Taissumani, April 9

Alianakuluk, for whom the Inuit of Pond Inlet named a lake, photographed in 1923. He was also known as Panigusiq.

The honour that all explorers yearn for is to have a spot on the map – or a number of spots – named for them.

Some achieve it surreptitiously, as the whaler William Penny did when he named the Penny Highlands, modestly and unconvincingly claiming that he named the area after his father!

Some achieve it while still living, as was the case when the scientist, J. Dewey Soper, named Mount Duval and the Duval River after the aging but still-living whaler, William Duval.

Some achieve it after death, whether that death came about peacefully at home in bed after a life of sterling accomplishment, or prematurely by accident. The latter is the case with the plethora of places named after the unfortunate Sir John Franklin.

Perhaps the greatest and rarest honour is to have Inuit themselves recommend an official place name. It is all the more exceptional when Inuit name a place after a qallunaaq.

But that is exactly what happened in the case of James Mutch, the whaler about whom I have written in the last month and who was known to the Inuit as “Jiimi Maatsi” (in my orthography, although others have spelled his name differently.)

In 1975, Dr. G. V. B. Cochran, a member of the Explorers Club in New York who had climbed mountains on Bylot Island, wrote to the Secretariat for Geographical Names of the federal department, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, suggesting the name Dundee Glacier for a certain glacier in northern Baffin Island.

(For the record, the glacier is at 72°27’40” north latitude and 76°04’10” west longitude.) Cochran also suggested that two lakes in the area be named Firth Lakes or Portage Lakes.

The department took four years to reject Cochran’s suggestions, but ultimately they were all formally turned down on April 9, 1979. That’s because the department had, in the meantime, asked the opinion of the Hamlet Council of Pond Inlet.

Simon Merkosak was the Secretary-Manager of the hamlet at the time, and he wrote on behalf of the council to the department that same year relating, in much abbreviated form, the story of James Mutch.

In part he wrote, “Some years ago there was a whaler called by Inuit Jimi Maasi and he had two Inuit assistants, Alianakuluk and Inuutiq. They were shipwrecked in Erik Harbour and stayed there for a period of time.”

The reference to a shipwreck is not quite accurate, but this brief statement contains some very important information. Mutch left no record of the names of the Inuit of northern Baffin Island who helped him, and this is the only record we have of the names of two of his Inuit assistants.

The council suggested that the two lakes be named Lake Inuutiq and Lake Alianakuluk, and that the glacier be named Jimi Maasi Glacier.

These names were approved by the department on August 2, 1979, fitting memorials for a legendary Scottish whaler and two of the Inuit who worked with him.

That was over 30 years ago. Let’s hope, as the Inuit Heritage Trust carries out its mandate to ensure that Inuit place names are recognized, that Jimi Maasi Glacier remains on the map and that future generations remember that this name was put forward by Inuit themselves.

Taissumani recounts a specific event of historic interest. Kenn Harper is a historian, writer and linguist who lives in Iqaluit. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.