On Canada Day, the Collingwood Museum will open a travelling exhibition that explores how Inuit traditional knowledge helped solve one of the Arctic’s most enduring mysteries. The exhibit, called The Ones We Met – Inuit Traditional Knowledge and the Franklin Expedition, runs from July 1 to September 26, 2026, at the museum’s St. Paul Street location.
Developed by the Canadian Museum of History and the Inuit Heritage Trust, the exhibition is presented in Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English and French. It features oral history recordings, photographs, and an animated map of Arctic exploration routes. Among the voices is the late Louie Kamookak, an Inuit historian from Gjoa Haven who spent more than 30 years gathering stories from elders about the doomed 1845 expedition led by Sir John Franklin.
The Franklin expedition saw HMS Erebus and HMS Terror vanish with 128 men. For nearly 170 years, their fate remained unknown. Inuit communities had long passed down accounts of encounters with starving sailors and a ship locked in ice, but these were largely ignored until Kamookak’s work helped guide searchers to the wrecks. HMS Erebus was discovered in 2014, followed by HMS Terror in 2016.
Collingwood has its own link to that discovery. The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the last vessel launched from Collingwood Shipyards on December 6, 1985, was part of the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition that found HMS Erebus. The shipyards, which operated for more than a century, closed in September 1986, displacing nearly 1,200 workers.
The Collingwood Museum is at 45 St. Paul Street and is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is by donation, with a suggested $5 per person.
