Our culture

Archeologists believe that groups of Palaeo-Eskimo, Dorset Eskimo, Thule and Inuit peoples progressively spread across Nunavik over the last 4,500 years. The Thule, who are the direct ancestors of the Inuit, arrived in the area around the year 1000 C.E. Effective survival techniques allowed them to thrive in the harsh Arctic climate. With a primarily nomadic lifestyle, the Thule lived along the coast and relied on hunting—and ingenuity—for their subsistence.

At the time of first contact with Europeans, the Inuit lived in small family groups, autonomous and nomadic, traveling each season in search of food. Survival and the satisfaction of material needs depended on hunting, fishing and gathering. They searched for caribou, fish, marine mammals, and occasionally collected bird eggs and berries to survive.

The Inuit have developed unique and remarkable skills associated with living off nature. Moreover, to survive in their environment, they had to invent unique technologies such as the igloo, the kayak, the ulu (knife used by women), the qulliq (soapstone lamp), fur clothing and harpoons with detachable head. Completely self-sufficient, the Inuit migrated from place to place based on environmental variations and annual cycles of availability of land and marine mammals.

The life of the Inuit in the Ungava region was most of the time extremely difficult. Finding enough to eat, whether it was searching for caribou inland or catching seals at the edge of the ice floes, was a daily struggle. In times of scarcity, the Inuit hunted ptarmigan or caught fish, when these resources were available. Their long-term survival, however, depended on the abundance of caribou and seals, two species that allowed them not only to feed themselves, but also to build shelters, clothing and a source of fuel.

With the arrival of European fur traders, Inuit life began to adapt and move away from purely subsistence harvesting to focus more on trapping fur for commercial purposes. Quickly, the Inuit became dependent on trapping furs to meet new basic needs: guns, tea, tobacco and flour. As this dependence grew, more time was spent at the trading posts which gradually included a mission and a police station. This is how the process of settling the Inuit into communities began.

Inuktitut, this native language spoken in the Canadian Arctic, fits into a variety of Inuit dialects spoken from Alaska to Greenland. According to Statistics Canada, Inuktitut is the second most widely spoken Aboriginal language in Canada, with the Cree language in first place. Before first contact with Europeans, Inuktitut did not have a writing system. In fact, in the 1840s, the syllabic script was created for the Cree by James Evans, a Manitoba missionary. This system, whose symbols represent a combination of consonants and vowels, was later adapted to Inuktitut, both in Nunavut and Nunavik, by missionaries and the Inuit themselves. Inuktitut also has a spelling based on the Roman alphabet: qaluijarpait (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2020).

The maintenance of the Inuktitut language was threatened when many children began to attend residential schools which strictly prohibited speaking the language (Pauktuutit, 2006). However, structures have been established to ensure that the Inuktitut language is kept alive and strong and that Inuit culture is maintained and strengthened. In fact, Inuktitut is one of the very few Indigenous languages ​​in the world that is not in danger of being lost (Pauktuutit, 2006). In Nunavik, Inuktitut is the most widely used language in communities and is taught in school at the elementary and secondary levels. The majority of Inuit are also able to communicate in English or French. During the first two years of elementary school, the language of instruction is Inuktitut. During the following years, instruction is given in French or English, depending on the choice of the children and parents. For the 2014-2015 school year, approximately 2,770 students were enrolled in elementary and secondary schools (Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, 2018).

Traditional hunting and fishing are an integral part of the cultural identity of the Inuit. Long before the arrival of the first Europeans, the Inuit maintained a semi-nomadic way of life; they thus lived by hunting, fishing and gathering while moving through their territory. The caribou have always been the land mammal considered the most essential to the well-being of the Inuit and used for several purposes: building shelters with skin and bones, making clothing from fur, a source of meat, etc.

