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Nunavut's indigenous people call themselves Inuit, which means the people in their native tongue of Inuktitut. The Inuit have inhabited the Arctic for thousands of years with a lineage dating back to the Arctic-Small-Tool-Tradition people, who came from Asia over 5000 years ago; the Dorset, who invented the snow house; and the Thule, who migrated from the northern coast of Alaska about 1000 years ago. The remains of Thule villages – tent rings of large stones, semi-subterranean houses and whale bone-based structures – are found throughout Nunavut today. |
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| The Inuit's most recent ancestors lived in small groups, used dogsleds, cooked their food on stone lamps (qulliq) in the winter, hunted from skin boats (qajaq) and used skin tents when the lack of snow kept them from building igloos. The arrival of traders in the Arctic drastically changed that way of life as the Inuit learned to use things like rifles and later skidoos and ATVs. |
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| Today's Inuit live in two worlds. Their traditional nomadic life has given way to a more community-based lifestyle complete with office jobs. They live in southern-style homes, watch cable television, fly by jet, and travel in snowmobiles. Despite these changes, the Inuit's passion for the land perseveres. In the spring, entire communities empty as people return to the wilderness to embrace their traditional lifestyle of hunting, fishing and sharing. In keeping with their long-held custom of sharing, the Inuit invite you to come and share their passion for the land, and to experience their ways as they celebrate their history, their lifestyle and their powerful bond with nature. |
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