Construction set to begin on Inuvialuit heritage centre in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T.

Excitement is building for a new heritage centre in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T.

Construction is set to start next month on Saliqmiut, the Tuktuuyaqtuuq Centre for Arts and Culture. It will serve as a community meeting space, performance centre, and information resource about the culture and traditions of the Inuvialuit from Tuktoyaktuk.

Project leaders are eager to provide a place where locals can take pride in their own history and share that with visitors and family members.

"It's really important," said Darrel Nasogaluak, who is on the board of directors for the project. "It's not just for tourists and tourism. It's for our current and future generations of Inuvialuit. It will be our building, our place of culture and heritage."

The project started before the COVID-19 pandemic but planning was then put on hold until two years ago. The project, costing more than $21 million, is funded mostly by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation with help from the federal and territorial governments.

Pilings were put into the ground in February. The first phase of the project is a hotel and office space to rent, to create revenue to pay for the second phase which will be the heritage centre.

The hotel and office spaces were built in Alberta and are being trucked north this summer. The pieces will be assembled in Tuktoyaktuk in July. Construction of phase one is expected to continue until March 2026.

For residents, the chance to showcase the local culture and heritage is something that wasn't always there.

Willy Kuptana is one of those who remember a time when the people of the region weren't allowed to celebrate their language, when residential schools were operating.

"I'm of an age where we never did have this. It wasn't celebrated until after our final agreement in 1984. That's when it started," said Kuptana.

Nasogaluak calls the centre "a dream," and says it will be much more than a museum — a term he does not like to use when talking about the project.

"We don't want to create a museum because when you create a museum, you're always looking at a people that used to be," he said.

"We are the Inuvialuit of the I.S.R [Inuvialuit Settlement Region], and we are still here."

There is no timeline for when the heritage centre will open.