Despite the sedentary nature and environment of most Inuit in the 20th century, they still live in harmony and interdependence with nature and their environment. Hunting and fishing techniques and technologies that allow them to access country food have evolved over time, but these practices remain rooted in their culture. In addition, under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Convention (JBNQA) and the James Bay and New Quebec Lands Hunting and Fishing Rights Act (QRL, c D-13.1), Inuit now have an exclusive right to hunt and fish on Category I and II lands.

Gathering, hunting and fishing are at the very heart of the Inuit way of life. Traditionally, and still today, hunting activities were mainly carried out by men, except for seabird hunting where women participated. Fishing is carried out by both men and women. However, it is the women who harvest the eggs of seabirds and plants, especially berries. In fact, Inuit women have ecological knowledge about berries: they have a remarkable understanding of the environmental impact on fruit production (Simard-Gagnon, 2013). Most of the plants that are part of Inuit life play a key role in maintaining their health, but also their cultural identity (Dubois, 2018).

There are several berry-producing species in Nunavik: cloudberry (aqpik, Rubus chamaemorus), blueberries (kigutangirnaq, Vaccinium uliginosum), lingonberries (kimminaq, Vaccinium vitis-idaea) and crowberry (paurngaq, Empetrum nigrum) (Simard-Gagnon, 2013). In Nunavik, the first berries, blueberries and crowberries, appear from late July until the first frost in September, sometimes even October. In August, Inuit gatherers frequent the tundra in search of aqpik. This bay is so popular that its name has been given to the biggest music festival in Nunavik: the Aqpik Jam. The festival is held during the second week of August to coincide with the ripening and harvesting of aqpik. Later in October, lingonberries, commonly known as baby cranberries, are harvested. These can also be harvested the following spring when they are soaked with water from the snowmelt (Dubois, 2018).

Inuit prepare a fruit salad very specific to them: the suvalik. This salad composed of berries is mixed with a kind of mayonnaise made from fish roe and misiraq, a fermented seal oil (Dubois, 2018)

The 14 northern Inuit villages of Nunavik are municipal entities established under the Kativik Law. The powers and obligations of the villages are comparable to those defined for all the municipalities in Quebec. The largest communities are Kuujjuaq, Puvirnituq, Salluit and Inukjuak.

All the villages of Nunavik have public services as well as telecommunications and television broadcasting services. Each municipality provides services comparable to those of municipalities in the rest of Quebec: drinking water, management of wastewater and household waste, road and urban planning services, electricity, airport, churches, primary and secondary schools, dispensary or local community service centers (CLSC) (depending on the village), police station, post office, daycare, community radio, sports center, community center and others.

These communities are not linked by a road system between them; travel by plane, boat or snowmobile between communities is therefore necessary. The same goes for the food supply to communities, which is carried out either by plane all year round or by boat in summer.

Katajjaniq is the throat singing practice of the Inuit of Nunavik; a distinctive expression of the Inuit culture of Nunavik and a component of their cultural heritage. This is a generally competitive and friendly practice, where two women face each other, sometimes holding their shoulders or arms so that they are very close to each other. Alternately, the two women emit guttural and vocal cannon sounds. These sounds overlap and mimic wind, water, animal calls and other everyday sounds. The game stops when one of them gasps or laughs.

This playful practice bears witness to a long oral tradition of the women of Nunavik. Formerly confined to their shelter during extreme cold when the men were hunting, the women were entertained by the practice of throat singing. The transmission of knowledge about the nature and the environment associated with katajjaniq was done by women from generation to generation. Throat singing was also practiced at seasonal festivals, and even to soothe or lull children to sleep.

Social changes associated with sedentarization in the 1950s had the effect of disrupting the transmission of traditional knowledge, as well as the practice of katajjaniq. Nevertheless, since the 1960s and 1970s, Nunavimmiut have reappropriated the transmission of cultural practices, including katajjaniq.

