Inuit students naming the past

MURRAY ANGUS

OTTAWA — “If we don’t ask them now, we won’t be able to later.”

That’s how Naiomi Alivuktuk of Pangnirtung explains the reasons for a project currently being undertaken by students in the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program. Twenty students from across Nunavut are asking elders in their communities to help identify the people in old photographs stored for decades in Canada’s National Archives in Ottawa.

The National Archives has hundreds of thousands of photos taken during the early part of the century.

Most were taken by government and church officials when they worked or travelled in the north. In the majority of cases, however, the Inuit in the photos are not named — a typical caption may only read: “Eskimos in front of The Bay.”

Unidentified people

The students’ efforts are not the first attempts to identify the photographs, says Morley Hanson, the coordinator of the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program.

“We know that over the years many people from Nunavut have come to the National Archives to examine the photographs, but we’re not aware of any project to systematically deal with them,” he says. “We’re hoping this small project will lead to something larger.”

Putting names to these faces will have lasting value, says Alivuktuk.

“It’s important to do it now because the elders who know these people are dying out. If we get the names into the National Archives, generations to come will know where their roots are from.”

The photos were located by the students during their eight-month program in Ottawa. In addition to doing research, Nunavut Sivuniksavut students also study Inuit history, the Nunavut land claims agreement and contemporary Inuit issues, while learning to live successfully on their own in the South.

The program is for youth who are beneficiaries of the Nunavut land claims agreement. Founded in 1985, it is sponsored by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the regional Inuit economic development organizations, and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. Its courses are accredited through Algonquin College in Ottawa.

Meeting with elders also a benefit

While naming the people in the photos is the first goal of the project, spending time with elders is another reason for doing it, says Raurri Qajaaq Ellsworth, chair of Nunavut Sivuniksavut’s recently-created board of directors.

“The board supports the program being done in Ottawa because the students get to learn about their culture in ways that aren’t available in the North.” he says. “At the same time, we wanted to strengthen its links to the North, and especially with elders, so this project will help to do that.”

While the old photos will provide a starting point for discussions, it is hoped that elders will share their memories of the changes they have seen during their lives. These personal stories will complement what students are learning in the classroom about the changes in the north during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

“We’re going to benefit because we’ll get to hear what the elders have to say about those times,” says student Derek Zawadski of Rankin Inlet.

Future potential

The students’ efforts to identify people in the old photographs barely scratches the surface, however. There are literally hundreds of thousands of photos from the North still stored in the archives. Until now, they have been out of reach for most northerners. With new technology, however, this could change.

“Thanks to the Internet, it’s now possible for these photographs to be seen by all northerners without ever being removed from the archives in Ottawa,” says Ellsworth. “Our ability to identify the people in these pictures has increased greatly.”

An example for how the Internet can be used is already up and running at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife.

The centre posts some of its 250,000 northern photographs on-line (http://pwnhc.learnnet.nt.ca/programs/photodb.htm). Its web site also includes a feedback mechanism so viewers can send in information about the photos they see.

“It would make for a terrific project to have youth in the communities working closely with our elders to identify these pictures,” says Ellsworth.

“Youth could bring their knowledge of computers and the Internet and elders could bring their knowledge of the past. Since our elders won’t always be with us, it’s definitely a project that should be considered sooner rather than later,” says Ellsworth.

Murray Angus is an instructor in the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program.