of Nature. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)