Welcome to Arvia'juaq

This website is a portal to a panoramic virtual tour of Arvia’juaq National Historic Site, and also gives background information on the Caribou Inuit peoples, and how the virtual panoramic tour was created.

Please explore the topics covered in the tabs above. If you have any comments, questions or constructive feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us. The contact link is at the bottom of every page.

Arvia’juaq National Historic Site is located on Arvia’juaq near the community of Arviat on the Northwest coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavut. The island’s English name has been Sentry Island but the names Sentry Island and Arvia’juaq are often used interchangeably. Arvia’juaq is a site of national significance, as it is a cultural landscape that commemorates the relationship between the Inuit and the land, and it is a foundation of the Pâdlimiut Inuit culture.

Applications for this tour include education, polar tourism, and support for polar preservation both culturally and physically. The virtual tour of Arvia’juaq National Historic site will be significant not only to the broader Canadian public, but to the community of Arviat as well. Elders are aware that the younger generation are enthralled with the Internet and computers. This is coupled with the fact that the traditional knowledge of Inuit culture, a specific set of knowledge that focuses on the interrelationships between people, the land, and its resources is threatened, as those who possess this knowledge struggle to find ways to capture and preserve it before they are gone. These phenomena together give the community and Elders of Arviat an avid interest in the construction of a virtual tour of the Arviat National Historic Site.

The website and tour were a part of the Masters project of M. Cecilia Porter at the University of Calgary, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Dawson.

Special Thanks

This project would not have been possible without a great many people.
Thank you to:
The hamlet of Arviat, particularly Ken Beardsall, Joe Karetak, Leigh Anne Willard, Andrea Kablutsiak, Doreen Hannak, Keith Collier, Peter Alareak, Peter Mikiliyungiak, Colin Suluk, the Arviat Heritage Society, and especially Arviamiut Elders Luke Suluk and Billy Ukutak. Dr. Peter Dawson, my Masters thesis supervisor. Prof. Denis Gabois from the University of Calgary for the spectacular images. Darren Keith from the Kitikmeot Heritage Society. Chris Lundy for help with the website design and all things tech related. Colleen Hughes for the videography in this tour.

Funds were contributed to the project through Kitikmeot Heritage Society, the Government of Nunavut department of Culture and Heritage, SSHRC, NSTP, and from the University of Calgary.

Further Reading

• Karetak-Lindell, Nancy
  2000   Speaking Notes for Nancy Karetak-Lindell Member of Parliament for Nunavut On the Occasion of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board Commemoration of Arvia'juaq and Qikiqtaarjuk. Arviat, Nunavut.
• Keith, Darren
  1997   Arvia'juaq National Historic Site: Conservation and Presentation Report. Arviat Historical Society, Arviat, Nunavut, and Parks Canada.
• Canada, Parks
  2000   News Resease: Arvia'juaq and Qikiqtaarjuk National Historic Site of Canada.
• Cruikshank, Julie
  1981   Legend and Landscape: Convergence of Oral and Scientific Traditions in the Yukon Territory. Arctic Anthropology 18(2):67-93.
• Keith, Darren
  2004   Caribou, river and ocean: Harvaqtuurmiut landscape organization and orientation. Etudes/Inuit/Studies 28(2):39.
• Steward, A., Darren Keith, and Joan Scottie
  2004   Caribou Crossings and Cultural Meanings: Placing Traditional KNowlewdge and Archaeology in Context in an Inuit Landscape. 11 2(183-211).
• Tilley, C
  1994   A Phenomenology of Landscape. London: Routledge.