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Photographs, Generations and Inuit Cultural Memory, Assessing 15 Years of Project Naming

From March 1-3, Library and Archives Canada and Carleton University collaborated to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the project in an event titled Photographs, Generations and Inuit Cultural Memory, Assessing 15 Years of Project Naming.

Co-organizers were Beth Greenhorn, Project Manager of Project Naming and Online Content, Library and Archives Canada and Carol Payne, Associate Professor, School for Studies in Art and Culture: Art History, Carleton University.

The 15th anniversary event took place over 3 days and was open to the public. The first two days were a retrospective on the successes and meaning of the project and was held in conjunction with Carleton University. The third day will look to the future of the project and its engagement with First Nations, the Métis Nation and Inuit communities from across Canada.

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Past Event Information

More specifically, our objectives for during the first two days are twofold: to facilitate interchanges among Inuit participants as well as with non-Inuit collaborators; and, to aid the editorial process of a collected volume drawn from papers delivered at the workshop to be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. It will also provide an opportunity to advance Inuit cultural knowledge and it will respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action report involving education, curricula resources, and language revitalization.

This event will be the first major community and scholarly gathering to discuss the contributions of Project Naming, as well provide an opportunity for Inuit elders and youth from across Nunavut, faculty from NS, and southern non-Inuit collaborators to celebrate the project’s achievements and look to the future.

They will be joined in the gathering by faculty members from NS, Elders Ann Hanson, Piita Irniq, and Sally Webster, young Inuit activists and students, artist Barry Pottle, Dr. Heather Igloliorte, and Qallunaat research collaborators from LAC, Carleton University and the University of British Columbia. Each session will have a moderator, and will take the form of conversations using archival images as a way to facilitate dialogue amongst the participants.

Project Naming Overview

Project Naming, a photo identification and community engagement initiative, was created in 2002 with the goal of naming the anonymous Inuit depicted in the photographs through dialogue between Inuit youth and elders. Project Naming has also given rise to related photo-based projects including Views from the North, a collaboration between Carleton University, the school Nunavut Sivuniksavut and LAC as well as the Nanivara and Nanisiniq history research projects developed by UBC, the communities of Arviat and Gioa Haven (Nunavut), and LAC.

Given Project Naming’s popularity with Inuit communities, LAC expanded the project in May 2015. It now includes all three Aboriginal groups in Canada, and engages with First Nations, the Métis Nation and Inuit from the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, as well as Nunavut.

15th Anniversary of Project Naming – Tentative Schedule – March 1-2, 2017

Morning registration will be held from 8:30-9:00 on both days and the final sessions will end approximately at 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 1, Library and Archives Canada (LAC), 395 Wellington Street Elder Sally Webster will open the first day with a prayer.

Morning Sessions

Moderator: Henry Kudluk

Lunch served at LAC

Afternoon Sessions

Moderator: Deborah Kigjugalik Webster

Photo Identification Workshop.

Tuesday, March 2 – morning at LAC, 395 Wellington Street

Morning Sessions

Moderator: Manitok Thompson (tentative)

Lunch served at Carleton University Art Gallery (a bus will provide transportation from LAC)

Afternoon Session, Carleton University Art Gallery, St. Patrick’s Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive

Opening prayer by Elder Sally Webster
Moderator: Deborah Kigjugalik Webster

Tour of “The Other NFB: The National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division, 1941-1971”, exhibition at the Carleton University Art Gallery curated by Carol Payne and Sandra Dyck Photo Identification Workshop.

Bus to the Mayfair Theatre for the premiere film screening “My Father’s Land” co-directed by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn.

15th Anniversary of Project Naming