Caribou Inuit

Bands

Ahialmiut relied on caribou year-round. They spent summers on the Qamanirjuaq calving grounds at Qamanirjuaq Lake ("huge lake adjoining a river at both ends") and spent winters following the herd to the north.

Akilinirmiut were located in the Thelon River area by the Akiliniq Hills (A-ki, meaning "the other side") to the north of Beverly Lake and also visible above Aberdeen Lake. Some lived northwest of Baker Lake (Qamani'tuuaq), along with Qairnirmiut and Hauniqturmiut. Many relocated to Aberdeen Lake because of starvation or education opportunities.

Hanningajurmiut, or Hanningaruqmiut, or Hanningajulinmiut {"the people of the place that lies across"} lived at Garry Lake, south of the Utkuhiksalingmiut. Many Hanningajurmiut starved in 1958 when the caribou bypassed their traditional hunting grounds, but the 31 who survived were relocated to Baker. Most never returned permanently to Garry Lake.

Harvaqtuurmiut were a northern group located in the region of Kazan River, Yathkyed Lake, Kunwak River, Beverly Lake, and Dubawnt River. By the early 1980s, most lived at Baker Lake.

Hauneqtormiut, or Hauniqtuurmiut, or Kangiqliniqmiut, ("dwellers where bones abound") were a smaller band who lived near the coast, south of Qairnirmiuts, around the Wilson River and Ferguson River. By the 1980s, they were absorbed into subgroups at Whale Cove and Rankin Inlet.

Ihalmiut ("people from beyond"), or Ahiarmiut ("the out-of-the-way dwellers") were located at the banks of the Kazan River, Ennadai Lake, Little Dubawnt Lake (Kamilikuak), and north of Thlewiaza (Kugjuaq; "Big River"). Relocations in the 1950s included to Henik Lake, Whale Cove, and by the 1980s, most were in Eskimo Point.

Paallirmiut ("people of the willow"), or Padlermiut ("people from the Padlei River region"), or Padleimiut were the most populous band. They were located south of the Hauniqtuurmiut and Harvaqtuurmiut bands. Paallirmiut were split into a coast-visiting (Arviat) subgroup who spent the hunting season on the lower Maguse River, and an interior subgroup who stayed year-round in the Yathkyed Lake to Dubawnt Lake area. After Hudson's Bay Company ships discontinued trading the Keewatin coast in 1790, Paallirmiut traveled to Fort Prince of Wales for trade. The Arvia'juaq and Qikiqtaarjuk National Historic Site is the band's historic summer camping site. By the 1980s, most lived in Eskimo Point (Arviat).

Qaernermiut ("dwellers of the flat land"), or Qairnirmiut ("bedrock people"), or Kinipetu (Franz Boas, 1901), or Kenepetu, a northern group, were located from the sea coast between Chesterfield Inlet to Rankin Inlet across to their main area around Baker Lake and some even to Beverly Lake. By the early 1980s, most lived at Baker Lake.

Utkuhiksalingmiut ("people who have cooking pots"), were located in the Chantrey Inlet area around the Back River, near Baker Lake. They made their pots (utkusik) from soapstone of the area, therefore their name. Their dialect is a variant of Natsilingmiutut, spoken by the Netsilik.

Origin

Lacking an early written language, Caribou Inuit pre-history is unclear. There are three main theories:

1. Caribou Inuit are the descendents of an interior Eskimo culture that spread in Arctic North America and Greenland. (Birket-Smith, 1930; Rasmussen, 1930; Czonka, 1995)
2. Caribou Inuit are the descendents of Thule people who had migrated from Alaska. (Mathiassen, 1927)
3. Caribou Inuit were the 17th century descendents of a migratory subgroup of Copper Inuit from the arctic coast. (Taylor, 1972; Burch, 1978) While this is the most current hypothesis, it is still unproven. (Czonka, 1998)

History

Caribou Inuit ancestors originally went back and forth between the Barrenlands to hunt the Beverly and the Qamanirjuaq ("Kaminuriak") caribou herds during seasonal migrations; and the Hudson Bay (Tariurjuaq) for whaling and to fish during the winters. The Chipewyan Sayisi Dene were caribou hunters also, but they stayed inland year-round. Because of waning caribou populations during extended periods, including the 18th century, the Dene moved away from the area, and the Caribou Inuit began to live inland year-round harvesting enough caribou to get through winters without reliance on coastal life.

