15 years of Project Naming—regaining Inuit, Métis Nation and First Nations history, one picture at a time…
Library and Archives Canada in collaboration with Carleton University is honoured to host members from Inuit, Métis Nation and First Nations communities to commemorate 15 years of Project Naming. We invite you to join us from March 1 to 3, 2017, as we gather to reflect on the past 15 years of Project Naming and look to the future of this important initiative and its engagement with indigenous communities.
Project Naming: Making Connections
Before Project Naming began in 2002, the Indigenous peoples depicted in the majority of federal archival photographs have been nameless. Project Naming enables First Nations, Métis Nation and Inuit communities to engage in the identification of names and locations in Canada’s historic photo collections, providing a virtual space for Indigenous peoples to reconnect with their history and share memories and stories rekindled by the photographs. The project also aims to inspire and empower Indigenous youth with a renewed understanding and access to their past. Since the project began, many individuals have re-connected with their family and loved ones, and sometimes themselves, in the photographs. Some of these include, Mona Tigitok, who discovered her photograph as a young woman taken nearly 60 years earlier.
Photo courtesy of Kitikmeot Heritage Society Richard Harrington / LAC / PA-146315
In September 2014, Ashevak Geetah (left) and her daughter, Eva Geetah (right) reconnected with their father and grandfather, Eetooloopak, which was taken in Iqaluit, Nunavut in March 1956
Gar Lunney / LAC / PA-180267
We invite you to attend all or any of the following events:
March 1
395 Wellington Street, Pellan Room, Ottawa
9am to 12pm – Project Naming: From the Past to the Future
1pm to 3pm – New Approaches
March 2
395 Wellington Street, Pellan Room, Ottawa
9am to 12pm – Extending Project Naming
1:30 pm to 3pm – Conversations Over NFB Images
March 3
395 Wellington Street, Pellan Room, Ottawa
9am to 12pm Artist panel: Iroquois photographer and curator, Jeff Thomas, Métis artist, Rosalie Favell and Inuk filmmaker, Isabella-Rose Weetaluktuk.
This free event will be the first major community and scholarly gathering to discuss the contributions of Project Naming, as well provide an opportunity for Inuit elders and youth from across Nunavut, and elsewhere, faculty from Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS), and southern non-Inuit collaborators to celebrate the project’s achievements and look to the future.
If you wish to attend, please leave a message with carol.payne@carleton.ca Registration forms will be available soon at Library and Archives Canada’s Home Page.