Inuit Artifacts Return to Cambridge Bay

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This pair of crimped kamiks made of bleached seal skin is more than 100 years old and among the artifacts added to the Diamond Jenness collection in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. (photo courtesy of Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq / Kitikmeot Heritage Society)

Inuit in Canada's central Arctic are getting new insight into how their ancestors lived by seeing 100-year-old artifacts on display in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

The Kitikmeot Heritage Society (Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq), which has a long-term loan agreement with the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., unveiled nine new artifacts at its Cambridge Bay museum last month.

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Diamond Jenness (centre left) with Copper Inuit at Bernard Harbour, Northwest Territories (Nunavut) (photo courtesy of Canadian Museum of History, 42232)

The objects are among the roughly 3,000 collected by anthropologist Diamond Jenness, who took part in the Canadian Arctic Expedition between 1913 and 1918.  It was the first major scientific expedition supported by the Canadian government.

"They're historical objects from our culture and we're bringing them back into our community and giving them the exposure to people again," said Pam Gross, the society's executive director. "They just were so creative and ingenious ... it's so beautiful."

Source: CBC North