Cultural tourism has now become the “in” thing in Nunavik. In the early 1990s, the first few attempts saw little success, but there is now a “business” will to include tourism as a facet of economic development. As recently as April 2010, cultural tourism was a major topic at an economic summit in Kuujjuaq.
Aivirtuuq ('the place where there are walruses') is located on a peninsula southeast of Kangirsujuaq. Aivirtuuq is an important place with many sites, including 2 Dorset long houses and Saunitarlik ('the river of bones') where the original story of the movie 'White Dawn' apparently took place (in reality, there are several places in the Arctic where this story and others like it took place). Whether the 'real' location or not, for the Kangirsujuammiut, this place holds a story that stimulates the imagination and became the location of a cultural tourism endeavour developed in parallel with the IPinCH cultural tourism study undertaken by Avataq these past 2 years.
(Bottom Left): Two young Inuit, Aipili Sakiagak (front) and his brother Putulik (back), getting ready to leave for Aivirtuuq, the location that Kangirsujuammiut want to develop for tourism. The brothers were part of the Cultural Tourism in Nunavik community-based initiative crew in 2010 (photo courtesy of D. Gendron). (Bottom middle) Kangirsujuaq on the south shore of Hudson Strait. Kangirsujuaq is the first community to get involved in cultural tourism. At the forefront is the Qarmait site, which will be one of the archaeological attractions; (Bottom right) The locations of the three communities visited in Nunavik (Émilie Ruffin 2011).
Daniel Gendron
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