The act of sculpting is translated "sananguaq" or "sananguagaq" in Inuktitut: "sana" meaning "to do" and "nguaq" refers to the concept of "model, imitation, resemblance". In Nunavik, a narrative spirit is characteristic of Inuit sculpture. The sculptures of this region consist of many details, more or less realistic, which are added to various scenes of everyday life, to the characters and to the animals that are depicted.

As the fur trade collapsed in the early 1950s, many Inuit who were beginning to settle down turned to sculpture for income. Although for many, sculpture is seen as traditional among the Inuit, this activity is more the result of southerners' infatuation with this art during the 20th century. Although the sculpture trade developed mainly after the mid-20th century, sculpture was nonetheless a common currency between the Inuit and whalers in the 19th century. In fact, at the time, the Inuit carved when weather conditions prevented them from hunting or when foreigners arrived to barter for new goods.

The Inuit also carved to make hunting and fishing tools, as well as utensils, containers and toys. The “qulliq”, the oil lamp carved out of soapstone, is an example. Some pieces were carved from ivory, bone, antler, and sometimes even driftwood, but the most common medium was "soapstone," or stones from the peridotite family. These are stones of metamorphic origins composed, among other things, of mineral talc derived from magnesium silicate. They are therefore particularly tender and work easily, just like soap. These stones are sometimes gray, sometimes green. Near Ivujivik, other stones are used: usually an ocher colored limestone.

Today, some Inuit use power tools and power grindstones to carve. However, the sequence of tools for carving remains the same. First, the stone is roughened with an ax or adze until the desired volumes are obtained for the sculpture, then the volumes and details are defined with knives and gouges. The pieces are then filed to be flattened or rounded, then sanded and polished with abrasives. Occasionally, the finish is completed with the addition of a wax (often of the "shoe polish" type).

As the fur trade collapsed in the early 1950s, many Inuit who were beginning to settle down turned to sculpture for income. Although for many, sculpture is seen as traditional among the Inuit, this activity is more the result of southerners' infatuation with this art during the 20th century. Although the sculpture trade developed mainly after the mid-20th century, sculpture was nonetheless a common currency between the Inuit and whalers in the 19th century. In fact, at the time, the Inuit carved when weather conditions prevented them from hunting or when foreigners arrived to barter for new goods.

The Inuit also carved to make hunting and fishing tools, as well as utensils, containers and toys. The “qulliq”, the oil lamp carved out of soapstone, is an example. Some pieces were carved from ivory, bone, antler, and sometimes even driftwood, but the most common medium was "soapstone," or stones from the peridotite family. These are stones of metamorphic origins composed, among other things, of mineral talc derived from magnesium silicate. They are therefore particularly tender and work easily, just like soap. These stones are sometimes gray, sometimes green. Near Ivujivik, other stones are used: usually an ocher colored limestone.

Dog sledding as a means of transportation in winter is a method invented by the indigenous peoples of the North. Often, to shoot on snow, the team consists of 2 to 12 dogs, sometimes more. These are either tied in pairs to a rope connected to the sled, or each dog is attached to the sled by its own line, thus forming a fan hitch. Lead dogs take voice commands from the handler, leading the rest of the team. Even though there are many origin stories of the word “musher”, one of them refers to the first French Canadian drivers to use the dog sled in the North shouted "Marche!" to encourage their team to move forward. Some sources report that the English explorers, having misunderstood the cry of the French speakers and heard "mush", therefore called the dog sled drivers "mushers". To pull heavy loads, the Inuit invented the qamutik, a heavy sled that could be used over rough terrain (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2020).

For the Inuit, the dogs were not reduced to a means of transportation. They were an important part of the hunting tradition, occasionally spotting prey the hunter had not seen, and then helping bring food back to camp. Some dogs were even able to detect the seal vents on the ice floes. Also, several stories tell of dogs saving the lives of their owners by finding their way home during blizzard conditions (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2020).

The arrival of Europeans in Nunavik has profoundly transformed the way of life of the Inuit, Cree and Naskapi.

