Darrell Nasogaluak can look at a kayak and know it’s from his region in the western Arctic.
“It’s unique to this place and no other place used the same horn,” he said, pointing to the curved tips on the bow and bottom of a kayak pictured in Inuvik, NWT.
“So you could point someone out from a distance. When you saw people coming and you saw Kayak, you could tell it was Inuvialiait.” That was before it was established years ago.
The one in the picture has been sitting in the Vatican museums now for 100 years.
“So it’s well used. I mean, look at the oil stains, yeah, it’s … wow. It’s real.”
Now, the kayak is being returned to Inuvialiait – and years of long negotiations to retrieve it after the historic return of the material this week from the Vatican’s vast archives.
All sacred objects and sacred traditions and customs from the Inuit, First Nations and Métis communities held in Vaults thousands of kilometers away in the Vatican museum in Tonreal until Saturday.
‘Long, fast’
Nasogaluak is from Tuktoyuktuk, NWT, where this kayak is believed to have originated.
“Everything you need, we had here,” Nasogaluak said of the Mackenzie Delta on the Arctic coast. “Our people were in a naturally rich environment, so they had a lot of time to build culture.”
Like the kayak, a type of watercraft invented by the Inuit.
“Professionalism was second to none.”
His grandfather taught him how to build them and now he teaches the art to young people in schools with the help of elders and women who know how to search for water.
Nasogaluak says the InuvialiaitiiTiait used this style of Kayak to drive away Beluga Whales in the MacKenzie Delta. He was told stories by his wife’s grandfather that at one time, up to 250 kayaks would be in the water at the same time, before the epidemic that killed many inovialiit.
“It was very easy
The kayak could fit into a seat, according to the hunter’s design, its length was measured to be able to handle the harpoon. The frame, made of driftwood collected from the beach. Baleen for ties. And covered with sampkin, sent and sinew.
It started with Kayak
The Inuvialiaitiat Regional Corporation (IRC) says there are only a few original Inuvialiit Kayaks that survived this long. Others sit in museums around the world, but these were the IRC machines to go back.
“It’s part of our history, our culture and what it means to Inuvialiat,” said Duane Smith, IRC Chair and Chief Executive Officer, who has been leading the efforts from InuviIit.
Smith says Kayak comes from an area known as Kitigaaryait, which is recognized by Canada as a national historic site.
“Finding the importance of this part of Canada and the contribution that Intuvialiaiviaiviaiviaiviat it is made up of the identity of what makes up Canada today. “
The IRC has been working with the federal government, the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, or ITK, the National Inuit organization.
Itk says negotiations between the Inuit and the Vatican to return Kayak began in 2022 shortly before the historic visit to Rome by indigenous delegates from Canada.
There, they met wph pPope Francis also joined a private tour of the Vatican Museum where they saw a kayak on display.
Smith says that Kayaki’s return from the Vatican shows that they understand the evils of the past “from their cultural heritage in the past.”
“They are trying to reconcile and together, under our negotiations, we have come to this process as one way to reconcile together,” Smith said.
But the IRC’s mission to bring Kayak home grew into something much bigger.
At first, the discussion was specifically about kayaking, according to ITK.
When the Vatican agreed, Itk says The Holy Son and wanted to include 60 other cultural items from the Inuit and First Nations. The CCCB emphasized that the cultural element of métis origin must be included.
Cooperation has grown to include a meeting of first nations and the Métis National Council.
And in November, the Vatican, together with the CCCB, and the Joint Statement stating that the Pope “that this gift represents a symbol of dialogue, respect and fraternity.”
Gifted or stolen?
But how did Kayak get there in the first place?
In 1925, Roman Catholic missionaries sent to the Vatican, once though approx 100,000 cultural items from around the worldforaXhibised SAy was there the way to Showcase a church open to all cultures and show what daily life was like for the aboriginal people of Canada where the missionaries lived.
But it is unclear whether they were sent as gifts or stolen.
Smith saidbecause Kayak’s main purpose was to harvest Beluga whales, he doesn’t see this kayak being offered.
“Giving up your most important tool at the most important time would not allow you to harvest your Beluga to feed your family and community all cold winter all cold winter.”
Smith continues, “Our culture was when someone died, especially a man, they would be buried with all their tools so they could use them in their next life.
“So that might have been one of the ways the kayaks were found, and maybe other artifacts. So who’s to say?”
For Darrell Nasogaluak, he says he thinks it’s a good thing that the Vatican has been taking care of them for the last hundred years.
“We will have the last chance again. There may be a renewal of their use.”
“There are very few of them, except in clusters, none survive in the north. I have seen fragments of them.
First Nations and métis
According to the Vatican catalog, the 62 pieces being returned include 14 cultural objects of the Inuit, one belonging to the Métis and others to the First Nations.
A century-old Inuvialiait Kayak that was once used for Beluga and whale hunting, along with other cultural items from the First Nations, Méti and Inuit communities, are housed in dozens of museums in the Vatican Museults. But now things will return to Canada on December 6 After Pope Leo xioni xiv retaliated at the Canadian conference of Catholic bishops, according to a joint statement from the Vatican and the CCCB.
The National Council of the Métis of the Métis Victoria Pruden says she is grateful for the work the IRC has done in the restoration, even if only one thing of the métis is coming back.
“I was disappointed that in terms of terms there was only one thing,” Princen said.
But he called it an “exciting piece” that they hope to learn more about from their experts.
The hope of the Métis to improve their relationship with the Vatican is to bring many pieces, he said.
Smith says a strong proposal to include permits in all heritage sites will go home.
Earlier this week, they left the Vatican in Frankfurt in a truck. A plane donated by Air Canada will fly the supplies to Montreal, arriving on Saturday.
“It’s hard to put into words. I think it’s exciting,” Smith said.
Coming home
Representatives from the IRC and the first meeting of nations took cultural items back to Canada.
They will go to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., for an inspection.
This is where the Inuit, first nations and tribal leaders will get their first look at cultural items and decide on their final destination.
For kayaks, you can’t wait at home so far. There is no center in the Inuvialiaitiat region Now, we will live in the Canadian museum of history.
“We want to make sure it’s kept up to where it needs to be so it doesn’t get damaged again,” Smith said.
“We want some of our elders and people who continue to have a lot of knowledge about Kayaks and others who have built them. We want them to have access to the traditional methods that were used.”
The Nasogaluak are excited about this time in Inuvialiat history.
“We need a proper place that I’m crazy about, yeah, sure. I mean, it’s been 100 years, I can’t wait to see it.”
