INUIT AND ARCTIC PEOPLES

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Left --stone lithograph by Kenojuak (Ashevak), Canada's foremost Inuit artist (Baffin Island), honoring new Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut.

This section also includes material on Alaska Arctic Aleut-Inuit-Inuvaliut, and on Greenland Inuit., nations of the circumpolar conference.


Canada-North Circumpolar Region -- map with pole at center, from Canada's National Mapping service. Several areas can be clicked on for closeup detail, but none of the text captions are legible.

Map of the Eastern Inuit Culture area-- Across northern Canada, these people are closely related to the Greenland Inuit. Since 1979, this Danish possession--whose population majority is 88% Inuit--achieved Home Rule; placenames such as the country itself are now expressed in Inuit language. Kalaalit Nunaat is the name of the ice-covered subcontinent. A study unit on these Inuit people--their culture and their modern history--has been prepared. Greenlandic material is at the bottom of this page. Traditional territorial areas of tribal groups are shown on this map.

Canadian Inuit Since World War II -- A map-illustrated essay by Paula Giese of Canada's cynical use of Inuit people as human land-stakes. Post-1945 history of Inuit. The involvement of both Canadian and U.S. military in the far north bgan during World War II and continud with building of th U.S. DEW (nuclear missile warning) line across the far north. Inuit people were relocated to this harsh environment by the Canadian government to "stake a claim" against the aggressive U.S. building there. The file has 3 large, detailed maps of the high central Arctic, with all Inuit communitis shown, so it will load rather slowly.

Inuit Circumpolar Conference - Other Internet Resources -- In 1977, via a meeting of represntatives from Inuit, Inuvialut, Greenlandic, and Siberian Arctic peoples this organization was formed (and later received United Nations recognition) to formulate common policies that represent the aboriginals' view of Arctic issues, environmental protection, development.

International circumpolar conference -- more circumpolar conference news from a Greenlandic perspective

The Inuit: Canada Dept of Foreign Affaiurs & commrce -- A bit about the history, mostly presenting foreign investment possibilities.

Inuit cultural curriculum -- Cultural curriculum developed by Canadian Arctic Baffin Bay schools for Arctic and other Eastern Inuit in Arctic sea islands region.

Leo Ussak Elementary School: Rankin Inlet, Nunavut -- The first Inuit school to put up a web page -- nice art by the kids.

Joamie: K-12 school in Iqualuit -- Baffin Island, Nunavut, school, honors Inuit elder with name and history.

First Nations ArtPage for Inuit and other Arctic peoples' art.

Struggles Behind the Scenes - Past, Present, and Future in Inuit Art -- Essay on Inuit art by Vera Britto

Iqaluit Artists' Page -- A commercial gallery offered to Nunavut artists on the webserver for Baffin Island. No info is given, just the artist's name and a picture of one or more of each one's works.

Inuit indigenous knowledge and science in the Arctic by E. Bielawski, -- Summary of article pulled from Nunavut on-line database.

INAC multipage Inuit Sculpture illustrated essay -- much improved from version on INAC's old server. Please do not email me if the new INAC server is not reachable.

An Overview of Regional Inuit Sculpture -- Issaacs Gallery. Somwhat similar to the INAC essay, but more emphasis on the people, the artists' backgrounds.

Inuit Drawings and Prints -- Issaacs Gallery

Inuit Wall Hangings -- Issaacs Gallery

Inuit Baskets -- Issaacs Gallery

Eskimo /Inuit Index Page -- Pomona college ethnography, unfortunately the background and text make these pages quite hard to read.



NUNAVUT: Canadian Inuit Territory, 1/8 of Canada

Not a lumpy Michelin Tire man, this is an inukshuk, meaning "image of a man's spirit". These piled rock figures were made since time immemorial by Inuit people around th Arctic circle. The government transition team chose the stylized version as a symbol for Nunavut, the huge new pre-territory in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Nunavut was created in settlement of the land claim filed by the Canadian Inuit peoples. Inuit artist Craig Clark painted the rock inukshuk at the right against a background of northern lights so often visible during the long Arctic nights. Most of the info about Nunavut, below, comes from the government (the territory may be self-governing in 1999). Most of the territory will not be Inuit, unless they still constitute a majority then. The symbol will be used here as a button for Canadian government-sponsored Inuit links. The Canadian Government interest there is in North Sea petroleum development and metal mining.

Map of Nunavut--The newly-agreed Inuit territory, hundreds of thousands of square miles around Hudson's Bay, including Baffin Island. The big map may be saved to disk and prinited for class use. No EPS map is available.

Nunavut - Demographic and Socio-Economic Data -- lookup tables for each region in the vast territory. Stats give ethnic breakdown, family structure, income, employment, age distributions.

  • Inuit --Brief overview of Inuit history, culture, people

    Searchable Database Search Query Screen -- Database contains 20,000 abstracts with full cites of (a few) books, published articles and special reports on the Arctic bearing on Nunavut, Inuit peoples of Canada. Enter query.

