February 4, 2026

Moira McCaffrey
Via Zoom – Please contact Gail Larose at glarose0@gmail.com for Zoom link details.
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
7pm ET

“The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things”: Maritime walrus and their hunters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Storms that sweep across the Gulf of St. Lawrence stir up tangible memories of a time when walrus were found across the region. On the Îles de la Madeleine, tusks and bones still emerge from the shallows – a testament to how prevalent walrus once were on the archipelago. Recent biological research suggests that Maritimes walrus was a morphologically and genetically distinct group, though similar to contemporary Atlantic populations. Archaeological evidence attests to the long time depth of human-walrus interactions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, supporting the view that Indigenous peoples valued and hunted walrus from the time of their arrival in the far Northeast. Ethnohistoric accounts document sustainable walrus hunting practices in the Gulf, with ivory and oil serving as trade items at a time when Indigenous populations were being forced from their territories.

An increased European presence ushered in an intense period of walrus exploitation. On the Îles de la Madeleine, Maritimes walrus were subjected to unprecedented levels of human predation in the 1700s, leaving them with neither time nor habitat to adapt and recover. Climate-related factors such as relative sea level rise may also have played a role in the extirpation of Maritimes walrus. Today, these same factors, combined with erosion and amateur collecting, are destroying archaeological sites essential to documenting past ecosystems and understanding human impacts within them. Join me as we uncover this lost history and reflect on its critical lessons for our threatened world.

Moira McCaffrey is an archaeologist and museologist based in Ottawa. She has served as Executive Director of the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO-ODMAC) and was formerly Vice President, Research & Collections, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Moira spent close to 20 years at the McCord Museum in Montréal, first as Curator, Ethnology & Archaeology and then as Director, Research & Exhibitions. Moira has led the development of over 80 exhibitions, as well as web sites, publications, and repatriation projects. She has served on the Boards of ICOM Canada, the Virtual Museum of Canada, and the Cultural Properties Commission of Québec. She is currently Chair of the
Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) Advisory Board.

Trained as an archaeologist, Moira has carried out survey and excavation work in northern Québec and on the Îles de la Madeleine. She has worked in the far interior of Labrador and on the coast in Torngat Mountains National Park. She is currently advising Innu Nation in Labrador on the development of a new museum and a travelling exhibition. Since 2020, Moira has been co-directing the Naskapi Archaeology Project for the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach, involving a multi-year archaeology field program in far northern Québec. She recognizes that working with and for Indigenous communities is both a profound privilege and a lifelong journey of discovery and learning.