Inuit—Who Are They? What Are They Doing?STUDY CANADA Summer Institute for (the best ever!) K-12 Educators

30 June 2014, Montréal, Québecpresented by Nadine C. Fabbi, Canadian Studies Center

Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattlepart of the Pacific Northwest National Resource Center for the Study of Canada

Lost in the Storm, 2001Napachie Pootoogook

Napachie Pootoogook (1938-2002)

1. Who are Inuit? Where are Inuit?2. Arctic/Inuit in the Imagination of the Qallunaat (400 BCE to 1600)3. History of Contact (1600 to 20th century)4. 20th Century Political Mobilization (1960s forward)5. 21st Century Influence

Arctic Council Members, Nuuk, Greenland, May 2011

Silent Hunter, by Kananginak, 2002

1. Who are Inuit?Where are Inuit?

Arctic Circle - parallel of latitude – approx. 66˚1/6th of earth’s surface4 million people / 400,000 indigenous

© 2005-08, Geology.com, produced by Brad Cole

Eight Arctic nation-states.

Indigenous peoples in the North.

Norwegian Polar Institute.

12 language families altogether.

North America:1. Eskimo-Aleut2. Athabaskan3. Algonkian

Norwegian Polar Institute.

Inuit globally.

Chukchi Inuit

© Bryan & Cherry Alexander

Arctic Council Members, Nuuk, Greenland, May 2011

35 million Canadians

1.8 million indigenous

4.3% total population

First Nations (850,000)

Métis (450,000)

Inuit (60,000 – 4.2% indigenous population

(census 2011)

First Nations

12,000-24,000 years ago

Inuit migration

4,000 years ago

Kananginak Pootoogook (1977))Hunter's Camp

Land + Climate = Culture

Eskimo - “eaters of raw meat”

inuksuk ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ inuksuit ᐃᓄᒃᓱᐃᑦ

Man Harnessing DogSaila, 1985, $35025 x 32”19/50

“Crossing the River by Kayak” (27/30) - stonecutLeah Qumaluk, 1973Povungnituk, Nunavik

Couple w/ Snow Goggles, Helen Kalvak - Holman Island, 1982

Woman Today (1989), Napachie Pootoogook

2. Arctic/Inuit in the Imagination of the Qallunaat (400 BCE to 1600)

Pytheas 4th century BCE

Thule / Ultima Thule

Carta Marina, 1539Magnus, Swedish cartographer

Mercator 1569 world map

Mercator, 1569

narwhal

Nuuk, Greenland, 2005

Rome, early 1600s

Paris, Tapestry, 15th century

King Christian IV (1577-1648)Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen

Photo, Kristen Laidre, University of Washington

Colombo - 1492Caboto - 1497

Amerigo Vespucci - 1500-04 Verrazzano - 1524/25

Cartier - 1534

“It is still the only thing left undone,” wrote Sir Martin Frobisher, “whereby a notable mind might be made famous.”

1576

Frobisher “Strait” Bay

Iqaluit

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, 1818

Franklin Expedition - 1845Terror and Erebus

John Torrington, 20 (1981)Owen Beattie, U of Alberta“Franklinalia”

http://rock.rapgenius.com/Stan-rogers-northwest-passage-lyrics

Roald Amundsen

1903-06

children dancing to whaler's jigELISAPEE ISHULUTAQ (1983)

3. History of Contact (1600 to 20th century)

1576

Frobisher “Strait” Bay

Iqaluit

up to 700, baleen “hairs”

Baleen700 hairs

1850s – early 19th century

Whaling, by Abraham Storck (1654-1708)

18th century engraving showing Dutch whalers hunting bowhead whales in the Arctic

“INUIT WHALERS,” Jeetaloo Akulukjuk (1998)

children dancing to whaler's jigELISAPEE ISHULUTAQ (1983)

Napachie Pootoogook WHALER'S EXCHANGE (1989)

Richard Harrington

White fox fur trade

Early 20th century to WWI

John Diefenbaker, 1957-63

“I see a new Canada -- a Canada of the North. This is the vision."

4. 20th Century Political Mobilization (1960s forward) – Domestic Level

Synchronized Sednas, Papiara Tukiki, 2005

Inuit Tapirisat of Canada18 February 1971

Toronto

Inuit Land Use & Occupancy Project, 1976

1993

2005

1975

1984

Nunavik - “big land”

Northern Québec

10,000 Nunavimmiut

1975 – James Bay and Northern Québec AgreementMakivik Corporation

Nunavik Creations Kuujjuak

Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping (three Inuit corp)

Nunavik Research Centre, Inukjuak

HySou

Inuvialuit - “the real people” – 150 individuals at turn of 20th century

Nunavut“our land”

1 April 1999

20% land mass

85% Inuit

“The birth of Nunavut is a significant step in Canada’s nation building. The territory’s creation is anchored in the central idea that Canada’s flexible federation supports diversity. Nunavut is both an historic and extraordinary achievement. At a time when borders are often a source of strife, the map of Canada is being redrawn in peace and partnership.”

