“Going through the front door is always the best option when working with Inuit,” says ITK President Natan Obed
Politicians and industry both in Canada and afar have their sights on the arctic. For the Inuit who have called this place home for centuries, there’s real concern on what the future holds. CBC The Current spoke with President Natan Obed, ITK, and Jeremy Tunraluk, President of NTI.
Tuberculosis rates remain high in Nunavik, despite a 2018 pledge to halve rates by 2025 and eradicate the disease by 2030.
ITK will host its presidential election on September 18, 2025, following ITK’s Annual General Meeting to be held in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut
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.
