Product Code Database
The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ) or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Northern Canada region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule people who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homeland – the Inuvialuit Settlement Region – covers the Arctic Ocean coastline area from the Alaskan border, east through the Beaufort Sea and beyond the Amundsen Gulf which includes some of the western Canadian Arctic Islands, as well as the inland community of Aklavik and part of Yukon. Map of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region Map of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region including communities The land was demarked in 1984 by the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.
In the 1930s, the Inuvialuit were involved in a Canadian government scheme to introduce reindeer herding as the primary economic driver of the Western Arctic. At tremendous expense, thousands of domesticated animals were herded from Alaska to the new Mackenzie River community of Reindeer Station. Indigenous Sámi people were brought from Norway to teach Inuvialuit men how to care for their own individual herds. However, the program was relatively unsuccessful, as it required a lonely lifestyle and was less lucrative than traditional hunting and trapping.
The Inuvialuit Settlement Region Traditional Knowledge Report of 2006 identified additional naming characteristics. Those Inuvialuit who live in the west are called Ualinirmiut ( Ualiniq) by the people of the east. The Inuvialuit who occupy the east are known as Kivaninmiut ( Kivaliniq) by the people of the west.
The Inuit of Ulukhaktok are neither Siglit nor Uummarmiut but are Copper Inuit and refer to themselves as Ulukhaktokmuit after Ulukhaktok, the native name for what used to be called Holman.
The proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline would have passed through both Inuvialuit and Gwichʼin territory before the abandonment of the project in 2017.
Herschel Island, which is uninhabited, is part of the ISR although in Yukon and was traditionally occupied and used by the Inuvialuit. The island is an important part of Inuit culture and the people sill visit the island to hunt and fish. At one time Herschel Island was inhabited by Paleo-Eskimo groups followed by Thule people, and finally the Inuvialuit, but in the latter half of the 20th century the population had migrated to government communities in the NWT.
Tarium Niryutait, is a marine protected area (MPA) located in the coastal areas of the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada. It is located within the ISR and was the first Arctic MPA established in Canada. The MPA was established with the goal of protecting and the biodiversity of other bird and fish species and their habitats.
Year-round, Inuvialuit hunt Reindeer from the Cape Bathurst and Bluenose herds, and have also shared the Porcupine herd with the Gwichʼin. There has been some tension between the Inuvialuit and the Gwichʼin over caribou hunting. Other activities are seasonal:Inuvialuit Settlement Report (2006), p. 62
Traditional Arctic sports include:Inuvialuit Settlement Report (2006), p. 60
Hunting, fishing and trapping are the major economic activities of Paulatuk, in Amundsen Gulf's Darnley Bay, and Sachs Harbour, the only permanent settlement on Banks Island.
Tuktoyaktuk, formerly known as "Port Brabant", is set on Kugmallit Bay, near the Mackenzie River Delta. It has the only deepwater port in the ISR.
Ulukhaktok, formerly known as "Holman", is located on the west coast of Victoria Island. Printmaking has taken over as the primary source of income in recent years.
The area covered by the Inuvialuit Settlement Region is , including of land and of subsurface mineral rights. Aklavik (Aklavik First Nation, Ehdiitat Gwich'in Council) and Inuvik (Inuvik Native Band, Nihtat Gwich'in Council) are shared with the Gwichʼin people, who are represented by the Gwich'in Tribal Council. Gwich’in Tribal Council
|
|
