Qapik Attagutsiak

During the Second World War, people from every corner of Canada scavenged supplies - from our southern border to the Arctic circle as part of the war effort.

In 1940, Qapik Attagutsiak voluntarily took up the task of collecting bones in Igloolik, in what is now known as Nunavut. Then twenty, and with a one-year-old son, she and other Inuit filled up to three bags a day with bones from animals such as walruses, seals and dogs. Often, the bones were fresh and still had blood or tissues on them.

The bones she collected were shipped south to industrial ports, such a Montreal and Halifax. They were then processed into cordite for ammunition, aircraft glue and fertilizer, and sent overseas to support the Allied war effort.

As of 2020, Attagutsiak is the last known living person from the Arctic to have participated in the 1940s bone collection drive.