New Ways of Mapping: Using GPS Mapping Software to Plot Place Names and Trails in Igloolik (Nunavut)

The combined use of a GPS receiver and mapping software proved to be a straightforward, flexible, and inexpensive way of mapping and displaying (in digital or paper format) 400 place names and 37 trails used by Inuit of Igloolik, in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. The geographic coordinates of some of the places named had been collected in a previous toponymy project. Experienced hunters suggested the names of additional places, and these coordinates were added on location, using a GPS receiver. The database of place names thus created is now available to the community at the Igloolik Research Centre. The trails (most of them traditional, well-traveled routes used in Igloolik for generations) were mainly mapped while traveling, using the track function of a portable GPS unit. Other trails were drawn by experienced hunters, either on paper maps or electronically using Fugawi mapping software. The methods employed in this project are easy to use, making them helpful to local communities involved in toponymy and other mapping projects. The geographic data obtained with this method can be exported easily into text files for use with GIS software if further manipulation and analysis of the data are required.L'utilisation combinée d'un récepteur GPS et d'un logiciel de cartographie s'est révélée être une façon directe, souple et peu coûteuse de cartographier et de présenter (sous forme numérique ou imprimée) 400 lieux-dits et 37 pistes utilisés par les Inuits d'Igloolik, dans l'est de l'Arctique canadien. Les coordonnées géographiques de certains lieux-dits avaient été relevées lors d'un projet de toponymie précédent. Des chasseurs expérimentés ont suggéré les noms d'autres endroits, et ces coordonnées ont été ajoutées sur place, à l'aide d'un récepteur GPS. La banque de données des lieux-dits ainsi créée peut maintenant être consultée par la collectivité au Centre de recherche d'Igloolik. Les pistes (la plupart étant des itinéraires traditionnels bien courus, utilisés depuis des générations à Igloolik) ont été cartographiées surtout lors de voyages, en recourant à la fonction de trajectographie d'un appareil GPS portable. D'autres pistes ont été dessinées par des chasseurs expérimentés, soit sur des cartes imprimées, soit de façon électronique à l'aide du logiciel de cartographie Fugawi. Les méthodes employées dans ce projet sont faciles à utiliser, ce qui les rend utiles pour les collectivités de la région qui participent à des activités toponymiques et à d'autres travaux de cartographie. Les données géographiques obtenues avec cette méthode peuvent être facilement exportées en fichiers-textes pour être utilisées avec un logiciel SIG si l'on a besoin de procéder à d'autres manipulations et analyses des données

From map to horizon; from trail to journey: Documenting Inuit geographic knowledge

This paper describes how new cartographic and information technologies were used to record and represent Inuit geographic and environmental knowledge in Igloolik, Nunavut. The method proved a powerful tool to document an approach to geography that is mainly oral. It was also helpful in documenting how people relate to a highly dynamic environment as the Arctic. The method includes the merging of different geographic databases that acquire full meaning when seen as layers of the same map. It also involves the search for new ways of representing, including simulated horizons, photographs of horizons embedded on maps, and recordings of oral descriptions of trails and locations. An example of such method can be seen in the Igloolik Multimedia Project, a CD-Rom that is being currently piloted in the Igloolik high school.Cet article décrit comment de nouvelles technologies cartographiques et de l'information sont utilisées pour recueillir et représenter les savoirs géographiques et environnementaux des Inuit d'Igloolik au Nunavut. Cette méthode s'avère un excellent outil pour documenter une approche de la géographie qui est principalement orale. Elle est aussi utile pour documenter comment les gens font face à un environnement aussi dynamique que celui de l'Arctique. La méthode inclut la fusion de différentes banques de données géographiques qui ne peuvent être bien comprises que lorsque vues comme des couches d'une même carte. Elle comprend aussi l'investigation de nouvelles façons de représenter, tels que les horizons simulés, les photographies d'horizons à même les cartes et l'enregistrement de descriptions orales des sentiers et des lieux. Un exemple de cette méthode est le Igloolik Multimedia Project, un cédérom qui est présentement en phase pilote dans l'école secondaire d'Igloolik