    Some Cultural Explorations from the Database

    • Takurluk : observing unusual things / Hallendy, N. -- An Arctic Inuit writes about how to see unusual things -- a state of mind, a physical bodily condition for Arctic observers

    • Recollections of Inuit eldersn the days of the whalers and other stories / Kiblakoot, B. [Editor]. Hill, S.K. [Editor].

      Nunavut Implementation Commission -- Government agency that carries out plans to make Nunavut into a province.

        NIC - 'Footprints in New Snow' -- The Canadian government Nunavut Implementation Commission releases first long report and set of rcommendations for 1999 conversion to formal terriytorial status. Certain passags are missing from the server at present.

        NTI Nipisi article - August 1995 -- Nunavut Tungakvut (Inuit-controlled corporation which is carrying out negotiations for the eastern Arctic Inuit regarding the political changeovers and land claim) criticizes "Footprints in the Snow", making some counter-proposals.

        Nunavut Planning Commission Transition Team -- Canadian government agency that is developing policy to implement the conversion of the vast northern territory of Nunavut to a Canadian territory in 1999.

        Nunavut info and map--Statistical summary of the new Inuit territory, which overall is larger than Germany. Natives hold title to less than 1/6 of it. From Government Transition Team web pages.

        Nunavut Government--The Native government of the new territory will be decentralized into a small number of villages and settlements, traditional methods will be followed, they say. Transition Team web page.

        INAC: Northern Affairs Polar Commission: Estimates 1996 - 1997 -- INAC - DIAND's Indians-in-the-north budgt, but also industrial development.

        Nunavut Land Claim--Just a summary of high points of the settlement ageement that was ratified in 1993.

        Nunavut Land Claim Agreement--Here's the actual agreement, which has been movd to reside on the lately-unreliable INAC server.

        Press Release: INAC -- progress Nunavut infrastructure, 5/31/96 -- INAC's recent view of progress in negotiations and implementation.

        Northwest Territories / Claims -- Northern communications (government) discussion of all Northwest Territories Native land claims

        Nunavut Economy--As the Government transition team sees it.


        Message from NTI--the Nunavut regional Native development company (eastern Arctic). Transition Team.

      Nunanet Communications Home Page -- webserver located on Baffin Island involved in a number of communications projects. Serves as private Internet access for the large Arctic archipelago area. It is located on Baffin Island.

        The Nunatsiaq News--A publishing company located in Iqualuit, Baffin Island, which a plebescite recently voted to be the capital of Nunavut. Publishes the "weekly newspaper of record" for the high Arctic region of Nunavut, and in other publishing ventures, has published school materials for Native schools. No natives are presently involved at this newspaper in reportorial, editorial, or any other capacity (though I was informd in the past they once employed some). There is no Inuit ownership of this enterprise, though elsewhere on the web it is described as Inuit-owned.

      Nunavut Native Land Claims--NorthNet has been set up centered in Yellowknife to serve the new Nunavut territory -- no Inuits seem to be involved in these communications. This is the entrepreneurs looking around and getting their plans together, scoping out a future potential for getting around Native land claims, looks like. Northnet has no Native participation now and doesn't look as if they're seeking any. NorthNet is a commercial enterprise.

      Tuktoyaktuk, NWT--Inuvialuit (88%) community of 2,000 people on the Mackenzie Delta (westernmost portion of Nunavut). Called "Tuk" by locals. (Formerly was Port Brabant, where whalers docked, until they killed off most of the whales). Diseases from sailors killed off all the original Inuit; the place was resettled by others from the interior. Now it's the main staging area for oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea. This web page reflects non-Native entrepreneurial interest in the new Nunavut territory

      Arctic Circle--Interesting material on Inuit and Inupiat peoples, as well as on environmental conditions. A section on Social Justice relates to native land rights and stopping the exploitation of natural resources which is affecting the ability of Native peoples and their cultures to survive. Links to Arctic environmental, earth science, and other science web pages.

      Inupiat Women and Urban Life -- Women of the western Arctic have adapted better than men to the irbanization caused by the end of the hunting way of life. These women own homes, businesses, and have reached economic survival through arts and crafts. They are not an urban underclass.

      Spirit Of Inuit Enterprise -- A business assistance program with links to a number of Inuit businesses that are on-web.

      Arctic Cooperatives Ltd, Markets soapstone carvings for 4000 Inuit craftspeople

      Arctic Archaeology--a grad student at Waterloo University (Canada) is studying the Eastern Arctic Inuit's ancient remnants. Also has interesting background info on current culture, environment, and the ancient migrations of people around 600 B.C. who settled inhospitable Greenland (Kallaalit Nunaat).

      Hertitage of the NWT (mostly Inuit archaeology on Northern Canada educational network.

      Inuit Fonts--True Type fonts for PC's or Macs from Yamada Language Centre page. Click on it to download. It is a good idea to save to disk the little graphic the Yamada Language Centre provides on the web page, a graphic sample of what your new fonts should look like, in printing.

