Travel Nunavut hands out unique products to showcase local artistry
IAN STALKER
Nunavut may become known for soap as well as soapstone.
Newish Iqaluit firm Uasau Soap — the name of which is Inuktitut for Wash — is producing different soaps along with the likes of shampoos, balms and bath salts, something that caught the eye of Travel Nunavut, which distributed bars of Uasau soap to participants at national tourism show Rendez-vous Canada 2023 in Quebec City.
It’s common for tourist boards to distribute reminders of the destinations they represent at gatherings but soap isn’t among the more common types of gifts handed out.
“We assisted Uasau with a developing a new website, which was what prompted us to use them,” Travel Nunavut CEO Kevin Kelly said after the tourist show. “This is a new normal I think. Rendez-vous Canada 2023 was all about sustainability and this company embodies sustainability.”
Among Uasau products is Peppermint “I lichen you” hand and body soap, made in part with handpicked tundra lichen and which provides a “natural exfoliation.” (The lichen in those particular soaps is from northernmost Quebec but Uasau declares that “anything under 1,000 kms is nearby in the Arctic.”
Usau’s Seaweed Facial bar is in part made with Baffin Island seaweed.
The company proudly states that its soaps have “a story that precedes Canada,” with its products inspired by “prehistoric Inuit traditions.”
Northern items used for Uasau products are harvested by traditional methods.
Usau’s logo shows an Inuk woman lighting a traditional Inuit oil lamp and the company adds that it hopes users of its products will “pamper yourselves with our luxurious products” while learning about Inuit culture.
But Uasau also adds that the venture helps the community “wash off the shadow and pain of colonialism.”
Kelly said those who received bars of soap during Rendez-vous Canada 2023 were surprised but “loved the gesture.
He hasn’t personally tried Uasau soap but adds his son and others he knows use and love it. He does use a Uasau hand cream.
Kelly told those on hand for a Nunavut presentation during Rendez-vous that those visiting his territory can spot Arctic mammals and birds, and meet Inuit elders, who will speak about life in the North.
The Inuit have a reputation for being resourceful, so some suggest that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of Nunavut’s residents have launched a business promoting soap and creams.
Inuit art, such as soapstone carvings, has built an international following, leaving Kelly hopeful that this latest Nunavut venture will appeal to people in distant locales as well.
“Nunavut will always be known for art in some sort of way I think,” he suggests. “It will be interesting to see if we can add soap to that list.”
Uasau’s website is uasausoap.com.
