Qilalukkat!

Words & Photos by Myrna Pokiak

A Canadian Museum of Nature Exhibit in Ottawa, Canada

Oct 25, 2019 – Sept 13, 2021

When I was about the same age as my oldest daughter Mya, 10, I went on my first beluga whale harvest with my dad James, and my great Uncle Roy Kikoak. Thirty years later, the summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to bring my daughters home to Tuktoyaktuk for them to experience the beluga whale hunt. This hunt was guided by my daughters’ great uncle, Charles Pokiak. Mya and Launa were in the boat to watch how the whales are tracked, harpooned, pulled onto shore, and cut up, while Kara (my one-year old baby) soothed on pieces of whale mipku, as my Mom watched over her.

With my cultural and traditional upbringing as an Inuvialuk, and because of my previous work experience, through my company, Alappaa, I was asked by the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa to curate an exhibit. This exhibit is a re-creation of one of the most popular exhibits at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in the Northwest Territories, which I worked on from 2004 to 2006. As there are many exhibits that are shared among museums and heritage centres, this current exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa is able to incorporate and highlight the unique and self-sustainingharvest of the beluga whale for an Inuvialuit family—as seen and experienced through the eyes of three Inuvialuit youth. The documentation and presentation of their beluga whale hunt has provided my children with the opportunity to experience firsthand the traditional skills, values, and the family connections of Inuvialuit culture. Now, it will also give the opportunity for museum visitors to gain a basic understanding and appreciation of one aspect of Inuvialuit life.

The story of the exhibit is shared through various mediums to allow visitors to understand the harvest as a family activity, preparing food for the winter in a sustainable and respectful manner. The model smokehouse is the centrepiece. The exhibit welcomes visitors with a floor of photo-like beach rocks of Tuktoyaktuk, one of my favourite elements because it reminds me of a canoe ride out to the pingos with my mom and girls. The cooking barrel, modeled after the one my mom uses, simmers freshly cooked muktuk next to the smokehouse with weathered pieces of plywood.

Every element of the Qilalukkat exhibit was hand-picked and carefully selected by the exhibition team in Ottawa, to ensure the presentation and the material used was as it would have been along the shores of the Beaufort Sea. The look of the muktuk (beluga skin and blubber) hanging, ready to be sliced and placed into the boiling water, hangs next to rows of pipsi (smoked dried fish) and mipku (smoked dried whale meat). The mouth-watering muktuk, pipsi, and mipku hang above a fire that smokes as if it were real. At one point during the exhibit opening, my baby Kara put out her hands to warm them by the fire! Museum staff went out on a wood hunt in a forest in Ottawa to ensure that even the driftwood in the exhibit replicated the wood used for cooking and smoking food. These details truly illustrate the care the Canadian Museum of Nature staff took to bring the exhibit to life.

Five screens showcase videos I captured this summer. Viewing the results give me so much pride knowing the effort, time, patience, and people who helped me along the way. My daughter Mya was right alongside me, taking photos of the harvest, and capturing every moment of the process. Both of my older girls were involved with processing the food, cutting blubber strips, and getting it ready to render them into uksuk—just as I had also done at their age.

The various videos illustrate different stages of the harvest, from the gathering of wood, setting and checking the net while waiting for the ocean to calm, cutting muktuk, hanging mipku, to storing food in the community icehouse. One of my favourite photos is from a trip—a story within itself— that I organized to travel to the pingos. It speaks volumes, not only for the view and the silhouette that welcomes you to this exhibit, but for the illustration of a girl as a hunter, a skill—and more importantly, a value—I was taught at a young age. For this, I am grateful because my own girls can feel empowered by this experience.

Curating, researching, and planning the exhibit has provided a deep connection to their cultural heritage that my daughters will never forget. It brought out some of the best moments in an Inuvialuit family’s life, working together, teaching patience, providing family time, as well as reinforcing respect of the land, sea, animals and for one another. It also gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my parents, my aunts and uncles, and cousins, which was an everyday experience as I was growing up. My family truly made our experience memorable. My husband Eddie Paul provided the time and encouragement I needed to put all my efforts towards the exhibit, and now our daughters have memories that Inuvialuit girls before have treasured throughout their lives.

This age-old tradition is passed on through Inuvialuit families and ours is one of many who continue to carry it forward. I was provided with love and experiences, the handson teachings from many of my aunts (11) and uncles (5), grandparents, and most importantly, my mom and dad. The beluga whale harvest has survived through generations of change. It is up to me and my generation to ensure our youth are given the opportunities we had at a young age. Our Inuvialuit descendants are connected to the same water, land, and air as we are today. My children have had a taste of the traditional beluga hunt experience by participating in it while the opportunity allows.

Memories, experiences, and the lessons learned are a result of the time my daughters and I spent in Tuk. The exhibit illustrates that learning through experience is so vital in passing on our traditions. My girls learned how to set a net, check the net, and make dryfish—which was Mya’s favourite thing to do. At various hours of the day, I would find Launa sitting beside her new friend, Sparky, one of the dogs for whom we caught fish; this fish would then be stored in the ice house for winter feedings. My family and my girls spent hours down in our community icehouse, trying different techniques to capture just the right light, sparkle, and glow of the permafrost, in order to illustrate a unique part of the community—as fish, muktuk and uksuk were shuffled around in my family’s ice house room for the winter.

I am honoured and grateful to do the work I do centered around my ancestors as well as today’s Inuvialuit—all the while keeping the future of Inuvialuit on my mind. When asked to re-create the Qilalukkat exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, I knew that incorporating my daughters, and developing the presentation from their perspective, would bring the exhibit to life and impress to visitors that our Inuvialuit traditions and values are alive today. By bringing forward current information and working with the exhibition team from the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, this exhibit illustrates the respect that my collaborators have for Inuvialuit and our way of life, across the country in the capital city of Canada.

WATCH VIDEOS FROM THE EXHIBIT ONLINE! English: nature.ca/BelugaSmokehouse French: nature.ca/FumoirBeluga