For more than 40 years, Norman Hallendy has pursued with outstanding dedication and passion his quest to unravel the mysteries of Inuksuit and Inuit sacred sites. His commitment is remarkable because the career public servant undertook his research as an avocation, and carried it out with little outside support. He travelled often to the Arctic and amassed an extensive body of knowledge on the cultural meaning of inuksuit. Norman Hallendy gained rare insight into these stone formations by travlling with Inuit elders and recording, in the 1960s, the dying way of life of the Inummariit, who lived on the land like their ancestors. Outside the Inuit community, he has since become the world’s leading authority on inuksuit.

Norman Hallendy first encountered inuksuit in 1958, while on a trip to Baffin Island for the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. He was taken by their spiritual and visual power and astutely recognized their cultural importance. At the time, little was known about about inuksuit outside Inuit communities and elders who could teach him were fast disappearing. Norman Hallendy forged special relationships with elders, who named him Apirsuqti, meaning “the inquisitive one.”

Decades of research culminated in the publication of his book, Inuksuit: Silent Messengers of the Arctic, the first comprehensive book about inuksuit. His words and photography also grace a Canadian Museum of Civilization exhibit called “Places of Power, Objects of Veneration,” which opened in 1994 and has since toured Canada,Europe and South America. Norman Hallendy is a respected speaker who has shared his knowledge with audiences all over the world, including at the Scott Polar Institute at Cambridge University and at UNESCO in Paris. He is amoung other affiliations, a research associate at the the Arctic Institute of North America, a research fellow at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and an associate at the World Archaeological Congress. He lives outside Carp, Ontario.