Inuit Nunangat ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᑦ
Inuit Regions of Canada
State	Canada
Regions	Inuvialuit Settlement Region Nunavut Nunavik Nunatsiavut
Province / Territory	YT,NT,NU,QC,NL
Area
• Total	3,304,740 km2 (1,275,970 sq mi)
• Land	2,484,591 km2 (959,306 sq mi)
• Water	820,149 km2 (316,661 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[1]
• Total	58,220
• Density	0.02343/km2 (0.06069/sq mi)
Ethnicity population
• Inuit	48,695
• First Nations	980
• Métis	325
• Other Indigenous	500
• Non-Aboriginal	7,715
Time zone	UTC−08:00 (PST) UTC−07:00 (MST) UTC−06:00 (CST) UTC−05:00 (EST) UTC−04:00 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	Varies
Inuit languages (west to east)	Inuvialuktun Inuinnaqtun Inuktitut Inuit Sign Language Inuttitut
Website	www.itk.ca/about-canadian-inuit/#nunangat

This article containsCanadian Aboriginal syllabic characters. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of syllabics.

Inuit Nunangat (/ˈɪnjuɪtˈnunæŋæt/;^{[citation needed]}Inuktitut:ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᑦ[inuitnunaŋat]lit. 'Inuit's land'[2]), formerlyInuit Nunaat (ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓈᑦ), is thehomeland of theInuit in Canada. ThisArctic homeland consists of fournorthern Canadian regions called theInuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq, home of theInuvialuit and the northern portion of theNorthwest Territories andYukon), the territoryNunavut (ᓄᓇᕗᑦ),Nunavik (ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) in northernQuebec, andNunatsiavut ofNewfoundland and Labrador.

The name Inuit Nunangat is composed of two elements: Inuit and Nunangat, both coming fromInuktitut. The first means "people", inherited fromProto-Inuit's*iŋuɣ meaning "human being". The second combines the wordnuna "land" with thethird personpossessive ending-ngat, together meaning "their land".^[3]

Inuit of Canada originally used theGreenlandic Inuit termNunaat which excludes the waters and ice. In 2009 theInuit Tapiriit Kanatami formally switched to theInuktitutNunangat in 2009 to reflect the integral nature "land, water, and ice" have toInuit culture.^[4]

Inuit are the most recentIndigenous arrivals on the continent aside fromMétis. Inuit ancestors known as theThule settled the Arctic, replacing the previous dominantDorset culture (Tuniit) over the course of around 200 years. Displacement of the Tuniit (Inuktitut syllabics;ᑐᓃᑦ), or the Dorset people, and the arrival of the Inuit (whose ancestors are often called Thule) occurred in the 1100–1300s CE. Coming fromSiberia where they split from theAleut and other related peoples about 4,000 years ago, Inuit had reached Inughuit Nunaat^{[clarification needed]} in western Greenland by about 1300 CE, bringing with them transport dogs and various new technologies.

Trade relations were and remain strong with bordering countries and nations,^[5] such as with theGwichʼin^[6] andDënesųłı̨né (Chipewyan)^[7] of Denendeh (now in theNorthwest Territories) andInnu ofNitassinan (Innu:ᓂᑕᔅᓯᓇᓐ),^[8] though occasional conflicts arose.Martin Frobisher's 1576 expedition to find theNorthwest Passage landed on and aroundBaffin Island, in today'sQikiqtaaluk Region (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ), where three Inuit, a man called Calichough (Kalicho), an unrelatedInuk woman, Egnock (Arnaq), and her child, Nutioc (Nuttaaq), were kidnapped and brought to the Europe, where they all died.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Canadian colonization extended in to Inuit Nunangat via the lands claimed asRupert's Land,North-Western Territory and Quebec, later includingNewfoundland and Labrador. Rapid spread of diseases, material wealth, the Christian churches and Canadian (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) policing^[13] saw a rapid decline and collapse of Inuit Nunangat, from which it is still recovering.

Since European colonizers had little desire to settle much of Inuit Nunangat's territories, the violence experienced by southernFirst Nations was comparatively minimal in the north. However, assimilation policies including the wide-scaleslaughter of community dogs between 1950 and 1970,^[14] theHigh Arctic relocation^[15][16] as well as forced participation within theCanadian Indian residential school system^[17] has left Inuit society withlanguage loss andtransgenerational trauma.^[18]

Today, Inuit Nunangat is overseen by theInuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑕᐱᕇᑦ ᑲᓇᑕᒥ, meaning either "Inuit are united with Canada"^[19] or "Inuit are united in Canada"^[20]) which acts as a cultural centre piece and quasi-central government for Inuit affairs within Canada.