Regular contact began around 1717 after the establishment of a permanent settlement in Churchill, Manitoba. The contact included access to guns, along with an introduction to trapping and whaling. Christian missionary, Father Alphonse Gasté, made diary notes about peaceful relations between settled Caribou Inuit and migratory Dene that he met along the Kazan River in the late 19th century. Explorer Joseph Tyrrell estimated the "Caribou Eskimo" numbered nearly 2,000 when he led the Geological Survey of Canada's Barren Lands expeditions of 1893 and 1894. Eugene Arima classifies the Hauniqtuurmiut, Ha'vaqtuurmiut, Paallirmiut, and Qairnirmiut as Caribou Inuit "southern, latter" bands: through the end of the 19th century, they were primarily coastal saltwater hunters, but with firearm ammunition from commercial whalers, they were able to live inland year-round hunting caribou without augmenting their diet on sea life. (Arima 1975)

Regular trade dates to the early 20th century and missionaries arrived soon thereafter, developing a written language, challenged by a variety of pronunciations and naming rules. In the Arctic spring of 1922, explorer/anthropologist Kaj Birket-Smith and Rasmussen encountered and reported on the lives of Harvaqtuurmiut and Paallirmiut. Some hunting years were better than others as resident caribou and migratory herds grew or declined, but Caribou Inuit populations dwindled through the decades. Starvation was not uncommon. During a bleak period in the 1920s, some of the Caribou Inuit made their way to Hudson's Bay Company outposts and small, scattered villages on their own. In the early 1950s the Canadian media reported the starvation deaths of 60 Caribou Inuit. The government was slow to act but in 1959 moved the surviving 60, of around the 120 that were alive in 1950, to settlements such as Baker Lake and Eskimo Point. This set off an Arctic settlement push by the Canadian government where those First Nations living in the North were encouraged to abandon their traditional way of life and settle in villages and outposts of the Canadian North. Author/explorer Farley Mowat visited the Ihalmiut in the 1940s and 1950s, writing extensively about the Ihalmiut.

Ethnography

Caribou Inuit were nomadic and summers were time of relocation to reach different game and to trade. In addition to hunting, they fished in local lakes and rivers (kuuk). Caribou Inuit northern bands from as far away as Dubawnt River travelled on trading trips to Churchill via Thlewiaza River for extra supplies. The nomadic nature made the people and their dogs into strong walkers and sledders who carried loads of implements, bedding, and tents. Kayaks portaged people and baggage in rivers and lakes.

Kayaks were also used for hunting at water crossings during annual migration. Wounded animals were tied together, brought ashore, and killed there to avoid the struggle of dragging dead animals. Every part of the caribou was important. The antlers were used for tools, such as the ulu ("knife") and goggles to prevent snow blindness. The hides were used for footwear and clothing, including the anorak and amauti, using caribou sinew to piece the articles together, and worn in many layers. Mittens were lined with fur, down, and moss. While spring-gathered caribou skins were thin, sleek, and handsome, summer-gathered caribou skins were stronger and warmer. Hides were used also for tents, tools, and containers.

Caribou Inuit lived within a patrilocal social unit. The male elder, the ihumataq ("group leader"), was the centralized authority. There was no other form of authority within subgroups or within the Caribou Inuit in general. Like other Inuit, Caribou Inuit practiced an animist religion, including beliefs that everything had a soul or energy with a disposition or personality. The protector was Pinga, a female figure, the object of taboos, who brings the dead to Adlivun. The supreme force was Hila ("air"), a male figure and the source of misfortune. Christian missionaries established posts in the Barren Lands between 1910 and 1930, converting (siqqitiq) most Inuit from animists to Christians, though some, nonetheless, maintain remnants of their traditional shamanistic beliefs.

Caribou Inuit are Inuktitut speakers. Inuktitut has six dialects, of which Caribou Inuit speak the Kivalliq dialect, and that is further divided into the subdialects, Ahiarmiut, Hauniqturmiut, Paallirmiut, and Qairnirmiut. The Utkuhiksalingmiut's dialect, Utkuhiksalingmiutut, is similar to but distinct from their neighbors' Nattilingmiutut. Like other central Canadian Arctic people, Caribou Inuit participated in nipaquhiit ("games done with sounds or with noises"). The Caribou Inuit genre lacked typical katajjaq ("throat sounds") but added narration missing amongst other Inuit groups.

Modern-day adaptation

There are several books written on the hardships and the 1950s federal government re-settlement of Caribou Inuit. With re-settlement to coastal communities, the nomadic nuunamiut ("people of the land") ways ended and Caribou Inuit joined tareumiut ("people of the sea"), the maritime Inuit being a more stable group. Even with federal assistance, adapting to displacement in fewer and larger towns proved difficult, resulting in high unemployment, domestic violence, sexual abuse, substance addiction, suicide, parental neglect, and lack of motivation.

With the acquisition of English, native language loss is the primary threat to their cultural survival, while neither language is being mastered.

On a positive note, artisan skills evolved and Caribou Inuit, such as Jessie Oonark, are notable for their figurines of animal life. Another Inuit art medium, also considered a game, and also associated with their religious beliefs, involves string figures (ajaraaq/ajaqaat [plural]).

About 3,000 Caribou Inuit exist today, located in Chesterfield Inlet, Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove, Eskimo Point, and Baker Lake.