Many hands worked on Shaman story

This is in response to the letter appearing in your June 4 edition, from Peter Ittinuar, former Executive Director of the Inuit Cultural Institute, headlined “Igalaaq shaman film is not CBC’s.”

As we stated on the occasions when the Shamanism story was aired on CBC North, much of the videotape on which it was based was conceived and shot by the Inuit Cultural Institute. The tapes were offered to us by the Institute when it appeared that the ICI project for which the tapes had been recorded might not reach completion.

The President of ICI, Mr. Ollie Ittinuar, wrote in a letter to us dated May 20 1998 (in Inuktitut): “We give you the right to edit and to produce it to be shown.” The President and the Board wanted the tapes to be seen, and approached us to make that happen. We requested permission to use the material in an independent, journalistic manner. This the President and the Board agreed to. We did not pay for the tapes; the Institute did not pay for our facilities, nor for the work of our producer, reporter or editor. It appeared both to us and to ICI to be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

After we had produced our story, we returned the original tapes to ICI to use in any manner they may choose, including completing the Institute’s original project.

In addition, we provided the ICI with a dozen videotape copies of our program to be made available to students, schools, etc. We further undertook that as we get requests here at the CBC for copies of that program, we refer those requests to the ICI so that any revenue generated belongs to them and not to us.

Unfortunately, the format of our programs does not allow for lengthy credits on most days. We are glad that his letter to your publication has allowed Peter Ittinuar to publicly identify and thank those involved in this valuable ICI project, which we were happy to be associated with at the Institute’s request.

Diane Lonergan
Executive Producer
CBC Northbeat/CBC Igalaaq
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