Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
August 15, 2011
Media Advisory: Premier to Attend Inuit Repatriation Ceremony
The Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, will attend an Inuit repatriation ceremony tomorrow (Tuesday, August 16) on Rose Island in Northern Labrador. Joining Premier Dunderdale will be the Honourable Patty Pottle, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Nunatsiavut President Jim Lyall and Nunatsiavut’s Minister of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Johannes Lampe.
The remains will be returned and laid to rest on Rose Island, located in Saglek Bay within the Torngat Mountains National Park.
In the early 1970s, the remains of 113 Inuit – 100 from Rose Island and 13 from Upernavik Island – and associated artifacts were excavated from stone burials as part of a research project conducted by Memorial University. What was believed to be all of the remains were returned and reburied in 1995. It was recently discovered that some fragmentary remains were accidentally missed. These remains had been part of The Rooms Provincial Museum Human Remains Collection in St. John’s.
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Media contacts:
| Glenda Power Director of Communications Office of the Premier 709-729-3960 glendapower@gov.nl.ca |
Milly Brown Press Secretary Office of the Premier 709-729-4304, 631-8477 millybrown@gov.nl.ca |
| John Tompkins Director of Communications Department of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs 709-729-1674, 728-7762 jtompkins@gov.nl.ca |
2011 08 15 3:40 p.m.