Elder Louis Angalik
We interviewed Louis on the history of Arviat. He also came in to talk to us about Inuit Qajimajatuqangit. Click here to read about our interview with Louis.
“Our Elders” picture series
Arviat and Toronto link together with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Film Festival
Written by Rachel Hirsch, York University
York University’s Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS) and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) are co-hosting a series of virtual activities to help organize in advance of the 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa (COP17).
The Nanisiniq Project is partnering with York University to screen the following films in parallel on September 27, 2011 starting at 6 p.m CST in Arviat and 7pm EST at York University:
- Line-up (all films available online):
1) Nanisiniq: Journey of Discovery
2) Meet the team
3) Martha’s Gang
4) Experiences of Climate Change from Elders
5) Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change
We are synchronizing with Arviat, Nunavut so that we all watch the movies at the same time and then can have a dialogue with Arviat youth/community members and Toronto youth/community members afterwards. For those who cannot attend the event in person, we will be circulating a link for the online dialogue as soon as it is available. Join our Facebook event for the link.
Arviat: Join us at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at the Arviat High School.
York University: Join us at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at the Curtis Lecture Hall (CLH) F
Inuit Knowledge
by Amy Owingayak
August 31, 2011
Inuit have lived in the Arctic for many, many years. Before moving into a settlement, Inuit were living on the land using only animals for shelter, food and clothing. Therefore, my ancestors knew the animals’ routines and the importance of taking care of animals well. Inuit respect their land because it is their home and their hunting ground. Without the knowledge of the animals’ routines, the land or surviving in the arctic Inuit would have not make it through the harsh weather conditions.
Inuit knew that the animals followed the weather and also predicted the weather with their experience living on the land. To give example, Mitch Campbell, a wildlife biologist came to our meetings one night and told us about a story where he had a meeting with another biologist to talk about why the caribou were more inland. He could not find out the answer. Two of local elders walked in and were able to answer his question without any problems. This is one example about Inuit knowing their land and the animals because they have lived on the land for many years. Inuit have lived in the Arctic long enough to know the land well.
Inuit traditional food diet
by Curtis Konek
Aug, 19, 2011
Inuit have been eating traditional food for a very long time and have been hunting them for centuries. When inuit were nomadic inuit survived by eating traditional food and by following the herds of caribou and by hunting any small animals such as pitarmegin, rabbit, fish, beluga whale, seal, warlus and any other animal. Inuit from up north above the arctic circle ate the same animals we eat but they also eat musk-ox and narwhales. Fox were use to buy food from the hudson bay company, from the late 1920’s or later. The HBC provide food for the inuit to trade food for fox furs, one fox fur cost about $60.00 the HBC provided white flour, pilot biscuits, magic baking powder, lard, and a few more items. When inuit where nomadic inuit were much stronger and healthier. They would eat traditional food daily and be active daily during the winter. Inuit who were born on the land are healthy and have a lot of traditional knowledge. What we are doing in this project is important because we are learning from our elders about IQ, Inuit Qauyimayatukagit ”Inuit traditional knowledge”. We are also learning from our youth about how arviat is and what they think about living in arviat and how it has changed in arviat in the past few years.
Inuit have experienced a lot of change in their diet. Our elders are the only ones who actually eat traditional food every day, our young people still eat the traditional food today, but only once in a while. Younger inuit are more into store bought food and more likely to eat it. That is why the younger generation is slowly developing poorer health conditions. That means most young inuit are more in to sugar not poutine. Most inuit love to eat junk food now days, and less real food.
Inuit today are still strong in hunting and survival skills, but slowly are losing their culture and traditional knowledge. We still love to eat our traditional diet and we want to keep out traditional diet the way it is for a very long time. And we want to learn more about inuit traditional diet and knowledge. We need to interview more elders and get a better information from them.
Animals are not Stupid
August 10, 2011
This Morning here at the lodge in Rankin Inlet, where we are staying we were watching some videos of Inuit and the Rankin Inlet Nickel Mine. One of the videos we watched reminded me of a documentary video that we watched.
There has been a lot of scientific work in the North, scientists coming to the North to tell Inuit that the Polar Bears are becoming extinct, that caribou are way too many now. On the documentary that we watched in Arviat one of the Inuit hunter said “why are the scientists telling me that the polar bears are becoming extinct? I don’t see them when I am hunting”. That to me was a very good point.
In spring time we interviewed an elder of Arviat, Phillip Kigusiutnaq about climate change, one of the strongest things he said to us was “animals are not stupid, it’s the human that are stupid”. If scientists were to leave the animals to themselves like they leave the humans alone, I don’t think they’d become extinct. Scientists can study whatever they like, but coming to the North to say that our own animal that we always have lived with is becoming extinct is a little too much.
We leave the animals alone, although we hunt for food. We don’t go testing thier tongue to see if it’s sick or if it’s going to die. We hunt it because we need to eat it, and like we always say, we use every part of the animal we kill.
Reason that I have the title as animals are not stupid is because Inuit believe that if we kill an animal for fun even if it’s one caribou, the caribou herd will not go through the same path it went because we played with the caribou. Scientists are just ruining some part of our culture because they are leaving scents that come from a strange place for the animals and they don’t want to take the path they took, because the know what’s coming. There are now these jokes that come up and I don’t think they’re funny, kids saying “are you dumber than a tuktu (caribou)?”. Where did that come from?
I’m not against scientists and there work, but I think they’re going a little too far. We know our animals, we have respect for our animals, if we didn’t, they’d be moving to a safer place for them.
Animals are certainly not stupid, they have survived the cold, the warmth, the predators and now they’re dealing with scientists being told how to live and being transported thinking they don’t know how to survive this environment. Leave the animals to themselves and they’ll find a way to survive the world.
The Importance of doing this project in Arviat, Nu
by Curtis Konek
July 16, 2011
Arviat Nanisiniq History Project is a great way of bonding with our Elders and to colloborate with our Elders and youth to talk about our history and listen to their knowledge. Our Elders have a lot to say, like my grandparents have told me that they can talk for hours and hours about how they survive and what they have done to survive in the arctic. So don’t be afraid to talk to our Elders and ask them any questions related to Inuit traditional way of life or our history.
Elders have the knowledge to teach our history and traditional way of life to our youth in Arviat. knowing our history and traditional life style is important to know them because we want to keep using them and still want to use them in the future. By colloborating with our Elders is important because they have the knowladge the way inuit survive in the arctic for so many years. That is why it is so important to talk to our elders and get their informations about Inuit history and traditional experience.
Being in this project for me is important because i keep learning when we interview our Elders about their knowladge and learning more about my history and traditional life style. I want to see this project in the future and use the informations to teach our future generation about our history.
