A Historical and Legal Study of Sovereignty in the Canadian North : Terrestrial Sovereignty, 1870–1939

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A Historical and Legal Study of Sovereignty in the Canadian North : Terrestrial Sovereignty, 1870–1939 University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository University of Calgary Press University of Calgary Press Open Access Books 2014 A historical and legal study of sovereignty in the Canadian north : terrestrial sovereignty, 1870–1939 Smith, Gordon W. University of Calgary Press "A historical and legal study of sovereignty in the Canadian north : terrestrial sovereignty, 1870–1939", Gordon W. Smith; edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta, 2014 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/50251 book http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca A HISTORICAL AND LEGAL STUDY OF SOVEREIGNTY IN THE CANADIAN NORTH: TERRESTRIAL SOVEREIGNTY, 1870–1939 By Gordon W. Smith, Edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer ISBN 978-1-55238-774-0 THIS BOOK IS AN OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK. It is an electronic version of a book that can be purchased in physical form through any bookseller or on-line retailer, or from our distributors. Please support this open access publication by requesting that your university purchase a print copy of this book, or by purchasing a copy yourself. If you have any questions, please contact us at ucpress@ ucalgary.ca Cover Art: The artwork on the cover of this book is not open access and falls under traditional copyright provisions; it cannot be reproduced in any way without written permission of the artists and their agents. The cover can be displayed as a complete cover image for the purposes of publicizing this work, but the artwork cannot be extracted from the context of the cover of this specificwork without breaching the artist’s copyright. COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This open-access work is published under a Creative Commons licence. This means that you are free to copy, distribute, display or perform the work as long as you clearly attribute the work to its authors and publisher, that you do not use this work for any commercial gain in any form, and that you in no way alter, transform, or build on the work outside of its use in normal academic scholarship without our express permission. If you want to reuse or distribute the work, you must inform its new audience of the licence terms of this work. For more information, see details of the Creative Commons licence at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ UNDER THE CREATIVE UNDER THE CREATIVE COMMONS LICENCE YOU COMMONS LICENCE YOU MAY: MAY NOT: • read and store this document • gain financially from the work in any way; free of charge; • sell the work or seek monies in relation to the distribution • distribute it for personal use of the work; free of charge; • use the work in any commercial activity of any kind; • print sections of the work for • profit a third party indirectly via use or distribution of the work; personal use; • distribute in or through a commercial body (with the exception • read or perform parts of the of academic usage within educational institutions such as work in a context where no schools and universities); financial transactions take • reproduce, distribute, or store the cover image outside of its place. function as a cover of this work; • alter or build on the work outside of normal academic scholarship. Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the wording around open access used by Australian publisher, re.press, and thank them for giving us permission to adapt their wording to our policy http://www.re-press.org 16 369 Epilogue: Henry Larsen, t he S t. Roch, and t he Nort hwest Passage V oyage of 1940–42 The voyage of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) vesselSt. Roch through the Northwest Passage in 1940–42 is forever associated with the name of the famous skipper of the St. Roch, Henry Asbjørn Larsen1 – and with the assertion of Canadian sovereignty. The common assumption that the transit served sovereignty purposes is often asserted in popular writing but seldom grounded in evidence. Larsen’s writing, coupled with RCMP files, suggests that this motivation factored heavily into the planning and execution of the voyage. Larsen was a native of Norway, having been born at Fredrikstad, a village only a few miles distant from Roald Amundsen’s birthplace at Sarpsborg, on 30 September 1899. His boyhood fan- cies were inevitably captivated by the exploits of Amundsen and the galaxy of other great Nordic explorers and adventurers, both contemporary and historical; in 1914, at barely fifteen years of age, he went to sea to begin his own nautical career. His first voyage was on a cargo sloop owned by