Originally using the Greenlandic term "Nunaat" excluding the waters and ice, Inuit of Canada, through the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, formally switched to the Inuktitut "Nunangat" in 2009 to reflect the integral nature "land, water, and ice" have to Inuit culture.[3]
Inuit ancestors known as the Thule settled the Arctic, replacing the previous dominant Dorset culture (Tuniit) over the course of around 200 years. The last remnant of Tuniit were Sadlermiut who disappeared in the early 1900s. Displacement of the Tuniit (Inuktitut syllabics; ᑐᓃᑦ), or the Dorset people, and the arrival of the Inuit (whose ancestors are often called Thule) occurred in the 1100–1300s CE. Coming from Siberia where they split from the Aleut and other related peoples about 4,000 years ago, Inuit had reached Inughuit Nunaat[clarification needed] in western Greenland by about 1300 CE, bringing with them transport dogs and various new technologies.
Canadian colonization extended in to Inuit Nunangat via the lands claimed as Rupert's Land, North-Western Territory and Quebec, later including Newfoundland and Labrador. Rapid spread of diseases, material wealth, the Christian churches and Canadian (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) policing[12] saw a rapid decline and collapse of Inuit Nunangat, from which it is still recovering.
Today, Inuit Nunangat is overseen by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑕᐱᕇᑦ ᑲᓇᑕᒥ, meaning either "Inuit are united with Canada"[18] or "Inuit are united in Canada"[19]) which acts as a cultural centre piece and quasi-central government for Inuit affairs within Canada.
While Nunavut's confederation within Canada in 1999 via the Nunavut Act and Nunavut Land Claims Agreement is most visible, each of the regions of Inuit Nunangat. The Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuinnaqtun: Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq) came under the jurisdiction of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation two years after the 1984 Inuvialuit Final Agreement, and Nunatsiavut was granted an autonomous government in 2005 after the 2002 Labrador Inuit Association proposal for a separate government. Beginning with a land claim in 1977, negotiations launched in 1988 between the Labrador Inuit Association, the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador and that of Canada. In Northern Quebec, the Makivik Corporation was established upon the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement signing in 1978, taking the mantle from the previous Nunavimmiut organization, the "Northern Quebec Inuit Association" (ᑯᐸᐃᒃ ᑕᕐᕋᖓᓂ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑲᑐᔾᔨᖃᑎᒌᖏᑦKupaik Tarrangani Inuit Katujjiqatigiingit).
The Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee (ICPC) was created in 2017 and last met on April 21, 2022. At this meeting, the Canadian federal government, in partnership with the Inuit Nunangat, unanimously endorsed the federal policy called the Inuit Nunangat Policy (INP).[20] In a live address shortly after this meeting, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said the policy "recognizes the Inuit homeland as a distinct geographical, cultural and political region," which includes the "land, sea, and ice."[20]
Demographics
As of the 2021 Canadian census the population of Inuit Nunangat was 58,220 an increase of 2.9 per cent over the 2016 census population of 56,585. The Indigenous population is 50,500 or 89.24 per cent of the total population, of which 48,695 (83.63 per cent) are Inuit.[1][21]
In 2021 of those Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat 6.46 per cent live in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, 63.38 per cent in Nunavut, 25.87 per cent in Nunavik and 4.29 per cent in Nunatsiavut.[1]
In total there are 70,545 Inuit in Canada with 48,695 (69.02 per cent) living in Inuit Nunangat and 21,850 (30.98 per cent) living in other parts of Canada.[22] This is a growth of 8.5 per cent over 2016 when there were 65,025 Inuit in Canada with 47,335 (72.80 per cent) living in Inuit Nunangat and 17,695 (27.21 per cent) living in other parts of Canada.[23]
Communities
There are six communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR).[24] The ISR is made up of five hamlets and one town, Inuvik, which is the headquarters of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the regional centre for the larger Inuvik Region.[25]
The government of Canada also lists Bathurst Inlet, Killiniq and Umingmaktuuq (Umingmaktok) as forming part of Inuit Nunangat, giving a total of 53 communities.[36][2]
Distribution of oral Inuit language variants across Inuit territories