It was not until the beginning of the 17th century that the presence of Europeans became relatively continuous. Following the commercial success of the establishment of a first trading post on the Rupert River in 1668, the Husdon's Bay Company (HBC) was founded in 1670. Subsequently, ships from Europe plied the waters of Hudson Strait almost every summer to resupply HBC posts in James Bay and Hudson Bay.

The Inuit, whose travel was previously used primarily for subsistence, changed their habits to meet the demands of the fur trade by placing an important place in trapping in their annual cycle. After World War II, the value of arctic fox fur fell drastically, causing considerable loss of income for the Inuit. This period also coincided with a drastic decline in caribou in the Arctic regions of eastern Canada, placing the Inuit in crisis. The Canadian government then put measures in place to administer the Arctic and its inhabitants with the objective of integrating the Inuit into Canadian society: financing the construction of houses, families are encouraged to send their children to school. by receiving family allowances, etc. The Inuit are thus encouraged to settle in communities. One effect of this sedentarization was to provoke a loss of cultural references among the Inuit (Lévesque, 2010).

Despite this sedentarization, the Inuit have not given up on moving and hunting. In addition, one of the consequences of this new community life is the concentration of many dogs within it. These dogs are rarely tethered since the Inuit consider that this promotes their socialization. For the Canadian government, there is therefore a “dog problem” in Nunavik. Dog control in Nunavik was introduced in the 1950s and 1960s to ensure the safety of local populations and prevent the transmission of disease. First, the Canadian government demands, as in the Northwest Territories, that owners tie up their dogs and allow the RCMP to kill those who stray. When the Quebec government began to administer Nunavik, it made changes to the legislation that allowed it to kill stray dogs year round. The Inuit suffered from these measures. It was difficult for them to continue their hunting and trapping activities with a reduced number of dogs, and thus to travel in the territory. Moreover, in Inuit culture, the dog is an integral part of society; their elimination was thus harshly perceived (Lévesque, 2010).

Also, with the sedentarization measures imposed during the 20th century, the maintenance of the Inuktitut language was threatened when many children began to attend residential schools which strictly prohibited speaking the language. These residential schools caused a wide range of harm and hardship for Inuit as they disrupted the transmission of traditional culture and values, weakened the bond between generations, and caused immense grief and frustration for many families. In addition, at this time, responsibilities for many aspects of Inuit life were no longer assumed within the family, but were taken on by anonymous government agencies and employees often living in remote towns. These factors caused considerable stress and strain in Inuit society and created a legacy of social ills that continue to resonate today (Pauktuutit, 2006).

As contact with foreigners intensified in the 20th century, the culture of the Inuit, Cree and Naskapi began to change and adapt to the modern world.

Settlement of Inuit in communities

From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, the Canadian Arctic, including the Ungava, has been the subject of an unprecedented government presence. A series of social programs was set up to provide health, housing, education and development services economic in the North. Encouraging the Inuit to move away from their nomadic way of life and settle in permanent communities has been a central element of this strategy (MacDonald, 2010).

Such a relocation policy has had serious consequences for the Inuit population, shaping almost every aspect of its recent social history. A major shift has thus been initiated: the Inuit, relatively autonomous in the context of their nomadic life, have become, at least initially, almost totally dependent on government programs and services offered in the communities.

Adjusting to the sedentary life which was totally foreign to them proved to be very difficult. Previously living nomadically within large family groups, Inuit suddenly found themselves gathered in communities, their traditional forms of leadership and decision-making largely replaced by those of civil servants recruited from the south. Under such conditions, Inuit culture, language, traditional values ​​and practical knowledge crumbled and endemic social unrest took hold (MacDonald, 2010).

The signing of the JBNQA in 1975 and that of the NEQA in 1978 marked an important stage in life.

Inuit, Cree and Naskapi, finally giving them greater political autonomy.