two of his uncles, which sailed to Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish ports transporting lumber and other goods. After about a year of this, he was hired by Captain H. Olsen, who took him along with the rest of his crew to Brest, France, to man the sailing ship Baunen, which left for Barbados, Gulfport (Mississippi), and Buenos Aires in early 1916. During the next three years, Larsen sailed continuously on several ships to US and South American ports. To get home from New York in 1919, he embarked on a long roundabout voyage which took him to Cape Town, the East Indies, Ceylon, and the Suez Canal en route to Christiania (Oslo). There he attended the Norwegian State Navigation School, graduating as a fully qualified navigator in the summer of 1920; he then put in a period of compulsory service in the Norwegian navy. In 1922, he became a mate on the Nor- wegian motor ship Theodore Roosevelt, and during the next two years, he sailed between Norway and Pacific Ocean ports, including San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Honolulu, and Japan. While in Seattle on one occasion, he met Amundsen and his pilot Oscar Omdahl, and through them his long-held desire for a career in the North received new impetus and encouragement. In Seattle during the spring of 1924, Danish-born Arctic trader Charlie Klengenberg hired Larsen as navigator. On Klengenberg’s schooner Maid of Orleans, he made two trips to the Beau- fort Sea region in 1924–25 and the summer of 1926. Wintering at Herschel Island during the first voyage, he became acquainted with the inhabitants of the region, Inuit and white alike, and he also took advantage of the opportunity to become familiar with (and even expert in) Inuit modes of was of the opinion that the Force should have a little schooner of its own which could sail everywhere in this enormous area to act as a float- ing detachment in the summer and a permanent station during the winter. 370 The idea had originated with his pre- decessor, Inspector S. T. Wood, who had left for the South a short while earlier after five years’ service in the Arctic, mostly on Herschel Island. Both of these police officers were -ex perienced men who knew the Arctic well, and realized that the RCMP was suffering by being dependent on civilian trading ships for transporta- tion and supplies.3 Needless to say, this prospect provided further Figure 16-1: Inspector Henry Larsen aboard incentive to Larsen to join the force. the RCMP vessel St. Roch. Library and Commissioner Cortlandt Starnes presented Archives Canada / C-070771. the suggestion to Minister of Marine and Fish- eries Arthur Cardin in a letter on 23 October 1924. “The Officer Commanding the Mounted hunting, sealing, fishing, and travelling, which Police at Herschel Island,” Starnes noted, “has were necessary to anyone wishing to be even … recommended that an auxiliary schooner be passably self-reliant in the North. He spoke to purchased for the purpose of carrying Police Inspector T. B. Caulkin, officer commanding at freight to our detachments at Baillie Island and Herschel Island, of his desire to join the RCMP, Tree River from Herschel or the mouth of the and meeting with an encouraging response, he Mackenzie, and also as a movable Detachment, applied for Canadian citizenship on a later vis- such a vessel to move to any point and remain it to Vancouver. This was granted on 18 Nov- for the freeze-up, if necessary.”4 The minister ember 1927, and several months later he was approved the suggestion in January 1925,5 the sworn in as a member of the police force at the initial plan being to purchase a vessel.6 All ef- Fairmont Barracks in Vancouver, on 16 April forts to find a suitable vessel failed, however, 2 1928. so another order in council was issued on 29 The idea of theSt. Roch apparently ori- September 1927 to contract the Burrard Dry ginated with serving Mounties in the North. Dock Company, of North Vancouver, to build a Larsen first learned of it during the winter of schooner for $80,200.7 Construction proceeded 1924–25 from Inspector Caulkin, who during the early months of 1928, with Corporal Ed Pasley of the RCMP as supervisor or “over- seer,” and the ship was ready for service before A HISTORICAL AND LEGAL STUDY OF SOVEREIGNTY IN THE CANADIAN NORTH the end of June. She was named the St. Roch Just how and with whom the idea origin- – “guardian of the poor” – after a parish in the ated of taking the St. Roch through the North- Quebec East constituency of Ernest Lapointe, west Passage appears uncertain. It is likely that whose Ministry of Justice was responsible for the idea began with Larsen himself; it may well the RCMP at the time. be that this was a dream he had cherished prac- The St. Roch was 104 feet in length, 25 feet tically from the time his service with the ship in beam, with draft when loaded of 12½ feet began.
