Nunavut project to collect Inuit elder testimony on Franklin shipwreck sites
OTTAWA — Parks Canada is launching a new initiative in Nunavut to collect and share the testimony of Inuit elders who have knowledge of the doomed Franklin expedition of 1845.
The project is seeking a contractor to conduct archival research and record interviews with Inuit elders with historical knowledge of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror shipwreck sites.
The two ships were part of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 quest to find the elusive Northwest Passage and their disappearance remains a mystery today. The expedition’s 129 crew members were never found.
Catherine McKenna, the minister of the environment and minister in charge of Parks Canada, acknowledged the integral role Inuit oral history played in the search for the Franklin shipwrecks.