      INAC multipage Inuit sculpture illustrated essay -- an excellent (long) prsentation of the history of Inuit arts, art styles found in different regions of the Arctic, and examples of Inuit sculpture by notd artists.

      Susan Aglukark --Inuit singer, One of Sony's web pages for its recording artists. Contains a discography, background on this singer, and not really much material on her songs.

      O Siem!: unofficial Susan Aglukark page -- Fan page, more personal background on Susan and her songs

      Tudjaat -- Sony records discography and info on this Inuit music group.



      GREENLAND -- Kaalaaliit Nunaat

      Kaalaalit Nunaat --Greenland A history of the Inuit people there.

      The Nordic Book - Greenland - contents -- Info about Greenland, not much on Inuit

      Colonialism in Greenland: An Inuit Perspective -- Greenlandic Inuit scholar writes an article on how Danish colonialism has affected the Inuit people of Greenland

      Greenland Homerule Index



      ALASKA

      The Chukchi Sea Trading Company - Frames -- This is just the coolest website! Inuit women from Point Hope (isolated seacoast community in Alaska) decided to sell thir arts and crafts -- furs, mukluks, dolls, carvings -- on the web bcause tourists hardly come there. But this is so much more than just another sales gallery! They have posted transcripts of discussions held by elders meeting in the 1970's, stories by old timers of armed standoffs on oil company bulk facility battle, a big photo-essay of a whale feast: catching, cooking, eating, celebrating, where you get to meet lots of the women and some men in the community having a real big time. They really are showing and telling a great cultural-educational-interesting story there, which I hope they will keep on adding to. Pretty nice mukluks, too.

      Point Hope is a historic Native community in Alaska. In the late 1950's, the Bureau of Land Management issued the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) a license for a cockeyed and enormously dangerous scheme to use 1600 square miles around Point Hope to blast out a deep water seaport with nuclear exposives. No one ever consulted the village residents who would have to have been movd away for the blast (no environmntal considerations either). In 1961, the president of the Point Hope Village Council wrote to the Association of American Indian Affairs (AAIA) a private foundation formed to help Indians. AAIA provided funds and coordination for inter-village meetings at which rights were explained, and common solutions agreed upon. 12 regional associations of Alaska Natives were formed and began the legal process to pursue their land claims (resulting in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement of 1971). The small group of Native people of Point Hope, a remote and isolated Arctic village, played a very important role beyond the start of a land claims process for all the treatyless peoples of Alaska. Nuclear blasting in the seas of the fragile north, where currents circulate betwen the continents would have had incalulably dangerous environmental effects, probably much broader than on the ecology just of the far north, affecting the oceans, and perhaps worldwide weather and climate patterns. Point Hope began the action that stopped this -- but the area was used as a dumping ground by the AEC for hazardous nuclear wastes.

      • The Legacy of Project Chariot (the nuke project) at Cape Thompson (where Point Hope is located), Alaska. This is a very slow server and they use some big graphics. This page is just a big imagmap showing where Cape Thompson is.

      • Case Study of Project Chariot -- here's th nitty-gritty, long article on th plans, th waste dumping 30 miles from the Inupiat community, the supposed cleanup efforts. There are numerous small-sized graphics (old news clips) on this page that, since Arctic Circle doesn't bothr to reduce thir siz by jpeg compression, makes this page take over half an hour to load.

    The Inupiat Eskimo of Arctic Alaska -- Ethnograhic Portraits from Arctic Circle cultural materials

    Alaska Native Knowledge Network--Alaska Native material and some environmental material , not too much there yet. Their main idea is to collect indigenous environmental knowledge (of alaska natives) here.

    Profiles of Alaska Inuit-Aleut Communities -- Bristol Bay , AK villages Region

    North Slope Borough School District: Nunamiut School, Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska -- Caribou Inuit people have a school in Alaska interior

    A HREF="http://www.ssimicro.com/~xstacey/">Northern Light: Patricia Stacy, -- Gallery of paintings/prints by Inuvialiut, (NWT Yellowknife) artist, who is especially fond of painting the northern lights in the cold night sky

    Alaska Natives and Native Americans -- Justice and Law Links -- Claims, settlements, court cases, statutes, regulations.



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    CREDITS: : The page logo is by famed Cape Dorset (Baffin Island) Inuit artist Kenjuoak; it's a lithograph she created to honor the founding of Nunavut. TheInukshuk stone spirit figure painted against the northern lights is by Nunavut Iqualuit artist Craig Clark. The Inukshuk drawing is created by the Canadian government for its Nunavut Implementation and Transition team web page logo. The polar bear photo is by a Greenlandic tourist association. The carved wooden bear dream-web mask by Alaskan Aleut people is from the Dallas Museum of Art. Maps for this page came from several sources, in general were rescanned, traced, labeled or colored and sized for these pages by myself.

    Webmistress --Paula Giese. Explanatory text and graphics copyright 1995, 1996

    Last Updated: Tuesday, October 08, 1996 - 10:43:11 AM