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A 17-foot glass and wood kayak made by Inuit artists now owns a permanent place in a waiting room near The Ottawa Hospital’s main entrance.

The kayak, named Sivuniksattinu (it means “for our future” in Inuktitut), features colourful, kiln-formed glass panels that depict scenes from Inuit life and history.

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One panel evokes the wholesale slaughter of sled dogs that forced many Inuit hunters to abandon traditional lifestyles in the 1950s and ’60s; another panel depicts the forced relocation of some Inuit communities.

The glass panels move from “darkness to light,” explained contributing artist Kaajuk Kablalik, and portray happier scenes near the front of the kayak, including a whale hunt and a fishing trip.

Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia

“It’s an educational piece, an art piece at its roots, and then it’s also our small contribution to reconciliation for Inuit,” said Kablalik, an Almonte-based artist who was raised in Rankin Inlet, in central Nunavut.