Kuujjuaq elder honoured as pioneer of region’s tourism industry

Former outfitter and elder Elijah Watt received the NTA’s 2015 tourism award in Kuujjuaq Feb. 5 (PHOTO BY ISABELLE DUBOIS/NTA)

The Watt family’s fishing lodge on the shoreline of the Whale River in photo from around 1975. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WATT FAMILY)

Elijah Watt and his family standing beside the Whale River near Kuujjuaq in the late 1970s. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WATT FAMILY)

Kuujjuaq elder Elijah Watt is the 2015 recipient of the Nunavik Tourism Award, handed out Feb. 5 in Kuujjuaq.

The tourism association selected Watt as this year’s recipient for his work founding and running a well-known salmon fishing lodge at Whale River in the 1970s and 1980s.

Watt grew up on the land, and used his traditional knowledge to work as a guide for mining companies exploring the region.

In 1975, Watt founded the fishing lodge at Whale River — which runs south of Ungava Bay — which operated as an outfitting camp for 10 years with his family, employing a number of Inuit guides from Kuujjuaq.

One of them was Allen Gordon, now executive director of the Nunavik Tourism Association, who started working for Watt when he was only 12 years old.

“It is initiatives such as this one that helped build today’s tourism industry in the Nunavik region,” the NTA said Feb. 5.

Watt received his award Feb. 5 as part of the NTA’s general assembly, which wraps up Feb. 6.