Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre

The Inuit Heritage Trust (IHT) is leading the planning process for the new Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre (NIHC), with the support of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI), Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KitIA), and Kivalliq Inuit Association (KivIA).The ‘urgent’ need for heritage facilities was identified in the 1993 Nunavut Agreement but it has yet to be realized.

An approximately 5,500m2 Centre will be built in Iqaluit and, as well as providing exhibitions and programs locally, will have with a mandate to foster the development of satellite centres in each region and coordinate territory-wide collaborative exhibitions and programs.

The NIHC is conceived of as a Centre for Nunavut Inuit that focuses on:

• living heritage, 

• the continuity of Inuit culture and language, 

• the preservation and exhibition of cultural belongings. 

The NIHC will support reconciliation and healing by bridging generations, allowing Inuit to connect with their Elders and ancestors as well as with non-Inuit through objects and stories. 

The legacy of colonialism – the residential school system, the rupture of families through relocation to communities, the TB crisis and the 60s’ Scoop – and marginalization of Inuit culture, values and traditions in present-day Nunavut left many Inuit interested in reconnecting with their collective past to find a stronger sense of identity and culture. 

The NIHC will help Inuit to discover valuable insights and renegotiate their individual and collective cultural identities. The NIHC will feature:

• Interactive long-term and temporary exhibitions

• Visible storage of cultural belonging

• Specialized Inuit and northern library

• Access to archival materials and place names maps

• Digital makerspace

• Indoor and outdoor performance spaces

• Language revitalization

• Practice of traditional skills such as sewing, kayak building and tool making

• Visual arts including carving

• Butchering and skin preparation space

• Elders/scholars/artists’ hostel

• Daycare centre

• Café featuring country food, training and catering

• Shop featuring Inuit art, crafts, and difficult to access supplies

• Collections storage facilities and conservation laboratory

• Boardroom and offices

To be designated as a Category A facility, and thereby be able to repatriate cultural property and offer tax receipts for donations of cultural belongings, the facility requires particular environmental controls including fire suppression, climactic control and security, and spatial relationships between functions (e.g., loading bay to storage areas).

The new facility will be exemplary in its understanding and showcasing of Inuit Nunangat ways of life and will lead the architectural discourse in the development of a northern, regenerative architectural strategy.

This will be a two-stage Architectural competition and the Request for Qualifications is available with a notification date of January 10th and an RFQ submission of January 30, 2023. Three short-listed teams will be invited to Iqaluit for a week in March of 2023 to learn more about this unique cultural landscape and design opportunity.