Routes, trails and tracks: Trail breaking among the Inuit of Igloolik

Despite significant social, economic, and technological changes, travelling remains a significant part of people's lives in the community of Igloolik, in the territory of Nunavut, Canada. When the snow covers the land and the sea ice, travellers start breaking trails, some of which recreate routes that have been used by generations of Inuit. These routes belong to the individual and social memory of the community, and this knowledge affords people safe and reliable travel to hunting and fishing grounds and between communities. This paper analyzes the characteristics of routes traditionally used by the people of Igloolik and explores the differences between land routes and sea-ice routes, the role of the trail breaker, and the characteristics of oral descriptions of routes. Finally, it addresses the issue of how the perception of trails is changing due to generational differences and the use of new transportation technologies. The study of trails and routes reveals some significant features of the Inuit understanding of the Arctic environment, provides an indication of the history of land and sea use in the area, and shows how verbal descriptions of the territory in particular and oral knowledge in general may remain unchanged or with little variation through time.Malgré d’importants changements qui sont survenus dans leur vie aux niveaux social, économique et technologique, voyager à travers leur territoire demeure une activité très importante pour les Inuit qui vivent à Igloolik, au territoire du Nunavut. Lorsque la neige couvre le paysage, incluant la banquise, les voyageurs doivent tracer des sentiers, dont certains recréent des routes déjà utilisées par plusieurs générations d’Inuit. Ces routes sont ancrées dans la mémoire individuelle et collective de la communauté. Cette connaissance permet aux gens de voyager de façon efficace et sécuritaire vers leurs endroits de chasse et de pêche, ainsi qu’entre les différentes communautés des environs. Cet article analyse les différentes caractéristiques des routes traditionnellement utilisées par les gens d’Igloolik. Il explore également les variations qui existent entre les routes qui traversent la terre ferme et celles que l’on retrouve sur la banquise, et examine comment les chasseurs tracent les sentiers sur la neige et décrivent ensuite ces routes à travers la tradition orale. Enfin, l’article considère comment les différences générationnelles et l’introduction de nouvelles technologies reliées à la transportation, ont affecté la façon dont les gens considèrent et utilisent les sentiers à Igloolik. L’étude de leurs sentiers révèle plusieurs aspects de la compréhension qu’ont les Inuit de l’environnement si particulier qu’est l’Arctique. Elle contribue également à la connaissance historique de l’utilisation du territoire, et démontre comment les descriptions orales du territoire et le savoir oral en général, peuvent traverser le temps sans changer de façon significative

Introduction

This chapter introduces a multidisciplinary collection of chapters addressing various aspects of governance of Arctic shipping written by leading international scholars. It investigates how ocean changes and anthropogenic impacts affect our understanding of risk, policy, management and regulation for safe navigation, environment protection, conflict management between ocean uses, and protection of Indigenous peoples’ interests in Canadian Arctic waters. The book is divided in three parts, together providing a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary view on governance of Arctic shipping. The first part addresses conceptual and empirical aspects of risk governance, management, and assessment in the Canadian Arctic. The second part focuses on the human dimensions of a changing Arctic, providing insights in Inuit perspectives and knowledge, occupational safety issues onboard cruise and other commercial vessels, and aspects of fishing vessel safety. The third part focuses on regulatory considerations of shipping and ocean use, with contributions addressing the IMO’s framework for Arctic shipping, the Polar Code implementation in Canada, and contemporary topics concerning ship emissions, heavy fuel oil, and maritime spatial planning. It is hoped that the contributions encourage further multi- and interdisciplinary work by established and emerging scholars, and that these can assist decision-makers in planning, managing, and regulating Arctic Shipping

Navigating the Structural Coherence of Sea Life

Ice breaking by ships can cause irreparable harm to the ecologies and cultures of northern regions. This chapter revolves around a central question: what are the barriers preventing the development of a legal mechanism to limit this act of environmental violence? The chapter suggests that the central barrier is not so much legal as it is ontological: foundational conceptions of space that underpin Western legal institutions are unable to value the form of water, reducing it instead to an ed space that is used for movement or resource extraction. This chapter demonstrates how a consideration of the environmental violence of ice breaking requires us to challenge underlying ideas about the various surfaces, volumes, structures, and movements of ocean-space that are inherent in Western conceptions of mobility, time, and territory. By looking beyond the ocean’s seemingly formless liquidity, this chapter explores how thinking from an oceanic perspective can challenge the limits of law, and how an inquiry that directly interrogates legal norms and institutions can reveal gaps in our understanding and governance of the ocean

Shipping corridors through the Inuit homeland

Long before the waters and shores of what is known today as Canada’s Arctic archipelago were explored and surveyed, Europeans imagined a waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through or near the North Pole. But the archipelago shuttered hopes of easy passage. Its islands created conditions for longer sea-ice seasons and, together with continental shorelines, led to ice-clogged straits well into summer. Although the early European imagination lost out to geophysical reality, sea-ice melt accompanying 21st-century climate change has rekindled the prospect of navigation through the Northwest Passage. Projections indicate thinning ice in summer, sparking hopes for shorter inter-oceanic routes for cargo and new resource frontiers for mining, fishing, and the cruise-ship industry. Maritime administrators in the Canadian government have begun identifying corridors where shipping traffic may be directed, as well as areas and times where icebreaking would be necessary. However, this often has occurred without taking sufficient account of Inuit uses and understanding of these marine spaces. To embrace these worldviews is to fundamentally rethink the “frozen” nature of the Arctic archipelago and its many chokepoints

Governance of Arctic Shipping: Rethinking Risks, Human Impacts and Regulation

This open access book is a result of the Dalhousie-led research project Safe Navigation and Environment Protection, supported by a grant from the Ocean Frontier Institute’s the Canada First Research Excellent Fund (CFREF). The book focuses on Arctic shipping and investigates how ocean change and anthropogenic impacts affect our understanding of risk, policy, management and regulation for safe navigation, environment protection, conflict management between ocean uses, and protection of Indigenous peoples’ interests. A rapidly changing Arctic as a result of climate change and ice loss is rendering the North more accessible, providing new opportunities while producing impacts on the Arctic. The book explores ideas for enhanced governance of Arctic shipping through risk-based planning, marine spatial planning and scaling up shipping standards for safety, environment protection and public health.https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/oer_texts/1001/thumbnail.jp