BEFORE HE DIED IN 2010, Naalak Nappaaluk loved being on a boat at sea, hunting beluga. The Kangiqsujuaq elder always brought a gun, but he preferred using his unaaq (harpoon), especially for bearded seal, says his daughter, Qiallak Nappaaluk.
HUNTING HAS ALWAYS been foundational to Inuit values, perspectives, and ways of life. Hunting, and the knowledge, skills, values, language, and expertise related to hunting, are not taught in our school systems.
HERMAN AND CAROL OYAGAK first met at Kivgiq; an Iñupiat drum dancing celebration hosted in Utqiaġvik on Alaska’s North Slope.
YOU ARE SIX years old, and you’re greeted by a stranger who says they’re your therapist.
“Welcome to the playroom, you can do just about anything in here, and if there is anything you can’t do, I will let you know,” says the stranger.
MY FATHER CAUGHT his first fish and his first caribou here. It’s also where I got my first black bear and where I grew up hunting birds and other animals. This place is called Tasiraq, a lake close to my home village of Kangiqsujuaq.
FOR BRADEN KALUN JOHNSTON, it just makes sense to have a collection of uluit, Inuit art prints on his walls, and a freezer full of country food like tuktu and maktaaq in his urban Inuk household.
IN THE VAST expanse of Nunavut, where the land stretches out like an endless white canvas and the sky meets the horizon in a seamless blend of blue and white, the tradition of qimussiq, or dog sledding, runs deep in the veins of Inuit.
AFTER RUNNING AWAY from residential school, Bernard Andreason and his two best friends began a stressful 130‐ kilometre journey from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. Bernard was the only one to survive.
IN THE 1960’S, Gwich’in Elder Edith Josie of Old Crow, Yukon, would write a column for the Whitehorse Star called, “Here Are The News.” She reported on the comings and goings of her tiny, isolated village.
It’s about an hour by Honda from town to Starvation Cove, a fishing spot near Cambridge Bay where Chef Tasha Tologanak likes to source her Arctic char.
IT WAS THE MID-70S and Gerry Kisoun was stationed with the RCMP in Calgary, Alberta, when he first heard about negotiations for a Western Arctic land claim that would become the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. He had relatives visiting for political meetings to the city he calls “the heart of oil and gas activity in North America.”