1993

1975

1984

2005

Newfoundland and LabradorNunatsiavut, “our beautiful land”5,300 Inuit & Kablunângajuit“ethnic government”

William Andersen III and Jose Kusugak - June 2005

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, 1971

“Inuit are united in Canada”

Terry Audla

4. 20th Century Political Mobilization (1960s forward) – International Inuit

Synchronized Sednas, Papiara Tukiki, 2005

Copenhagen, Denmark

Arctic Peoples Conference, 1973

Inuit Tapirisat of Canada

Eben Hopson, Inupiat, Alaska

1977

“We Eskimo are an international community sharing common language, culture, and a common land along the Arctic coast of Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Although not a nation-state, as a people, we do constitute a nation.”

Charter of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference

Nuuk, Greenland, 1980

When I heard of Eben's death . . . I thought about the story of Moses. We all know that Moses led his people out of Egypt to find the Holy Land, the land of the Jewish people.

Bishop Jens Christian Chemnitz

Church of Greenland

Artist: Moses Wassilie

Eben Hopson

1922-1980

7 November

International Inuit Day (2006)

4. 20th Century Political Mobilization (1960s forward) – International w/ Nation-States

Synchronized Sednas, Papiara Tukiki, 2005

© 2005-08, Geology.com, produced by Brad Cole

Eight Arctic nation-states.

Arctic Council, 1996.

Murmansk Speech, 1987

1. Centralizes Arctic as new region for international cooperation

2. Singles out importance of indigenous peoples in international affairs

3. Marks first time the environment serve as the basis for global security.

International Indigenous Organizations

1. Saami Council, 19562. Inuit Circumpolar Council,

19773. Russian Association of

Indigenous Peoples of the North, 1990

4. Aleut International Association, 1998

5. Gwich’in Council International, 1999

6. Arctic Athabascan Council, 2000

Cartographer / Designer, Philippe Rekacewicz, 2005

Nuuk, Greenland, 2011 – policy-shaping to policy makingAgreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic

Council Members

Permanent Observers1. France2. Germany3. Netherlands4. Poland 5. Spain6. United Kingdom

2013 … 1. India2. South Korea3. Japan4. China5. Singapore6. Italy

5. 21st Century Influence – Climate Change & Human Rights

Owl Incognito, 2008, Ohotaq Mikkigak

Influence on politics of climate change

Arctic Council &International Arctic Science Committee, 2004

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, President Inuit Circumpolar Council, 2002-06

Kuujjuak, Nunavik, Québec

- 7 December 2005, Inter-American Commission for Human Rights- charges US for human rights abuses, ¼ greenhouse 5% population- violation of the cultural and environmental rights of Inuit as guaranteed in Declaration (1948)

Sheila Watt-Cloutier

This was the first international legal action on climate change.The Inuit effectively transformed the politics of climate change.The Inuit put a human face on climate change.

5. 21st Century Influence – Inuit Foreign Policy

© 2005-08, Geology.com, produced by Brad Cole

Canada 2000/2010

Finland 2010/2013

Norway 2006/2009

Russia 2008

U.S. 1994/2009/2013

Denmark 2008

Iceland 2011 Sweden 2011

Inuit Circumpolar Council 2009 & 2011

Influence on foreign policy

“Sovereignty … used to refer to the absolute and independent authority of a community or nation … Sovereignty is a contested concept, however … old ideas of sovereignty are breaking down as different governance models, such as the European Union, evolve.” Article 2.1

5. 21st Century Influence – Challenges to Domestic Arctic Policy

New MapInuit Nunaat, 2005Inuit Nunangat, 2009

Canada’s Northern Strategy: Our North, Our Heritage, Our Future26 July 2009

“Inuit find it unacceptable that a map labeled 'Canada's North' on pages six and

seven leaves out all the Inuit communities in Nunavik (Northern Quebec) - where I live - as well as those in Nunatsiavut (Northern

Labrador).”

Mary Simon, PresidentInuit Tapiriit Kanatami

New MapInuit Nunaat, 2005Inuit Nunangat, 2009

Northwest Passage

Inuit Printmaking – James A. Houston

Cape Dorset, NunavutJames Houston

Un’ichi Hiratsuka“Owl,” 1967

Sōsaku hanga movement

Kenojuak Ashevak, “The Enchanted Owl,” 1960http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/tresors-treasures/?page_id=2605&lang=enhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ9cgA8VjIk

Stiletto (2010)Kavavaow Mannomee

Inuit – Who They Are, What They are Doing?

Thank you!

Merci!

Nakurmiik!