Photo: Rankin Inlet, then and now

Tonight, if you’re in Rankin Inlet, you can learn more about an important part of that community’s history: the North Rankin Inlet nickel mine, whose workers were housed in tiny houses like this one. Starting at 7 p.m. in the community hall, a team of researchers, including Inuit from Rankin Inlet and Arviat, will show photos and videos of Inuit who worked at the mine, which operated between 1957 and 1962. “The hope [of the mine] was that Inuit would find employment and start on the journey of becoming like Qablunaat workers and families. Wage employment was to replace hunting and Inuit women were to stay home and ‘keep house,” says Dr. Frank Tester, from the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ABANDONED MINES PROJECT)