Thule exhibit to travel Nunavut

SARA ARNATSIAQ

The Inuit Heritage Trust is hosting a travelling museum exhibit describing Thule culture so that Nunavut communities can share information about the past and possibly get people interested in archeology.

The exhibit, which will travel to most communities, is also a means to help people start talking and asking questions about who the Thule and the Tuniit were and how they are similar to modern Inuit.

The exhibit, about the size of two suitcases, was given to the Inuit Heritage Trust by the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. The items on display are replicas of actual artifacts collected from all over Nunavut, Siberia and Greenland.

Where artifacts were not available, pictures are shown.

Ericka Chemko, project manager for the Inuit Heritage Trust, says the travelling exhibit will be displayed in cultural centres, libraries, schools and community centres.

But staff from the Inuit Heritage Trust cannot travel along with the exhibit, so instead they will send a comment or suggestion book to allow people to record their thoughts and perhaps some memories that their ancestors told them about the Thule culture.

The travelling exhibit is modelled on a show at the Canadian Museum of Civilization a few years ago, called “Lost Visions – Forgotten Dreams.”

It has taken a little more than two years for the travelling exhibit to get on the road. It is currently at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit. Its next stop will be Pond Inlet.