There are multiple Inuit languages, along with English and French, spoken across Inuit Nunangat. The oral languages form a vast dialect continuum with mutual intelligibility between neighbouring variants from the westernmost Iñupiatun dialect to the three Greenlandic languages: Kalaallisut, Tunumiisut, and, the closest variation to Canadian dialects, Inuktun. In Canada, there is Inuvialuktun spoken in the West in Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq); Inuktitut, the most spoken dialect; Inuinnaqtun which straddles the line between Inuktitut and Inuvialuktun; and Inuttitut spoken in the Labradorian east by Nunatsiavummiut. And, attested contemporarily only in a few Nunavut communities, Inuit Sign Language (also known as Atgangmuurngniq and Uukturausingit) continues to be passed down through generations regardless of deafness.[87] It is unknown by academia if there is any relation between Greenlandic and Inuit Sign Languages or if Greenlandic Sign Language is a dialect of Danish Tegnsprog.[88]
Within each of the primary oral language divisions (Inuvialuktun, Inuktut, and Inuttut), there exist several dialects therein. Within Inuvialuktun, the Siglit who live at the mouth of the Mackenzie River (Inuvialuktun: Kuukpak [kuːkpɑk] literally great river) speak Siglitun; and the Uummarmiut, or "people of the green trees" and are sometimes called "Canadian Iñupiat," speak Uummarmiutun. Western Inuktut dialects are sometimes considered Inuvialuktun dialects, such as Inuinnaqtun (including one of its sub dialects, Kangiryuarmiutun, spoken by the Copper Inuit group, the Kangiryuarmiut). Others include Natsilingmiutut, spoken by the Netsilik, with its sub-dialects including Utkuhiksalik (the language of the "people of the place where there is soapstone": Utkuhiksalingmiut); Kivallirmiutut spoken by the Caribou Inuit of the Kivalliq Region; Aivilingmiutut of the Aivilingmiut; and the northern Qikiqtaaluk uannangani spoken by Iglulingmiut of the Igloolik. On the southern part of Baffin Island (Qikiqtaaluk) around the Nunavut capital Iqaluit, Qikiqtaaluk nigiani is spoken, and relatively close is the dialect of Nunavik, Nunavimmiutitut, sometimes called Tarramiutut, Taqramiutut, or Inuttitut (not to be confused with Nunatsiavummiutut (Inuttitut) of Labrador). Nunavimmiutitut includes the sub dialects spoken by the Tarrarmiut and Itivimuit. Nunatsiavummiut in Nunatsiavut, Labrador speak Inuttitut, Inuttut, or, alternatively, Labradorimiutut.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2019)
Inuit are diverse peoples who share cultural and linguistic similarities. Moreover, they are a bimodal people, speaking both oral languages, Inuit languages and sign languages, Inuit Sign Language (Atgangmuurniq).
Peoples of Inuit Nunangat
Inuvialuit (people of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, northwestern Northwest Territories, seasonally in northern Yukon)
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Spanning much of the North American Arctic, Inuit Nunangat is mostly above the tree line.
It is situated in Northern Canada, and some tribes can even expand to Siberia, Alaska and Greenland.
Climate change
In 2019, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami released their National Inuit Climate Change Strategy to combat and respond to the ecological collapse and its effects on Inuit and Inuit Nunangat.[90]
Culture
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2019)
Inuit culture transcends millennia and includes numerous music styles, sports and other cultural attributes.
Inuit Nunangat has produced numerous contemporary bands and singers, such as Joshua Haulli, Quantum Tangle, The Jerry Cans (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐸᐃ ᒑᓚᖃᐅᑎᒃᑯᑦ, Pai Gaalaqautikkut), Elisapie (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓕᓴᐱ), Aasiva, Charlie Panigoniak, Riit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕇᑦ), Willie Thrasher, and Tumasi Quissa, as well as many others. Of particular note is Inuit throat singing performed by artists such as Qaunaq Mikkigak, Tudjaat, and Tanya Tagaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᑕᓐᔭ ᑕᒐᖅ). Yearly, the Alianait Music and Arts Festival features talented acts from across Inuit Nunangat, Canada, and the world, as one of many festivals that take place.
Inuit art first came to outside attention in the 1940s through printmaking and carving. It is known for the use of soapstone, such as for carvings and for making qulliq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖁᓪᓕᖅ, seal oil lamps). Although power tools are used, soapstone carving is often preferably done by axe and file.
