Inukjuak

ᐃᓄᑦᔪᐊᖅ, «the giant»

Population: 1597

Latitude: 58° 27′ 15.02″ N
Longitude: 78° 6′ 7.01″ W

Average temperature in August: 11°C
Average temperature in January : -20,8°C

Siasi Smiler Irqumia – Acting mayor of Inukjuak, 2011 –

« Inukjuak is on the Hudson’s coast, in what used to be called Northern Quebec, now we call it Nunavik. The population is around 1,500. Many years ago it was called Port Harrison and it changed when the people from Quebec came here, they change it to Inukjuak, it means « the big person » or «giant person ».

We live on the edge of the river and there are about five or six rapids up the river, it’s very beautiful. We see the sea, the bay and […] the main attraction of this community are those islands that we call Hopewell. We have a lot of animals around here, we have seals, fish, foxes, caribou. Our main food is caribou. This is what we have had daily for the past, lets say 30 years. But it’s changing […] the caribous are far away and so we are more changing to fish or seal. 

The way we eat is still traditionnal, frozen and dry meat, but the modern way is very much here too. We still prepare our food the way it was prepared many years ago. Like seal oil is still very popular, it’s our sauce, our dip for anything we eat, which could be frozen fish, seal meat, dry fish. Right now we are kind of excited because it’s cloudberry season so we go out into the land and we look for cloudberry.

There have been a lot of changes in my time. I grew up across the river, there were a few houses over there, like the RCMP, the ministry of transport […] there was a commmunity across the river. There was another community here. There were just a few houses […] the nursing station, the Hudson’s bay company and the school.

When I was about eight or nine, some of the families were still living in igloos around here and some of them would live in made tents, some qarmak; that would be a tent on top and snow blocks at the sides. So there’s been a lot of changes.

Also when I was young there was hardly any people, because all the people that now live here today were living in camps. There was about six outpost camps here, they were all little communities and when the school started they had to come in […], so that was a big change.

We lost a lot of traditionnal ways as we went through the changes, we didn’t practice a lot of things. So we have to do that and not forget the young people, some of them, I think, have the idea that it was always this way.»

Made in Inukjuak

Watch the short film made by talented young people of this community during the video training!

In the summer of 2012, Martha May Naktialuk, Sarah Samisack and Linus Kasudluak shot, directed and edited “Made in Inukjuak”, a touching short film about the importance of culture and traditions. Step into their world!