Inuit Nunangat
Inuit Nunangat (/ˈɪnjuɪtˈnunæŋæt/; Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᑦ /inuit nunaŋat/; translated as "the place where Inuit live"[2]) refers to the land, water, and ice of the homeland of Inuit in Canada. This Arctic homeland consists of four northern Canadian regions called the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq, home of the Inuvialuit and the northern portion of the Northwest Territories), the territory Nunavut (ᓄᓇᕗᑦ), Nunavik (ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) in northern Quebec, and Nunatsiavut of Newfoundland and Labrador.
This article is about the Inuit homeland in Canada. For the region known as Inuvialuit Nunangat, see Inuvialuit Settlement Region.
Inuit Nunangat
ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᑦ
Canada
3,304,740 km2 (1,275,970 sq mi)
2,484,591 km2 (959,306 sq mi)
820,149 km2 (316,661 sq mi)
58,220
0.018/km2 (0.046/sq mi)
48,695
980
325
500
7,715
Varies
Inuvialuktun
Inuinnaqtun
Inuktitut
Inuit Sign Language (Atgangmuurngniq)
Inuttitut
Etymology[edit]
Originally using the Greenlandic term "Nunaat" excluding the waters and ice, Inuit of Canada, through the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, formally switched to the Inuktitut "Nunangat" in 2009 to reflect the integral nature "land, water, and ice" have to Inuit culture.[3]
History[edit]
Inuit settlement[edit]
Aside from Métis, Inuit are the most recent Indigenous arrivals on the continent.
Inuit ancestors known as the Thule settled the Arctic, replacing the previous dominant Dorset culture (Tuniit) over the course of around 200 years. The last remnant of Tuniit were Sadlermiut who disappeared in the early 1900s. Displacement of the Tuniit (Inuktitut syllabics; ᑐᓃᑦ), or the Dorset people, and the arrival of the Inuit (whose ancestors are often called Thule) occurred in the 1100–1300s CE. Coming from Siberia where they split from the Aleut and other related peoples about 4,000 years ago, Inuit had reached Inughuit Nunaat in western Greenland by about 1300 CE, bringing with them transport dogs and various new technologies.
Trade relations were and remain strong with bordering countries and nations,[4] such as with the Gwichʼin[5] and Chipewyan (Dënesųłı̨né)[6] of Denendeh (now in the Northwest Territories) and Innu of Nitassinan (Innu: ᓂᑕᔅᓯᓇᓐ),[7] though occasional conflicts arose. Martin Frobisher's 1576 expedition to find the Northwest Passage landed on and around Baffin Island, in today's Qikiqtaaluk Region (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ), where three Inuit, a man called Calichough (Kalicho), an unrelated Inuk woman, Egnock (Arnaq), and her child, Nutioc (Nuttaaq), were kidnapped and brought to the Europe, where they all died.[8][9][10][11]
Canadian colonization[edit]
Canadian colonization extended in to Inuit Nunangat via the lands claimed as Rupert's Land, North-Western Territory and Quebec, later including Newfoundland and Labrador. Rapid spread of diseases, material wealth, the Christian churches and Canadian (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) policing[12] saw a rapid decline and collapse of Inuit Nunangat, from which it is still recovering.
Since European colonizers had little desire to settle much of Inuit Nunangat's territories, the violence experienced by southern First Nations was comparatively minimal in the north. However, assimilation policies including the wide-scale slaughter of community dogs between 1950 and 1970,[13] the High Arctic relocation[14][15] as well as forced participation within the Canadian Indian residential school system[16] has left Inuit society with language loss and transgenerational trauma.[17]
Modern era[edit]
Today, Inuit Nunangat is overseen by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑕᐱᕇᑦ ᑲᓇᑕᒥ, meaning either "Inuit are united with Canada"[18] or "Inuit are united in Canada"[19]) which acts as a cultural centre piece and quasi-central government for Inuit affairs within Canada.
While Nunavut's confederation within Canada in 1999 via the Nunavut Act and Nunavut Land Claims Agreement is most visible, each of the regions of Inuit Nunangat. The Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuinnaqtun: Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq) came under the jurisdiction of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation two years after the 1984 Inuvialuit Final Agreement, and Nunatsiavut was granted an autonomous government in 2005 after the 2002 Labrador Inuit Association proposal for a separate government. Beginning with a land claim in 1977, negotiations launched in 1988 between the Labrador Inuit Association, the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador and that of Canada. In Northern Quebec, the Makivik Corporation was established upon the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement signing in 1978, taking the mantle from the previous Nunavimmiut organization, the "Northern Quebec Inuit Association" (ᑯᐸᐃᒃ ᑕᕐᕋᖓᓂ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑲᑐᔾᔨᖃᑎᒌᖏᑦ Kupaik Tarrangani Inuit Katujjiqatigiingit).
The Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee (ICPC) was created in 2017 and last met on April 21, 2022. At this meeting, the Canadian federal government, in partnership with the Inuit Nunangat, unanimously endorsed the federal policy called the Inuit Nunangat Policy (INP).[20] In a live address shortly after this meeting, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said the policy "recognizes the Inuit homeland as a distinct geographical, cultural and political region," which includes the "land, sea, and ice."[20]
Law[edit]
Inuit Nunangat currently functions through a variety of legal systems. As a Canadian jurisdiction, all of Inuit Nunangat falls under the federally overseen Criminal Code for criminal law. Inuvialuit Nunangat in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, Nunavut, and Nunatsiavut in Labrador are all subject to the English common law tradition. Nunavik, falling under the jurisdiction of Quebec, follows the civil law tradition as it pertains to private law. Finally, Inuit largely still follow Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit traditions, recognizing the interconnected nature of reality. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᑐᖃᖏᑦ, alternatively rendered Qaujimanituqangit or Qauyimayatuqangit), comes from the root word qaujima- (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᐅᔨ) meaning "to know," and could be literally translated as "that which has long been known by Inuit." Leaders and Elders did not see themselves as agents of social control or law and order, as each individual contributes to the functioning of the community.[99] The integration of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (or IQ) and the wider Canadian legal tradition is an ongoing process. For example, the Nunavut Court of Justice is the only "unified," single-level court in Canada, and the court travels to communities every six weeks to two years. There are also on-the-land, restorative justice, and contemporary healing circle programs administered.[100]