Inuit Social and Historical Context Allison Crawford, MD, FRCPC Map of circumpolar peoples Source: https://www.itk.ca/publication Cultural Origins – Migration Map Source: https://www.itk.ca/publication !
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Virtual Museum: http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/ Arctic People in Canada edu/ViewLoitCollection.do?! method=preview&lang=EN&id=10028
! Map of Inuit Nunangat Source: Map of Nunavut Source: Knud Rassmussen Early 1900s
Umiaks 1875, C. Rassmussen Inuit Oral History
“Southerners don’t want to understand Inuit ways. They’re ignorant about our culture, don’t consider our opinion and treat us like we know nothing. Inuit culture is oral and we keep knowledge in our minds. Even without text, our culture is full of wisdom”
Rita Nashook, Iqaluit quoted in Keavy Martin
Richard Harrington, 1949 /Library and Archives Canada/PA-140582 Inuit Oral History
"I have been asked by many people about how long the Inuit have lived in our lands. I tell them that I don’t have to know the answer to that question because we have been here from the beginning. That is what our stories are all about, and it is how we were taught to understand our world."
T.Q. Kanaksuk, April, 1979 http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/edu/
Nunavut Qajanartuk. Kenojuak Ashevak, 1992 Contact and Colonization
1500s CONTACT European explorers
1700s Whaling 1800s COLONIZATION with establishment of permanent whaling stations
1850 Decline of whaling
Late Missionaries 1800s Fur trapping economy established
1909 Hudson Bay Trading Co expands posts into Arctic
This 1715 map is highly suggestive of European attitudes towards the polar regions. It is completely surrounded by scenes from the Arctic whaling industry, a reminder of the fortunes to be made in this inhospitable land (Library and Archives Canada, NMC 21059) Contact and Colonization
early 1900s RCMP established posts
1950s Settlement
Social Welfare credit
Education, including residential school
1953 Government-sponsored relocation to Grise Fiord in High Arctic
1955 Relocation to Resolute Bay
Medical treatment in southern facilities (TB)
1951, Craig Harbour, NWT [Nunavut]. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Wilfred Doucette, National Film Board of Canada, PA-176633 Mobility and Settlement
Thomas Kublu Source: http://www.qtcommission.com Relocation
Emily Takatak Source: http://www.qtcommission.com Schooling
July Papatsie Source: http://www.qtcommission.com
Children in school in Iqaluit (then Frobisher Bay), summer 1959 Inuit Power Curve Source: Nunavut Sivuniksavut Nunavut: Land Claims Process and Self Government
1960s Inuit and Eskimo Association
1971 Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (“Inuit will be united in Canada”) founded by Tagak Curley
1976 Inuit present the Nunavut proposal to federal government
1982 NWT referendum supports creation of Nunavut
1993 Canadian parliament passes the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and Nunavut Act Establishment of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI) to ensure land claims agreement is upheld
1999 April 1, territory of Nunavut joins the federation of Canada
Nunavut Coat of Arms Medical System Inuit woman looking past tupik and qarmat towards C.G.S. C.D.HOWE anchored in Pangnirtung Fiord, July 1951. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Wilfred Doucette, National Film Board of Canada, Still Photography Division, PA-166461 Inuit board the C.G.S. C.D. Howe, Eastern Arctic patrol vessel for medical examination and eye check, July 1951. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Wilfred Doucette, National Film Board of Canada, Still Photography Division, PA-189646. C.D. Howe
Thomas Kublu Source: http://www.qtcommission.com Inuit traveling south to the tuberculosis sanatorium in Hamilton, Ontario - note the identification envelopes Inuit were required to wear around their necks (This undated image was published in issue #70 of Inuktitut Magazine in 1989 with photo credit given to Public Archives Canada) Source: https://www.itk.ca Mountain Sanatorium, Hamilton, ON
1955, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library. Strange Ladies. 2006 Pitaloosie Saila, Cape Dorset Current Health System Social Determinants of Health Current Health Indicators Resources
Further Reading
Internet Resources