Solace from soapstone

MIRIAM HILL
Nunatsiaq News

A dark soapstone candleholder carved as a staring Inuk face peers out from the cover of the catalogue produced by Waddington’s Auctioneers and Appraisers.

The piece, inset with caribou antler teeth, was carved by Joanasie Korgak, a man with a lot of time on his hands these days.

But the hands of this 29-year-old Iqaluit man were also used to inflict pain and suffering on people in his community. In 1997, Korgak was sentenced to life imprisonment for the second-degree murder of his 17-year-old cousin.

Now he and five other carvers at Fenbrook Institution, a medium-security prison in Gravenhurst, Ontario, about 90 minutes north of Toronto, are trying to give back to their communities and help those in need.

Over the past five months, six carvers in the program have created a 25-piece collection to be auctioned off with all proceeds going to the Illitiit Society of Nunavut. A number of private collectors are also donating carvings to be sold. Inside Out, Giving Back to the Community, a charity art auction, will take place March 2, with a preview at Toronto’s Feheley Fine Arts Feb. 20 to 22.

There are 34 Inuit inmates at Fenbrook, which is the designated institution for federal offenders from the eastern Arctic, although it’s about 2,300 kilometres from the North. And there are 15 participants in the carving program, one of Fenbrook’s reintegration skills initiatives.

“In corrections we have programs to help offenders use their time wisely, be more productive in their leisure time as well as to have some skills for gainful employment upon release,” said Annette Allen, the assistant warden management services at Fenbrook.

“With the Inuit population carving, the initiative had a double advantage. It’s making good use of leisure time and it’s also an employment skill upon release.”

The carvings produced in the program are usually purchased by Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., which markets and sells the pieces. ACL takes a cut of the sale price, as does the carving program. The remaining money is either sent to the offender’s family or put in a savings account for when the offender is released. The proceeds from the auction, however, are going entirely to the Illitiit Society.

“When we were initiating this activity we wanted to ensure the proceeds did go back to the Nunavut territory and to some charitable organization there,” Allen said.

Josh Teemotee, executive director of the Illitiit Society, said being the benefactor of such a sale is a real shot in the arm for the umbrella organization, which helps out smaller groups, such as Iqaluit’s Oqota Emergency shelter for the homeless. The society is working on starting Nunavut’s first United Way.

“I think it’s great, especially since we get some federal inmates staying at our shelter sometimes,” Teemotee said.

The shelter also has a “bail room” where people who have become homeless after being charged with an offence can stay.

The Illitiit Society received $10,000 last year from Comart, a southern organization and, Teemotee said, organizers of this auction are suggesting the event could bring in up to $20,000 of much-needed money.