Recommended publications
  • Transits of the Northwest Passage to End of the 2019 Navigation Season Atlantic Ocean ↔ Arctic Ocean ↔ Pacific Ocean
    TRANSITS OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE TO END OF THE 2019 NAVIGATION SEASON ATLANTIC OCEAN ↔ ARCTIC OCEAN ↔ PACIFIC OCEAN R. K. Headland and colleagues 12 December 2019 Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 1ER. <[email protected]> The earliest traverse of the Northwest Passage was completed in 1853 but used sledges over the sea ice of the central part of Parry Channel. Subsequently the following 314 complete maritime transits of the Northwest Passage have been made to the end of the 2019 navigation season, before winter began and the passage froze. These transits proceed to or from the Atlantic Ocean (Labrador Sea) in or out of the eastern approaches to the Canadian Arctic archipelago (Lancaster Sound or Foxe Basin) then the western approaches (McClure Strait or Amundsen Gulf), across the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean, through the Bering Strait, from or to the Bering Sea of the Pacific Ocean. The Arctic Circle is crossed near the beginning and the end of all transits except those to or from the central or northern coast of west Greenland. The routes and directions are indicated. Details of submarine transits are not included because only two have been reported (1960 USS Sea Dragon, Capt. George Peabody Steele, westbound on route 1 and 1962 USS Skate, Capt. Joseph Lawrence Skoog, eastbound on route 1). Seven routes have been used for transits of the Northwest Passage with some minor variations (for example through Pond Inlet and Navy Board Inlet) and two composite courses in summers when ice was minimal (transits 149 and 167).
    [Show full text]
  • Five Hundred Meetings of the Arctic Circle by C.R
    ARCTIC VOL. 67, NO. 2 (JUNE 2014) InfoNorth Five Hundred Meetings of the Arctic Circle by C.R. Burn HE ARCTIC CIRCLE, AN OPEN CLUB FOUNDED to bring during the talks and the meetings should therefore be together friends interested in all aspects of the moved! The Circle seems to be happy in its present accom- TNorth, celebrated its 500th meeting on 8 April 2014. modation at the location of the first meeting, where admit- The Circle, conceived on 30 October 1947, was the brain- tance restrictions have relaxed with the passage of time. In child of Graham and Diana Rowley and Tom and Jackie the first 10 years, only four of the speakers were women, Manning, who recognized the need in Ottawa for an infor- but in the last decade more than 20 women have held the mal but regular gathering of people interested in the Arc- floor. There were 79 meetings in 1947 – 58, of which 16 tic. At the time, these people were almost all working for covered government operations, 12 the natural sciences, departments and agencies of the federal government, but in 9 issues of development, and 13 human society. In the last an institution notorious for its silos, many were unaware of decade, although only 69 meetings have been held, the cor- each other’s work, interests, plans, and ideas. The Canadian responding numbers were 11, 29, 3, and 20, respectively. As Arctic had played but a small part in the Second World War, Northerners have assumed control of development within but it became a focus of much greater strategic concern dur- the territories, Ottawa’s role has diminished, and the range ing the Cold War, leading at first to military exercises and of interests active here in the South has shifted.