While Nunavut's confederation within Canada in 1999 via theNunavut Act andNunavut Land Claims Agreement is most visible, each of the regions of Inuit Nunangat.^{[clarification needed]} TheInuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuinnaqtun:Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq) came under the jurisdiction of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation two years after the 1984Inuvialuit Final Agreement, andNunatsiavut was granted an autonomous government in 2005 after the 2002 Labrador Inuit Association proposal for a separate government. Beginning with a land claim in 1977, negotiations launched in 1988 between the Labrador Inuit Association, the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador and that of Canada. InNorthern Quebec, theMakivik Corporation was established upon theJames Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement signing in 1978, taking the mantle from the previousNunavimmiut organization, the "Northern Quebec Inuit Association" (ᑯᐸᐃᒃ ᑕᕐᕋᖓᓂ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑲᑐᔾᔨᖃᑎᒌᖏᑦKupaik Tarrangani Inuit Katujjiqatigiingit).

The Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee (ICPC) was created in 2017 and last met on April 21, 2022. At this meeting, the Canadian federal government, in partnership with the Inuit Nunangat, unanimously endorsed the federal policy called the Inuit Nunangat Policy (INP).^[21] In a live address shortly after this meeting, the Canadian Prime Minister,Justin Trudeau, said the policy "recognizes the Inuit homeland as a distinct geographical, cultural and political region," which includes the "land, sea, and ice."^[21]

As of the2021 Canadian census the population of Inuit Nunangat was 58,220 an increase of2.9 per cent over the2016 census population of 56,585. TheIndigenous population is 50,500 or 89.24 per cent of the total population, of which 48,695 (83.63 per cent) are Inuit.^[1][22]

In 2021 of those Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat 6.46 per cent live in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, 63.38 per cent in Nunavut, 25.87 per cent in Nunavik and 4.29 per cent in Nunatsiavut.^[1]

In total there are 70,545 Inuit in Canada with 48,695 (69.02 per cent) living in Inuit Nunangat and 21,850 (30.98 per cent) living in other parts of Canada.^[23] This is a growth of8.5 per cent over 2016 when there were 65,025 Inuit in Canada with 47,335 (72.80 per cent) living in Inuit Nunangat and 17,695 (27.21 per cent) living in other parts of Canada.^[24]

There are six communities in theInuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR).^[25] The ISR is made up of five hamlets and one town,Inuvik, which is the headquarters of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the regional centre for the largerInuvik Region.^[26]

There are twenty-fivepopulated communities inNunavut,^[27] Theterritory is divided into three regions,Kitikmeot, with the regional centre inCambridge Bay, theKivalliq, with the regional centre inRankin Inlet, and theQikiqtaaluk, with the regional centre and capital inIqaluit. Other than Iqaluit, which is a city, all other Nunavut communities are hamlets.^[28]Statistics Canada also lists three settlements,Bathurst Inlet (also recognized by the Government of Nunavut^[27]),^[29]Nanisivik^[30] andUmingmaktok,^[31] all with a population of zero.

InNunavik there are fourteennorthern villages (village nordique, code=VN), governed by theKativik Regional Government with the administrative capital atKuujjuaq.^[32][33] All villages, with the exception ofPuvirnituq, haveInuit reserved land (Terre de la catégorie I pour les Inuits, TI) associated with the community.^[34]

There are five towns inNunatsiavut.^[35] TheNunatsiavut Assembly Building is located inHopedale while the administrative capital is inNain.^[36]

Thegovernment of Canada also lists Bathurst Inlet,Killiniq and Umingmaktuuq (Umingmaktok) as forming part of Inuit Nunangat, giving a total of 53 communities.^[37][38]

Maps ofInuit oral languages.

Map ofGreenlandic andInuit Sign Languages.

