Franklin artifacts taken without permission
TIMELINE:
OTTAWA • Nunavut’s premier complained directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last fall that federal scientists took artifacts of the doomed Franklin Expedition — enough for a major museum exhibit — without permission.
The artifacts recovered since HMS Erebus was found in 2014 cover a wide variety of well- preserved ship’s equipment and men’s personal belongings: part of the ship’s wheel, its bell, belaying pins, blue and white china plates, cups and saucers, a cannon, a sword hilt, a knife and a ceramic pot labelled “anchovy paste.”
The complaint is in a formal letter from Premier Peter Taptuna, obtained by the Ottawa Citizen through an Access- to- Information request.
His protest adds ownership disputes to an archeological search already plagued by bad blood.
Last summer, private searchers discovered the wreck of one Franklin ship, HMS Terror, and didn’t tell their government search partners for a week.
Nunavut considers the wreck site of HMS Erebus to be within its internal waters, giving ownership to the territory and to the Inuit Heritage Trust, the letter says.
“Nevertheless, Parks Canada removed artifacts from HMS Erebus.
“This was unfortunate and inconsistent with past practice.”
It says Parks Canada has abided by Nunavut’s regulations in a series of searches for the lost Franklin ships since 2002 “and has not claimed title in specimens until the discovery of HMS Erebus in 2014.”
Yet at the same time, Parks Canada says the wreck is still British property. A summary also contained in the Access- to- Information package summarizes it this way: “As is the case for HMS Erebus, title to the wreck and contents of HMS Terror remains with the United Kingdom. A 1997 Memorandum of Understanding specifies that upon discovery, the United Kingdom will transfer ownership of recovered artifacts to Canada, with specified exceptions.”
The Nunavut premier’s letter, sent just weeks after the discovery of Franklin’s second ship, Terror, adds that the premier expects Parks Canada officials to “consult and elaborate with our officials regarding the enforcement measures that will be employed at HMS Terror site ...”
And it complains that the private searchers from the Arctic Research Foundation were outside the approved search area.
That doesn’t please the premier either: “As well, the finding of the HMS Terror seems to have been haphazard and not within the scope of the permits granted or the agreed-to search parameters.”
Nunavut’s government sent a second complaint around the same time, this one to Catherine McKenna, minister responsible for Parks Canada. Heritage Minister George Kuksuk criticizes Parks for the allegedly off- limits search, and the fact that the media learned of the discovery of Terror before any government people did. ( Reporter Paul Watson first reported it in The Guardian, in England.)
It was “disappointing,” says the letter, that the announcement was unco- ordinated and came through the media.
And in reference to the claim that the searchers were outside their approved area: “It is paramount that the GN ( Government of Nunavut) regulations, licences and permits be complied with” during any archeological work in Nunavut, he writes.
And it backs up the premier’s ownership claim, saying: “it is the GN that should share title with the Inuit Heritage Trust.”
Meanwhile the artifacts will be the subject of a major new museum exhibit opening next month — in England, not Canada.
Death in the Ice will be a partnership of Britain’s National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich, and the Canadian Museum of History, showing personal items, clothing and components of the ships. The exhibit comes to Canada next March.
Parks Canada, Nunavut and the Inuit Heritage Trust are collaborating as well.
Parks Canada was not available for comment on Thursday.
Captain Sir John Franklin, two Royal Navy ships and 129 men sailed into the Arctic in 1845 to find the Northwest Passage. Stuck in the ice, the crews abandoned their ships in 1848 and tried to walk south to safety. The men all died of cold, disease and starvation. Erebus was found in 2014; Terror in 2016. PARKS CANADA REMOVED ARTIFACTS FROM HMS EREBUS.