    [Show full text]
  • Statutory Report on Wildlife to the Nunavut Legislative Assembly Section 176 of the Wildlife Act
    Statutory Report on Wildlife to the Nunavut Legislative Assembly Section 176 of the Wildlife Act 1.0 Review of Wildlife and Habitat Management Programs for Terrestrial Species in Nunavut…………………………………………………………….1 1.1 Wildlife Act and Wildlife Regulations………………………………………………..2 1.2 Qikiqtaaluk Region……………………………………………………………………2 1.2.1 Qikiqtaaluk Research Initiatives…………………………………………………….2 a. Peary caribou………………………………………………………………………….2 b. High Arctic muskox…………………………………………………………………...3 c. North Baffin caribou…………………………………………………………………..4 1.2.2 Qikiqtaaluk Management Initiatives………………………………………………...5 a. Peary Caribou Management Plan……………………………………………………...5 b. High Arctic Muskox…………………………………………………………………..5 c. South Baffin Management Plan……………………………………………………….6 1.3 Kitikmeot Region……………………………………………………………………...8 1.3.1 Kitikmeot Research Initiatives………………………………………………………9 a. Wolverine and Grizzly bear Hair Snagging………………………………………….. 9 b. Mainland Caribou Projects……………………………………………………………9 c. Boothia Caribou Project……………………………………………………………...10 d. Dolphin and Union Caribou Project……………………............................................10 e. Mainland and Boothia Peninsula Muskoxen………………………………………...11 f. Harvest and Ecological Research Operational System (HEROS)…………………...12 g. Vegetation Mapping……………………………………………………………….....12 1.3.2 Kitikmeot Management Initiatives…………………………………………………12 a. Grizzly Bear Management…………………………………………………………...12 b. Bluenose East Management Plan…………………………………………………….12 c. DU Caribou Management Plan………………………………………………………13 d. Muskox Status
    [Show full text]
  • Transits of the Northwest Passage to End of the 2020 Navigation Season Atlantic Ocean ↔ Arctic Ocean ↔ Pacific Ocean
    TRANSITS OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE TO END OF THE 2020 NAVIGATION SEASON ATLANTIC OCEAN ↔ ARCTIC OCEAN ↔ PACIFIC OCEAN R. K. Headland and colleagues 7 April 2021 Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 1ER. <[email protected]> The earliest traverse of the Northwest Passage was completed in 1853 starting in the Pacific Ocean to reach the Atlantic Oceam, but used sledges over the sea ice of the central part of Parry Channel. Subsequently the following 319 complete maritime transits of the Northwest Passage have been made to the end of the 2020 navigation season, before winter began and the passage froze. These transits proceed to or from the Atlantic Ocean (Labrador Sea) in or out of the eastern approaches to the Canadian Arctic archipelago (Lancaster Sound or Foxe Basin) then the western approaches (McClure Strait or Amundsen Gulf), across the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean, through the Bering Strait, from or to the Bering Sea of the Pacific Ocean. The Arctic Circle is crossed near the beginning and the end of all transits except those to or from the central or northern coast of west Greenland. The routes and directions are indicated. Details of submarine transits are not included because only two have been reported (1960 USS Sea Dragon, Capt. George Peabody Steele, westbound on route 1 and 1962 USS Skate, Capt. Joseph Lawrence Skoog, eastbound on route 1). Seven routes have been used for transits of the Northwest Passage with some minor variations (for example through Pond Inlet and Navy Board Inlet) and two composite courses in summers when ice was minimal (marked ‘cp’).
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 7, 1954
    CONTENTS NO.1 JANUARY 1954 Forty-seventh Meeting of the Arctic Circle 1 Editorial Note 1 Some features of the history of the Greenland Administration 1 Subscripticns for 1954 8 Change of Address 9 Numbers of the Circular published during 1953 9 Editorial Note 9 NO.2 FEBRUARY 1954 Annual General J~eting 10 Defence Research Board I s 1953 Banks Island Expedition 11 Minister and Deputy Vanister of the Department of Resources and Development 15 The Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources 15 The Northern Administration and Lands Branch 16 The Queen Elizabeth ISlands 16 The Mint Julep Glaciological Project 19 Canadian Weatherfax System 20 Presentation of Coronation Medals to Eskimo 21 Subscriptions for 1954 23 Change of Address 23 Editorial Note 23 NO, 3 MARCH 1954 Forty-ninth Meeting of the Arctic Circle 24 Special Neeting 24 Australia and the Antarctic 24 Activities of the Geological Survey of Canada in the Arctic Islands, 1947 - 1953 25 Police patrols to Axel