There are multipleInuit languages, along with English and French, spoken across Inuit Nunangat. The oral languages form a vastdialect continuum withmutual intelligibility between neighbouring variants from the westernmostIñupiatun dialect to the threeGreenlandic languages:Kalaallisut,Tunumiisut, and, the closest variation to Canadian dialects,Inuktun. In Canada, there isInuvialuktun spoken in the West inInuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq);Inuktitut, the most spoken dialect;Inuinnaqtun which straddles the line between Inuktitut and Inuvialuktun; andInuttitut spoken in theLabradorian east byNunatsiavummiut. And, attested contemporarily only in a few Nunavut communities,Inuit Sign Language (also known as Atgangmuurngniq and Uukturausingit) continues to be passed down through generations regardless of deafness.^[89] It is unknown by academia if there is any relation between Greenlandic and Inuit Sign Languages or if Greenlandic Sign Language is a dialect ofDanish Tegnsprog.^[90]

Within each of the primary oral language divisions, collectively referred to asInuktut, (Inuvialuktun,Inuinnaqtun,Inuktitut,Inuktitut, andInuttut),^[91] there exist several dialects therein. Within Inuvialuktun, theSiglit who live at the mouth of theMackenzie River (Inuvialuktun:Kuukpak [kuːkpɑk]literally great river) speakSiglitun; and theUummarmiut, or "people of the green trees" and are sometimes called "CanadianIñupiat," speakUummarmiutun. Western Inuktut dialects are sometimes considered Inuvialuktun dialects, such as Inuinnaqtun (including one of its sub dialects,Kangiryuarmiutun, spoken by theCopper Inuit group, theKangiryuarmiut). Others includeNatsilingmiutut, spoken by theNetsilik, with its sub-dialects includingUtkuhiksalik (the language of the "people of the place where there issoapstone":Utkuhiksalingmiut);Kivallirmiutut spoken by theCaribou Inuit of theKivalliq Region;Aivilingmiutut of theAivilingmiut; and the northernQikiqtaaluk uannangani spoken by Iglulingmiut of theIgloolik. On the southern part ofBaffin Island (Qikiqtaaluk) around the Nunavut capitalIqaluit, Qikiqtaaluk nigiani is spoken, and relatively close is the dialect of Nunavik,Nunavimmiutitut, sometimes called Tarramiutut, Taqramiutut, or Inuttitut (not to be confused with Nunatsiavummiutut (Inuttitut) ofLabrador). Nunavimmiutitut includes the sub dialects spoken by the Tarrarmiut and Itivimuit. Nunatsiavummiut in Nunatsiavut, Labrador speak Inuttitut, Inuttut, or, alternatively, Labradorimiutut.

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(June 2019)

Inuit are diverse peoples who share cultural and linguistic similarities. Moreover, they are a bimodal people, speaking both oral languages,Inuit languages, and sign languages,Inuit Sign Language (Atgangmuurniq).

• Inuvialuit (people of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, northwestern Northwest Territories, seasonally in northern Yukon)
• Nunavummiut (people of Nunavut^{[note 1]})
• Nunavimmiut (people of Nunavik, northern Quebec)
• Nunatsiavummiut / Labradorimiut (people of Nunatsiavut, northern Labrador)

• Greenlandic Inuit (Greenlandic:kalaallit, Greenland)
• Iñupiaq (northern and northwestern Alaska)

• Yup'ik (western Alaska)
• Alutiiq (Sugpiaq, southern Alaska)
• Siberian Yupik (Bering Strait, Russia and Alaska)
• Sirenik Eskimos (eastern Siberia)
• Aleut (Aleutian and Kommodor islands)

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(June 2019)

Spanning much of the North American Arctic, Inuit Nunangat is mostly above thetree line.It is situated in Northern Canada, and some tribes can even expand to Siberia, Alaska and Greenland.

In 2019,Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami released their National Inuit Climate Change Strategy to combat and respond to the ecological collapse and its effects on Inuit and Inuit Nunangat.^[93]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(June 2019)

Inuit culture transcends millennia and includes numerous music styles, sports and other cultural attributes.

Inuit Nunangat has produced numerous contemporary bands and singers, such asJoshua Haulli,Quantum Tangle,The Jerry Cans (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐸᐃ ᒑᓚᖃᐅᑎᒃᑯᑦ,Pai Gaalaqautikkut),Elisapie (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓕᓴᐱ),Aasiva,Charlie Panigoniak,Riit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕇᑦ),Willie Thrasher, andTumasi Quissa, as well as many others. Of particular note isInuit throat singing performed by artists such asQaunaq Mikkigak,Tudjaat, andTanya Tagaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᑕᓐᔭ ᑕᒐᖅ). Yearly, theAlianait Music and Arts Festival features talented acts from across Inuit Nunangat, Canada, and the world, as one of many festivals that take place.

