AIS 100: Introduction to American Indian Studies

inuitd2.jpg (10811 bytes)

QUEBEC INUIT

      The Inuit is the original word used by Arctic people who were labeled Eskimo (Algonkian for 'eaters of raw meat'). The term Inuit means 'the people' has is more accepted, especially in Canada. Some groups in Alaska changed from Eskimo to Yupik. There were originally 17 different dialects of Inuit and Yupik peoples living around the Arctic Circle from Siberia to Greenland. The Inuit, Yupik, and their neighbors to the south the Aleut are Native Americans, not American Indian. They all came from Siberia about 7,000-9,000 years ago and continued an age old tradition of hunting and gathering in the Far North as they spread east across Canada as far as eastern Greenland. The Quebec Inuit live above the 55th parallel or Arctic region of Quebec called Nunavik, with the people calling themselves Nunavimmuit.  The people consisted of three geographical bands that spoke two dialects of the language spoken in the Eastern and Western Canadian Arctic called Inuktitut.

 
Band Translation Area
Tarramiut "people of the shady side" NW of Ungava Bay
Siquinirmiut "people of the sunny side SE of Ungava Bay
Itivimiut "people of the other side" E side of Hudson Bay

The Canadian Inuit are generally divided into five regions; with the fifth being Greenland Inuit. Greenland still belongs to Denmark. Alaska has Inuit, Yupik and related Aleut people. Therefore the Quebec Inuit are one of the main Canadian Inuit groups.

I. Origins

     The Quebec Inuit are derived from the Thule culture who were ancient whalers of the Alaskan Arctic who migrated  about A.D. 1000-1450 to the Eastern Canadian Arctic.  They displaced the Dorset culture that had occupied the coastal regions as early as 500 B.C.  with what is referred to as the Arctic Small Tool Tradition. The ancestors of the the Quebec Inuit had whaling boats (umiak) and toggle harpoons that allowed them to take large sea mammals like whale, walrus and seal.

II. Traditional Culture

      Traditional culture for the Quebec Inuit continued well past initial contact from Europeans seeking a 'Northwest Passage' as early as 1610. By the mid 19th century 1850 the impact of missionaries and Hudson's Bay Fur Company began to change traditional lifestyle substantially.

 
Quebec Inuit inuith.jpg (8916 bytes) < 1850
Language Paleo-Siberian Eskimo-Aleut
Settlement Quebec Peninsula (Nunavik) Tarramiut, Siquinirmuit, Itivimuit
Economics H&G: Seasonal, dependent on Arctic Animals Summer-caribou,whaling, birds, shellfish/skin house Winter-seal, walrus/snow house-igloo
Social Band/Community Patrilineal lineage group

Patrilocal Hunting partnership

Midwife and Elder Women/conflict resolution

Shamans (Animal: Human spirits)

World View Northern Shamanic Creation Myth (Sedna)

Multiple Souls; Reincarnation; flexed burial in rock cairn

Spirit /soul in animals/geog. place; Shaman diviners

Expressed Forms Oral Traditions/Stories

Games: Blanket toss, dominoes, dice, etc.

Utilitarian: clothing, boats (kayaks/umiaks), tools, weapons, drum

Stone and Bone Carvings (amulets)

Hunter In Kayak (Samson Kingalik/Akulivik)

 

III. Contemporary Culture

Henry Hudson first stopped in 1610 along the Northern coast of Quebec at Ivujivih. The French and English vied for fur trading posts and whaling stops for two hundred years with the Hudson Bay Company prevailing. The whaling, fur trade and missionaries brought disease and economic changes.  In 1922 Robert Flaherty made what is considered the first full length documentary film, " Nanook of the North."  In the 1950s the Canadian government forced Inuit into permanent settlements for education and medical care.

       In the 1960's the Canadian government implemented a permanent settlement plans for various Inuit groups including the Quebec Inuit. Most settlements were based on trading companies, access, schools and medical facilities. The Hudson's Bay Company still continues to operate with the killing of fur-bearing animals. The Canadian Government initiated a land deal with the James Bay and Northern Quebec Convention Agreement in 1975, giving 5,300 sq miles, hunting rights and $225 million for land lost and the right for the Canadian government to put in hydroelectric plants and mining. Some Quebec Inuit oppose this and are trying to form their own Nunavik Government. Today there are 14 Quebec Inuit communities in Nunavik with a population of 10,000. Now, snowmobiles and motorboats replaced dogsleds and kayaks but a new younger population has revitalized traditional lifestyles and arts. In 1981 the Avataq Cultural Institute was formed to preserve traditional culture. In the 1990s there began an effort to create a separate government for Nunavik, which is still pending with the governments of Quebec and Canada.     

 

Links to Inuit:

Greenland Inuit

Nunatsiavut (Labrador Inuit)

Nunavik (Quebec Inuit)

Nunavut (Central Canadian Inuit)

Inuvialuit (Western Canadian Inuit)

Inupiat (Alaskan Inuit)

Inuit Art Foundation

Eric Schweig- Inuit actor

Copyright © S. J. Crouthamel