Canada and Inuit Heritage Trust Sign Franklin Artifact Memorandum of Understanding
April 17, 2019 | In the PressFrom MirageNews.com (https://www.miragenews.com/canada-and-inuit-heritage-trust-sign-franklin-artifact-memorandum-of-understanding/)
Jointly-owned artifacts from HMS Erebus and HMS Terror will be protected and shared for the benefit of Inuit and all Canadians
April 16, 2019 Ottawa, ON Parks Canada Agency
In 2018, the United Kingdom gifted Canada all of the remaining artifacts from HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, the ships of the 1845 Franklin Expedition. With this historic gift, Canada and the Inuit of Nunavut, through Parks Canada and the Inuit Heritage Trust, became joint owners of the artifacts from HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, following through on a government promise.
Today, the Government of Canada and Inuit Heritage Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding detailing how the two organizations will work together to protect, study, conserve and share these important artifacts.
The artifacts from the Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site will be protected based on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit knowledge) and the principles of cultural resource management, including the highest standards of collection and conservation. The jointly-owned artifacts will be presented from an Inuit perspective and every effort will be made to display them within the Nunavut Settlement Area. In addition, museums and other cultural institutions will have opportunities to study and exhibit the artifacts on a temporary basis.
In September 2018, Parks Canada recovered the first jointly-owned artifacts from the wreck of HMS Erebus. These historic artifacts were shared with the communities of Gjoa Haven and Cambridge Bay shortly after they were recovered, before being transferred to Parks Canada’s lab in Ottawa to undergo conservation treatment and study.
With thousands of artifacts still to be recovered, the ongoing investigation of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror by Parks Canada in collaboration with Inuit is one of the largest and most complex underwater archaeological undertakings in Canadian history.