Heiberg and Devon islands 34 Eskimo Bulletin 36 • Antarctic publications 37 Subscriptions for 1954 38 I Editorial Note 38 l ii NO.4 DECEt\ffiER 1954 Fiftieth Meeting of the Arctic Circle 39 Fifty-first Meeting of the Arctic Circle 39 Fifty-second Meeting of the Arctic Circle 39 Fifty-third Meeting of the Arctic Circle 39 Fifty-fourth Meeting of the Arctic Circle 39 The 'WOlf and predator control in the Canadian Arctic 40 Northern. activities of the Geodetic Survey, 1954 50 New hostel at Chesterfield Inlet 52 Police patrols from Spence Bay and Cambridge Bay 53 Army exercises in the north, 1953-4 54 The Arctic Circular 55 Subscriptions for 1955 55 Editorial Note 55 • I THE ARCTIC CIRCULAR VOL.VII NO.1 Published by The Arctic Circle JAN.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Discovered the Northwest Passage? Janice Cavell1
    ARCTIC VOL. 71, NO.3 (SEPTEMBER 2018) P.292 – 308 https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4733 Who Discovered the Northwest Passage? Janice Cavell1 (Received 31 January 2018; accepted in revised form 1 May 2018) ABSTRACT. In 1855 a parliamentary committee concluded that Robert McClure deserved to be rewarded as the discoverer of a Northwest Passage. Since then, various writers have put forward rival claims on behalf of Sir John Franklin, John Rae, and Roald Amundsen. This article examines the process of 19th-century European exploration in the Arctic Archipelago, the definition of discovering a passage that prevailed at the time, and the arguments for and against the various contenders. It concludes that while no one explorer was “the” discoverer, McClure’s achievement deserves reconsideration. Key words: Northwest Passage; John Franklin; Robert McClure; John Rae; Roald Amundsen RÉSUMÉ. En 1855, un comité parlementaire a conclu que Robert McClure méritait de recevoir le titre de découvreur d’un passage du Nord-Ouest. Depuis lors, diverses personnes ont avancé des prétentions rivales à l’endroit de Sir John Franklin, de John Rae et de Roald Amundsen. Cet article se penche sur l’exploration européenne de l’archipel Arctique au XIXe siècle, sur la définition de la découverte d’un passage en vigueur à l’époque, de même que sur les arguments pour et contre les divers prétendants au titre. Nous concluons en affirmant que même si aucun des explorateurs n’a été « le » découvreur, les réalisations de Robert McClure méritent d’être considérées de nouveau. Mots clés : passage du Nord-Ouest; John Franklin; Robert McClure; John Rae; Roald Amundsen Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nicole Giguère.
    [Show full text]
  • Arctic Show Trial
    Documents on Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security ARCTIC SHOW TRIAL The Trial of Alikomiak and Tatamigana, 1923 Introduced by Ken Coates and William R. Morrison Documents Compiled by P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Kristopher Kinsinger Documents on Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security (DCASS) ISSN 2368-4569 Series Editors: P. Whitney Lackenbauer Adam Lajeunesse Managing Editor: Ryan Dean Arctic Show Trial: The Trial of Alikomiak and Tatamigana, 1923 Introduced by Ken Coates and William R. Morrison Documents compiled by P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Kristopher Kinsinger DCASS Number #9, 2017 Cover design: Whitney Lackenbauer Cover credits: Glenbow Archives PA-3886-29-1 (front) and PA-3886-29-6 (back). Centre for Military, Security and Centre on Foreign Policy and Federalism Strategic Studies St. Jerome’s University University of Calgary 290 Westmount Road N. 2500 University Dr. N.W. Waterloo, ON N2L 3G3 Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Tel: 519.884.8110 ext. 28233 Tel: 403.220.4030 www.sju.ca/cfpf www.cmss.ucalgary.ca Arctic Institute of North America University of Calgary 2500 University Drive NW, ES-1040 Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Tel: 403-220-7515 http://arctic.ucalgary.ca/ Copyright © the authors/editors, 2017 Permission policies are outlined on our website http://cmss.ucalgary.ca/research/arctic-document-series Arctic Show Trial: The Trial of Alikomiak and Tatamigana, 1923 Introduced by Ken Coates and William R. Morrison Documents compiled and edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Kristopher Kinsinger The Trial of Alikomiak and Tatamigana Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................... viii Introduction “To Make These Tribes Understand”: The Trial of Alikomiak and Tatamigana, by Ken Coates and William R.
