How an ‘odd’ rock from Salluit ended up on display at Rideau Hall
Family that owns Nunatsiaq News donates qulliq to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon with hopes the artifact will return to Nunavik
Gov. General Mary Simon, centre, shares a laugh with Nunatsiaq News publisher Michael Roberts, left, and his mother Patricia Roberts at Rideau Hall on June 24. Michael and Patricia Roberts donated to the Governor General a qulliq discovered more than 60 years ago near Salluit by Michael and his brothers David and Steven. (Photo by Jorge Antunes)
It was the early 1960s and three young boys from the south were out on the Nunavik tundra, not far from Salluit, with their Inuit friends when they came upon a strange rock.
The rock was sticking out of the tundra like a sore thumb; there was something “odd” about it, said Michael Roberts, remembering that day.
He was out on the land with his brothers, David and Steven.
Roberts, now 72, is the publisher of Nunatsiaq News. He took over from Steven, who retired as publisher of the newspaper in 2017. David runs production for Nunatsiaq and its sister company, Ayaya Marketing & Communications.
The Roberts family lived in Salluit from 1961 to 1964 because the boys’ father, Barry Roberts, was an administrator with the federal Department of Northern Affairs.
On that day on the land, the rock was sticking no more than 15 centimetres out of the ground.

This qulliq was discovered by Michael Roberts and his brothers more than 50 years ago. It’s now on display in the Gov. Gen. Mary Simon’s conference room at Rideau Hall. (Photo by Jorge Antunes)
“We started excavating it,” Michael Roberts said.
“There were lots of willing hands and we pulled away moss and tundra material, and with a bit of work managed to pull this thing out.”
The trio’s Inuit friends knew exactly what “this thing” was: It was a large qulliq, a traditional oil lamp used for light and cooking, perhaps 60 centimetres long and 15 centimetres wide.
Its size was unusual and it was likely used for ceremonial purposes, Roberts said.
The three boys carried the artifact nearly two kilometres to Salluit and presented it to their mother.
“What I remember is this bunch of children walking down the hill and along the river, into the settlement,” said Patricia Roberts, 96, Michael’s mother.
“Michael carried the soapstone. I remember that vividly.”

Barry Roberts, seated, is surrounded by sons Michael, left, Steven, right and David in their home in Salluit in 1962. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Roberts)
More than 60 years after the discovery, the Roberts family wants to help return the qulliq to its home.
At a small gathering in Rideau Hall on June 24, Michael and Patricia Roberts presented the qulliq to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon.
The qulliq will be on display at Rideau Hall, the official residence of the governor general, where it will remain until the end of Simon’s tenure in 2026.
Simon was born in and grew up in Nunavik, then went on to become an Inuit leader with Makivvik Corp., the organization created in 1978 to administer the terms of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
In 2021, she was appointed Canada’s first Indigenous governor general.
When her term ends, Simon will return the qulliq to Nunavik, Michael Roberts said.
It was a different time back then, Patricia Roberts recalled. They had the entire region of Nunavik to roam around in. Michael and his two younger brothers, Steven and David, would roam the hills together.

Brothers Michael (back), Steven (right) and David (front)Roberts pose for a picture while living near Salluit in the 1960s. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Roberts)
“I never worried about that as long as they were together with the [Inuit] children,” Patricia Roberts said.
The family moved to Kuujjuaq and brought the qulliq with them. They eventually settled near Ottawa in 1966.
“We came south, we brought it with us, and I’ve had it ever since,” Patricia Roberts said.
Both Michael and Patricia were quick to note that would never happen if the qulliq were found today.
“If you found something like this outside Salluit, it would be on Inuit Owned Land, you’d probably want an archeologist to look at it before anyone even touched it,” Michael Roberts said.
The object has never been examined. It is at least 60 years old, but could be 100 or more, he said.
The qulliq has been used in some ceremonial Inuit gatherings, but for the most part, it has sat in Patricia Roberts’ home.
She said that in the past, she told her sons: “If anything happened to me, it should go to a museum.”
“That was my choice,” she said, adding that presenting it to Simon is a “much better, lovelier way” of returning it to Nunavik.
To the comment : Its size was unusual and it was likely used for ceremonial purposes, Roberts said.
It should be noted that Qulliqs were never used for ceremonial purposes. They are Inuit stove and light. That was the only purpose for the Qulliq.
Microwaves , of there days .
At one point this may have been true, but they are now used ceremonially at the beginning of many public events.
Surprise , that nobody has started mass producing (made in china) them and passing them off as ” authentic Eskimo lamps ”
There were qulliit made of cast iron available as trade goods through the HBC a century or more ago.
They were difficult to use as the casting process did not really understand the physics of the oil flow process correctly.
At Whales Head a few km down river from Kuujjuaq a stone lamp qulliq was found circa 1994, in the same way it was partially covered in earth and moss. I last saw it at a residence in Kuujjuaq town, I wonder what ever became of it.
is an artifact allowed to be removed or taken? I understood all were never to be kept
In Nunavut it is illegal to take artifacts from the ground.