The interest of landscape imagery in the creation of the Nunavik Tursujuq Park (Canada)

• Main Authors: Coutanceau, A., Joliet, Fabienne
• Other Authors: Unité Paysage et Ecologie (PAYSAGE), AGROCAMPUS OUEST-Ecole supérieure d'Agricultures d'Angers (ESA)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: [SHS.SOCIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Sociology; Arctic; Canada; Guillaume; Nunavik; Umiujaq; Global warming; inuit
• Online Access: https://institut-agro-rennes-angers.hal.science/hal-00729377

Left to its Arctic isolation for many years, Nunavik, i.e. Northern Quebec, has now become the object of unprecedented attention. This is due not only to its energetic potential but also to global warming consequences causing the area to undergo major physical mutations- and to the rapidly-increasing pace of ethno-cultural transformations. The Tursujuq National Park Project (aka Guillaume Delisle-Lac-à-L'Eau Claire) is at the crossroads of these preoccupations. Beyond the preliminary regulatory studies carried out since 2002 by both the Quebec government (Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks) and the Inuit co-governance institutions, the research focuses on the analysis of the Tursujuq park landscape perceptions as a mean to complement and adjust the park's conception. The analysis concentrates on the iconographic representations of landscape and their related practices. The analysis will be carried out on a double basis: first the gathering of existing "landscape" images (archives, National Park websites) of the park's perimeter or vicinity produced by Westerners; and secondly the creation of an Inuit iconographic landscape corpus where oral tradition usually prevails. The fact of choosing a common landscape representations vector for the study has made possible the creation of an Inuit Landcape Imagery via a Landcape Photography Contest and a Children's Landscape Drawing Workshop in the local village of Umiujaq. Analysing the choices of location, composition and angles of all pictures will reveal essential landscape selections in relation to travelled places and emblematic features that will be represented. The results will underline the interest of using such expressions of landscape preferences as a helpful tool in the decision-making process of the perimeter, zoning and routing of the future Tursujuq National Park.