Elders sharing maktaaq, 2002
The modern kayak originates from Inuit culture, originally called a qajaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᔭᖅ). As well, Inuit use the larger (6–12 m (20–39 ft)), wood-framed flat-bottomed umiak or umiaq for transporting people, goods, and dogs; and, on land, qamutiik (dog sled) pulled by the Canadian Eskimo Dogs or huskies, known in Inuit languages as qimmiit, though Inuit have since transitioned to motorized forms of transport such as the snowmobile for navigating. In part because the massacre of most of their sled dogs in the eastern part of Inuit Nunangat between the 1950s and 1970s. It was believed that the killings were done in order to force Inuit out of their traditional way of life and assimilate them into southern Canadian society. In 2007, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association organized the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, one year after a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report denying the slaughter of 20,000 dogs to help force Inuit into settlements,[91] and stated that "the killings went on far too long to be the result of a secret plan or conspiracy, and that the dog killings began ... several years before the federal government adopted a formal central policy of dog control."[92] On 14 August 2019, the Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett, apologized to the Qikiqtani Inuit for the slaughter.[93]
Inuit cuisine, also known as "country food,"[94] incorporates a variety of meats (such as walrus, narwhal, bearded seal, caribou, polar bear, Arctic cod, and Arctic char, among others) and gathered plants (including crowberries, cloudberries, fireweed, seaweed, tubers and roots like mousefood, tuberous spring beauty, and sweet vetch)[95] Much of the meat is served frozen, raw, or boiled, much like sushi or sashimi in Japanese cuisine. Delicacies include akutuq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐊᑯᑐᖅ),[96] an ice cream-like dessert made with fat or tallow, meat, and mixed with berries;[96]igunaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᒍᓇᖅ), a year-long fermentation of select meats; muktuk (Inuktitut syllabics: ᒪᒃᑖᖅ) (alternatively, maktaaq, maktak (Inuktitut syllabics: ᒪᒃᑕᒃ) or maktaq), whale skin and blubber usually eaten raw, sometimes frozen or pickled, and occasionally finely diced, breaded, deep fried, and then served with soy sauce; Labrador tea; and various dips such as aalu (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐋᓗ) (intended for meat made from the choice parts of caribou or seal, chopped into tiny pieces and blended with melted fat and blood), misiraq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᒥᓯᕋᖅ) (aged to resemble an aromatic white wine, made from seal or whale blubber), and nirukkaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᓂᕈᒃᑲᖅ), a smooth made pâté made from the contents of a caribou's stomach.[97]
Law
Inuit Nunangat currently functions through a variety of legal systems. As a Canadian jurisdiction, all of Inuit Nunangat falls under the federally overseen Criminal Code for criminal law. Inuvialuit Nunangat in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, Nunavut, and Nunatsiavut in Labrador are all subject to the English common law tradition. Nunavik, falling under the jurisdiction of Quebec, follows the civil law tradition as it pertains to private law. Finally, Inuit largely still follow Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit traditions, recognizing the interconnected nature of reality.
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᑐᖃᖏᑦ, alternatively rendered Qaujimanituqangit or Qauyimayatuqangit), comes from the root word qaujima- (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᐅᔨ) meaning "to know," and could be literally translated as "that which has long been known by Inuit." Leaders and Elders did not see themselves as agents of social control or law and order, as each individual contributes to the functioning of the community.[98] The integration of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (or IQ) and the wider Canadian legal tradition is an ongoing process. For example, the Nunavut Court of Justice is the only "unified," single-level court in Canada, and the court travels to communities every six weeks to two years. There are also on-the-land, restorative justice, and contemporary healing circle programs administered.[99]
^Black, Scott; Montgomery, Georgina; Fehr, Alan, eds. (2002). Canada's Western Arctic(PDF). Inuvik, Denendeh/Nunangit, Canada: Western Arctic Handbook Committee. p. 342. ISBN0-9687910-0-X. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
^Csonka, Yvon (1999). "A stereotype further dispelled: Inuit-Dene relations west of Hudson Bay, 1920–1956". Études/Inuit/Studies. 23 (1/2): 117–144. JSTOR42870948.
^"Innu Culture". Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
^MacDougall, Jamie (February 2001). "Access to justice for deaf Inuit in Nunavut: The role of "Inuit sign language"". Canadian Psychology. 41 (1): 61. doi:10.1037/h0086880.
^Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. "Arctic Wildlife". Archived from the original on 13 August 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2007. Not included are the myriad of other species of plants and animals that Inuit use, such as geese, ducks, rabbits, ptarmigan, swans, halibut, clams, mussels, cod, berries and seaweed.
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