Resolute Bay wants more tourism development

RESOLUTE — More money needs to be invested in Nunavut’s heritage, says Dan Leaman, Resolute Bay’s senior administrator and an amateur historian, because it’s good for people and the local economy.

Leaman often staffs an informal information bureau in the community’s new air terminal himself, passing out brochures and answering questions about Resolute Bay.

He encourages tourists to venture into the community, where they can visit a recently restored Thule archeaological site.

There, stark whale bones over an ancient stone qammaq help bring the past back to life. A small sign tells about the site’s significance and the people who lived there 500 to 1000 years ago.

“But what we’d really like is to have an interpretive centre with several displays,” said Leaman.

The best Leaman has been able to do is mount a small historical exhibit in the hamlet office.

When a group of parliamentarians visited Resolute last summer, Leaman discussed the idea of a visitors centre with them, pointing out the many local sites of historical interest in and around the community.

He mentioned its closeness to the Beechey Island historical site, the Polar Bear Pass national wildlife area, and the new national park on Ellesmere Island.

Leaman also suggested that he would also like to have a special exhibit on the story of the High Arctic relocatees, a concept that didn’t seem to thrill the parliamentary visitors.

“It seems as if there’s no money for this,” Leaman said.

Leaman is also frustrated that there wasn’t any more archeological activity in Resolute this year.

But money is also tight for archeological excavations. A typical dig in the High Arctic can cost about $25,000 to mount.

“Archeology is one of the things that is normally underfunded even at the best of times,” said archeologist Pat Sutherland.

Last summer Sutherland worked with local students on a dig site near Resolute.

“It gives the kids in the community a chance to really get into the past,” she said. “It’s very empowering to see it. But you have to have money and you have to have the community’s understanding and support.”

Only 15 permits for archeology were approved this year by the Inuit Heritage Trust, much fewer than in the past, mainly over concern over what happens to materials that are excavated from sites.

But until communities have the proper museum facilities to evaluate and store artifacts, Sutherland defends the practice of bringing back materials for storage and study.

In Greenland, where the Danish government has invested in many community museums, and the Greenland National Museum in Nuuk, certain artifacts are still sent back to Copenhagen if they can’t be properly studied or stored in Greenland.

Sutherland, who has been conducting digs in the High Arctic since 1977, said that archeologists can’t just map a site, excavate it and then leave all the artifacts behind.

“If I encountered an unusual harpoon head, I would need to bring it back [to Ottawa] to compare its style and features with others,” she said. “We’re constantly finding out new things which change our understanding of what happened.”

She said that excavation is merely a small part of the entire archeological process of understandingartifacts and what they say about the past.

But she admits that archeologists have a bad reputation.

“A lot of the misconceptions about archeology goes back to the actions of the American Museum of Natural History and its display of bones. They have nothing to do with what’s going on in the Canadian Arctic, but suddenly we’re all grave robbers and pirates,” she said. “I have nothing to do with grave sites. We are really sensitive to any issues that would be considered sacred.”

After a dig, Sutherland puts everything back into its place.

“I even replace the moss,” she said.

Due to the quantity of the ancient sites in Resolute and the interest expressed by the community in more archeological work, the Canadian Museum of Civilisation will try to return next summer for another dig.