Inuvialuit Cultural Centre Pitquhiit-Pitqusiit

Published purpose

Between 1990 and 2000, the Inuvialuit Social Development Program conducted three major oral history projects about Inuvialuit use and traditional knowledge of the Yukon North Slope (including Herschel Island), and Banks Island in the Northwest Territories. Elders were transported back by boat and helicopter to their former camps to be interviewed. The projects resulted in 223 audio recordings, which were transcribed in Inuvialuktun and translated into English—an essential effort since few Inuvialuit were fluent in Inuvialuktun. While half of those recordings are accessible on the Inuvialuit Digital Library website, the other half are missing, along with the video Ikaahuk (produced in Inuvialuktun with English subtitles). The Inuvialuktun transcriptions, English translations of all tapes, and indexes of the English translations are not available on the website due to problems converting files from the 1994 Word program. Once their layout is finalized and the missing Inuvialuktun letters are added to each page, the documents will be converted into PDF format. These digitized versions will then be uploaded to the Inuvialuit Digital Library website. The same will be done with the digitized tapes and video so that all the material from the 1990s Inuvialuit oral history projects is available online.