    [Show full text]
  • Infonorth Five Hundred Meetings of the Arctic Circle
    ARCTIC VOL. 67, NO. 2 (JUNE 2014) P. 1 – 12 InfoNorth Five Hundred Meetings of the Arctic Circle by C.R. Burn SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES 1 AND 2 TABLE 1. List of meetings of the Arctic Circle.1 Special Meetings are in bold. Year Meeting Date Speaker2 Topic3 1947 1 12 December Flt. Lt. A.H. Tinker Establishment of weather stations at Eureka and Resolute Bay 1948 2 15 January Sgt. F.S. Farrar, RCMP Film: St Roch 3 16 February R.G. Madill, Flt. Lt. J.F. Drake North magnetic pole 4 18 March Lt. Col. A. Croft Operation Musk-ox 5 13 April H.M. Raup Botany, geology, and archaeology, Alaska Highway 6 25 May J.G. Wright Film: RMS Nascopie 7 20 August Picnic at the Jenness’s cottage 8 4 November C.S. Lord Mining in NWT 9 9 December P. Serson Operation Magnetic 1949 10 13 January B.J. Woodruff Geodetic Survey of Canada 11 10 February P.D. Baird Project Snow Cornice 12 10 March Cdr. D.C. Nutt, USNR Antarctica 13 14 April J.C. Wyatt Construction in the Arctic 14 12 May Mrs. T.H. Manning Travels in Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin 15 10 November Dr. J.C. Callaghan Experiences of a medical officer in the Arctic 16 8 December M.J. Dunbar Marine resources of the eastern Arctic 1950 17 12 January Flt. Lt. B. Hartman Search and rescue in the eastern Arctic 18 9 February A.E. Porsild Plant life 19 9 March D. Wilkinson NFB in the North 20 13 April T.H.
    [Show full text]
  • The Quest for the Northwest Passage, by James P. Delgado
    REVIEWS • 323 learn the identity of what they have been reading up to that BRAY, E.F. de. 1992. A Frenchman in search of Franklin: De point. The document identified as HBCA E.37/3, which Bray’s Arctic journal, 1852–1854. Edited by William Barr. Barr, following Anderson, refers to as a full journal Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. (p. 166, n.1), turns out to be what I would call Anderson’s PELLY, D. 1981. Expedition: An Arctic journey through history on field notes, written daily during the expedition. In con- George Back’s River. Toronto: Betelgeuse. trast, the document that Barr has referred to in footnotes as the “fair copy of Anderson’s journal” (HBCA B.200/a/ I.S. MacLaren 31), although based on those field notes, was written after Canadian Studies Program the expedition: it shows signs of revision and narrative Department of Political Science polish. Barr’s use of the term journal to refer to both University of Alberta documents is misleading, as it blurs that important distinc- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada tion. Furthermore, justification for subordinating Stewart’s T6G 2H4 journal (Provincial Archives of Alberta 74.1/137) to Anderson’s is rendered only implicitly: Stewart’s is “gen- erally less detailed than” Anderson’s (p. 166–167). One is ACROSS THE TOP OF THE WORLD: THE QUEST FOR left to infer that the editing accords with the chain of THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. By JAMES P. DELGADO. command, Stewart being Anderson’s junior. None of these Vancouver and Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1999.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Heritage Resources Report
    NTI IIBA for Phase I Draft: Conservation Cultural Heritage Areas Resources Report Cultural Heritage Area: Akpait and and Interpretative Qaqulluit National Wildlife Materials Study Areas Prepared for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. 1 May 2011 This report is part of a set of studies and a database produced for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. as part of the project: NTI IIBA for Conservation Areas, Cultural Resources Inventory and Interpretative Materials Study Inquiries concerning this project and the report should be addressed to: David Kunuk Director of Implementation Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. 3rd Floor, Igluvut Bldg. P.O. Box 638 Iqaluit, Nunavut X0A 0H0 E: [email protected] T: (867) 975‐4900 Project Manager, Consulting Team: Julie Harris Contentworks Inc. 137 Second Avenue, Suite 1 Ottawa, ON K1S 2H4 Tel: (613) 730‐4059 Email: [email protected] Report Authors: Philip Goldring, Consultant: Historian and Heritage/Place Names Specialist Julie Harris, Contentworks Inc.: Heritage Specialist and Historian Nicole Brandon, Consultant: Archaeologist Note on Place Names: The current official names of places are used here except in direct quotations from historical documents. Throughout the document “Qikiqtarjuaq” refers to the settlement established in the 1950s and previously known as Broughton Island. Except when used in a direct quotation, the term “Broughton Island” in the report refers to the geographic feature (the island) on which the community of Qikiqtarjuaq is located. Names of places that do not have official names will appear as they are found in
    [Show full text]
  • Why the St. Roch? Why the Northwest Passage? Why 1940?
