This article confuses two different individuals edit

There were two Inuit men with the same name at the time of the murder: one a hunter and the other an angakkuq or shaman.[1][2][3][4][5] This Wikipedia article conflates the two men.

This article is about Uluksuk the hunter who assisted in the murder of two priests. The shaman, Uluksak, helped the Royal Northwest Mounted Police locate the murderer, Uluksuk.[6]

(Note: There are several different spellings of the name. Uloqsaq was used for the shaman by anthropologist Diamond Jenness in his 1913-1916 diary (published as Arctic Odyssey in 1991).

In his 1916 Annual Police Report, Inspector La Nauze records the murderer’s confession statement under the name: “Uluksuk, alias Avingak.”[7] Inspector La Nauze recorded the shaman’s statement under the name: “Uluksak, alias Mayuk.”[8]

The identity confusion originated from an error in reporting the murder of the shaman nine years later. This error was pointed out on page 70 of the 1926 Annual RCMP report.[9]

The first sentence in the (Early Life section) is correct. The rest of the Early Life paragraph refers to the other Inuit, the shaman, and I would like that information deleted.Mgmontgo (talk) 21:49, 9 January 2020 (UTC)Reply


I’ve now removed the irrelevant sentences from the Early Life section for the reasons I’ve given above. (In short, the sentences described a different Inuit with same name, an angakkuq or shaman and not the accused murderer). Here is what was removed:
Prior to his murder trial, Uloqsaq was a very prominent Copper Inuit angakkuq. According to anthropologist Diamond Jenness, who had spoken with Uloqsaq in November 1915, Uloqsaq had purchased his occult powers from another practitioner in Bathurst Inlet. These powers reportedly gave him the power to transform himself into a wolf, a bear or even a European person. He told Jenness that he had once lived underwater for many days and performed necromancy. He also claimed to have turned men and women into animals and seen European men with mouths on their chests.
Mgmontgo (talk) 17:27, 29 January 2020 (UTC)Reply

References edit

  1. ^ Jenness, Diamond (2008). Through Darkening Spectacles: Memoirs of Diamond Jenness. Gatineau, Quebec: Canadian Museum of History. pp. 60–65. ISBN 978-0-660-19802-6.
  2. ^ Jenness, Diamond (1923). Physical characteristics of the Copper Eskimos. Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-18 (PDF).
  3. ^ Jenness, Stuart (2004). The Making of An Explorer: George Hubert Wilkins and the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1916. McGill-Queen’s University Press. p. 339.
  4. ^ Emillie, Cameron (2016). Far Off Metal River: Inuit Lands, Settlers Stories, and the Making of the Contemporary Arctic. UBC Press. p. 95. ISBN 0774828854.
  5. ^ Reed, Austin; Jenness, Stuart; Parker, John (1992). "Letters to the Editor". Arctic. 45 (2): 208–10.
  6. ^ "Report of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police 1916: Sessional Paper No. 28" (PDF). pp. 200–201.
  7. ^ "Report of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police 1916: Sessional Paper No. 28" (PDF). p. 211.
  8. ^ "Report of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police 1916: Sessional Paper No. 28" (PDF). p. 206.
  9. ^ "Report of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the Year Ended September 30, 1926: Dominion of Canada" (PDF). p. 70).