It's a Walrus

Weather: -10C, grey and snowy Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut – We’re so behind on filming, Jean and Luc went straight out to shoot Cape Dorset visuals before it got dark. I went off to Kinngait Studios to speak to the manager Bill Ritchie and try to get everything set up for tomorrow.

Cape Dorset is a community of around 1200 people. And it’s one of the most famous communities in Canada’s North. In the 1950s, Canadian artist James Houston decided to teach print-making to the Inuit, in and around Cape Dorset. A studio was set up, and in 1959 a first collection of prints was released.

The print collection became an annual event and eventually, a Canadian art phenomenon. In 2009, the collection celebrated its 50th anniversary. The success of the collection brought unprecedented attention and money into the community.

Some of Canada’s most famous artists live here, including Kenojuak Ashevak. Her 1960 work “Enchanted Owl” sold for $58, 650 at auction in 2001, a record price for a Canadian print.

But there’s a downside to all this. While many carvers and artists here are world-class, there’s also an awful lot of pseudo-artists in the community trying to cash in on the community’s reputation. They slap ‘Cape Dorset’ on a piece of soap stone and try to sell it for $500 to gullible tourists.

I know, because on the five-minute walk from our hotel to the studios, at least three people tried to sell me some pretty dismal-looking work. It’s like they started carving it, got bored after two minutes, banged it on the floor a couple of times and decided to call it art.

Later on that evening, I’m in the grocery store and a teenager comes up to me in the cookie aisle with a sorry-looking carving in his hand. I can’t even really tell what it is. “It’s a walrus,” he said. “$40.”

“No thanks,” I said. “Not today.”

“But I need $40 so I can buy some food,” he said.

I couldn’t tell if it was true or not but I still felt guilty as I pushed my cart away.

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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