    ARCTIC VOL. 46, NO. 1 (MARCH 1903) P. 82-87 Why the St. Ruch? Why the Northwest Passage? Why 1940? New Answers to Old Questions For almost half a century, the reasons behind orders sending of the St. Roch to a government plan to defend and occupy the the RCMP schooner St. Roch through the Northwest Passage island in the spring of 1940 (Caulkin, 1940; Fripps, 1940). during the Second World War have puzzled historians and otherSubsequent evidence from Larsen’s personal papers confirms scholars. True, there wererumours of a defence-related mission, that the captain was fully aware of the original purpose of his but there was no hard evidence,no tangible proof. Nor did the mission (Larsen, 1957a,b). captain, Sgt. Henry Larsen, provide many clues other than Although these memos might appear to contradict Larsen’s “Canada was at war and the government had realized the needown explanation, careful study of the documents and related todemonstrate the country’s sovereignty over the Arctic circumstances suggests that the reference to sovereigntyin the islands” (Larsen, 1967), a statement not verified in official autobiography published posthumously could also be defined documents. Then unexpectedly last year, during research on in very broad terms to include security considerations. Omission Canadian wartime relations with Greenland,two memos were of any reference to the initial motive behind the orders was found in RCMP archival files that directly linked the voyage entirely in keeping with his responsibility as a memberof the The Sr. Roch moored to ice in the Western Arctic in the mid-1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SEARCH for the NORTH MAGNETIC POLEX by R
    THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLEX By R. GLENNMADILL Abstract The Dominion Observatory has extended its network of magnetic stations in the Arctic to such a stage as to indicate the presence of the north magnetic pole in northern Prince of Wales Island. A brief historical sum- mary of magnetic observations in the north is given followed by an account of the observations made in the summer of 1947. Preliminary values of 1947 results fromArctic magnetic stations and a chart of magnetic meridians constructed from recent declination observations are included. N JUNE 2, I 83 I, Ross fixed the British flag to a spot on Cape Adelaide 0 Regina, Boothia Peninsula, and took possession of the north magnetic pole in thename of Great Britain and King William the Fourth.The spot was a fixed geographical point-70" 5' N. Lat., 96" 46' W. Long.-about which themagnetic pole was perpetually moving. During Ross' observations, extending over a 24-hour period, the pole was moving within an area whose diameter was of the order of 16 miles. Ross arrived at the north magnetic pole on foot having walked from his base at Victory Harbour about IOO miles away. On May 3, 1904, Amundsenreached a point on BoothiaPeninsula apparentlyabout 20 miles fromthe magnetic pole. He hadtravelled by sledge from Gjoahavn, King William Island,some 150 miles distant. The pole at that time was computed to be in 70" 30' N. Lat. and 95' 30' W. Long., about 40 miles northeast of Ross' position. Amundsen established at Gjoahavn a temporary magnetic observatory which operated from Novem- ber 1903 to May 1905 and furnished control to field observations made during a magnetic survey of parts of King William Island and Boothia Peninsula.
    [Show full text]