Inuit art first came to outside attention in the 1940s throughprintmaking and carving. It is known for the use ofsoapstone, such as for carvings and for makingqulliq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖁᓪᓕᖅ, seal oil lamps). Although power tools are used, soapstone carving is often preferably done by axe and file.

The modernkayak originates from Inuit culture, originally called aqajaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᔭᖅ). As well, Inuit use the larger (6–12 m (20–39 ft)), wood-framed flat-bottomedumiak or umiaq for transporting people, goods, and dogs; and, on land,qamutiik (dog sled) pulled by theCanadian Eskimo Dogs orhuskies, known inInuit languages asqimmiit, though Inuit have since transitioned to motorized forms of transport such as thesnowmobile fornavigating. In part because the massacre of most of theirsled dogs in the eastern part of Inuit Nunangat between the 1950s and 1970s. It was believed that the killings were done in order to force Inuit out of their traditional way of life and assimilate them into southern Canadian society. In 2007, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association organized the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, one year after aRoyal Canadian Mounted Police report denying the slaughter of 20,000 dogs to help force Inuit into settlements,^[94] and stated that "the killings went on far too long to be the result of a secret plan or conspiracy, and that the dog killings began ... several years before the federal government adopted a formal central policy of dog control."^[95] On 14 August 2019, theMinister of Crown–Indigenous Relations,Carolyn Bennett, apologized to the Qikiqtani Inuit for the slaughter.^[96]

Inuit cuisine, also known as "country food,"^[97] incorporates a variety of meats (such aswalrus,narwhal,bearded seal,caribou,polar bear,Arctic cod, andArctic char, among others) and gathered plants (includingcrowberries,cloudberries,fireweed,seaweed,tubers and roots likemousefood,tuberous spring beauty, andsweet vetch)^[98] Much of the meat is served frozen, raw, or boiled, much likesushi orsashimi inJapanese cuisine. Delicacies includeakutuq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐊᑯᑐᖅ),^[99] an ice cream-like dessert made with fat or tallow, meat, and mixed with berries;^[99]igunaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᒍᓇᖅ), a year-long fermentation of select meats;muktuk (Inuktitut syllabics: ᒪᒃᑖᖅ) (alternatively, maktaaq, maktak (Inuktitut syllabics: ᒪᒃᑕᒃ) or maktaq), whale skin andblubber usually eaten raw, sometimes frozen or pickled, and occasionally finely diced, breaded, deep fried, and then served with soy sauce;Labrador tea; and various dips such as aalu (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐋᓗ) (intended for meat made from the choice parts of caribou or seal, chopped into tiny pieces and blended with melted fat and blood), misiraq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᒥᓯᕋᖅ) (aged to resemble an aromatic white wine, made from seal or whale blubber), and nirukkaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᓂᕈᒃᑲᖅ), a smooth madepâté made from the contents of a caribou's stomach.^[100]

Inuit Nunangat currently functions through a variety of legal systems. As aCanadian jurisdiction, all of Inuit Nunangat falls under the federally overseenCriminal Code forcriminal law. Inuvialuit Nunangat in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, Nunavut, and Nunatsiavut in Labrador are all subject to the Englishcommon law tradition. Nunavik, falling under thejurisdiction of Quebec, follows thecivil law tradition as it pertains toprivate law. Finally, Inuit largely still followInuit Qaujimajatuqangit traditions, recognizing the interconnected nature of reality.Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᑐᖃᖏᑦ, alternatively renderedQaujimanituqangit orQauyimayatuqangit), comes from the root wordqaujima- (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᐅᔨ) meaning "to know," and could be literally translated as "that which has long been known by Inuit." Leaders and Elders did not see themselves as agents of social control or law and order, as each individual contributes to the functioning of the community.^[101] The integration of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (or IQ) and the wider Canadian legal tradition is an ongoing process. For example, theNunavut Court of Justice is the only "unified," single-level court in Canada, and the court travels to communities every six weeks to two years. There are also on-the-land,restorative justice, and contemporary healing circle programs administered.^[102]

• Indigenous self-government in Canada
• Qimmit, a Clash of Two Truths

• Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

• Indigenous peoples in Atlantic Canada
• Indigenous peoples in Northern Canada
• Indigenous peoples of North America
• History of Indigenous peoples of North America
• Hunter-gatherers of the Arctic
• Hunter-gatherers of Canada
• Hunter-gatherers of the United States
• Inuit
• Cultural regions of Canada
• Inuit territories

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