View source for Inuvialuit

{{Redirect|Inuvialuk|their language|Inuvialuktun}}
{{short description|Inuit subgroup}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Inuvialuit
| flag             =
| flag_caption     = The flag of the Inuvialuit people, depicting a [[gyrfalcon]].
| caption          = 
|image=Eileen Jacobson - Inuvialuit Guide - Tuktoyaktuk - Northwest Territories - Canada.jpg
|image_caption=Eileen Jacobson, Inuvialuk guide
| population       = 3,145 (as of [[2021 Canadian census|2021]]<ref name="inuvualuit"/><ref name="Inuvik"/>)
| popplace         = Canada<br>[[Northwest Territories]]
| rels             = [[Inuit religion]], [[Christianity]]
| langs            = [[Inuvialuktun]]<ref name="Inuvialuktun Dialects"/>{{efn|One of the official languages of the Northwest Territories.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/official-languages |title=Official Languages |publisher=[[Government of the Northwest Territories]], Education, Culture and Employment |access-date=9 April 2025}}</ref>}}<br />([[Sallirmiutun]], [[Uummarmiutun]], [[Kangiryuarmiutun]]), English
| related          = Other [[Inuit]] and [[Eskimo]]
}}

The  '''Inuvialuit''' (sing. '''Inuvialuk'''; {{gloss|the real people}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.irc.inuvialuit.com/culture/modern.html |title=Modern Inuvialuit Culture |access-date=2012-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713050656/http://www.irc.inuvialuit.com/culture/modern.html |archive-date=2011-07-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>) or '''Western Canadian Inuit''' are [[Inuit]] who live in the western [[Northern Canada|Canadian Arctic]] region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the [[Thule people|Thule]] who migrated eastward from [[Alaska]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/thule.html |title=The Thule |access-date=2012-06-01 |archive-date=2014-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213040317/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/thule.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 [[Arctic Archipelago|Canadian Arctic Islands]], as well as the inland community of [[Aklavik]] and part of [[Yukon]].<ref>[http://www.screeningcommittee.ca/pdf/maps/relative_to_canada.pdf Map of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region]</ref><ref name="commmap">[http://www.screeningcommittee.ca/pdf/maps/isr_map.jpg Map of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region including communities]</ref> The land was demarked in 1984 by the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.

==History and migration==
[[File:Inuvialuit camp near Tuktoyaktuk.jpg|thumb|left|Traditional Inuvialuit [[whaling]] camp near [[Tuktoyaktuk]]]]
[[File:Inuvialuit Settlement Region.png|thumb|left|Map of the Inuvialuit homeland]]
{{Infobox ethnonym|root=Inu- ᐃᓄ- / nuna ᓄᓇ<br><small>"person" / "land"</small>|person=Inuvialuk|people=Inuvialuit|language=[[Inuvialuktun]]|country=Inuvialuit Nunangit<br>(part of [[Inuit Nunangat]])}}

The Inuvialuit Settlement Region was primarily inhabited by ''[[Siglit]]'' Inuit until their numbers were decimated by the introduction of new diseases in the second half of the 19th century. [[Nunamiut]], Alaskan [[Iñupiat]], moved into traditional Siglit areas in the 1910s and 20s, enticed in part by renewed demand for furs from the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] and European markets. The Nunamiut who settled in the Siglit area became known as [[Uummarmiut]]. Originally, there was an intense dislike between the Siglit and the Uummarmiut, but these differences faded over the years, and the two aboriginal peoples intermarried. With improved healthcare and Nunatamiut intermarriage, the Inuvialuit now number approximately 3,100.<ref name="inuvualuit"/><ref name="Inuvik"/>

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|Mackenzie Delta]] 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]].<ref name="timeline">{{cite web |website=NWT Timeline |url=https://www.nwttimeline.ca/1925/Reindeer_1935.htm |title=1935 Reindeer Herding in the Northwest Territories |publisher=Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre |access-date=22 February 2021}}</ref>

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.<ref name="report">{{cite web |date=August 2006 |title=Inuvialuit Settlement Region Traditional Knowledge Report |url=https://www.capekrusenstern.org/docs/icc_study_2006.pdf |access-date=2009-03-16 |publisher=ngps.nt.ca |pages=45}}</ref>

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.

==Language==
The traditional language is known as [[Inuvialuktun]] and it is made up of three or four dialects. [[Uummarmiutun]], spoken by the [[Uummarmiut]] of [[Aklavik]] and [[Inuvik]], is an [[Iñupiaq language|Iñupiaq]] dialect but is usually associated with Inuvialuktun. [[Sallirmiutun]] (formerly Siglitun) is spoken by the [[Siglit]] of [[Sachs Harbour]], [[Paulatuk]], [[Tuktoyaktuk]] and Inuvik. [[Kangiryuarmiutun]] is used by the [[Kangiryuarmiut]] of [[Ulukhaktok]]. Kangiryuarmiutun is essentially the same as [[Inuinnaqtun]] which is also used in the [[Nunavut]] communities of [[Kugluktuk]], [[Bathurst Inlet, Nunavut|Bathurst Inlet]] and [[Cambridge Bay]]. [[Natsilingmiutut]] used by the [[Netsilik]] of [[Gjoa Haven]], [[Taloyoak]], [[Kugaaruk]] and [[Naujaat]] in [[Nunavut]]. Uummarmiutun, Siglitun and Inuinnaqtun (Kangiryuarmiutun) are all written using [[Latin script]] while Natsilingmiutut is written in [[Inuktitut syllabics]].<ref name="Inuvialuktun Dialects">{{cite web|url=https://irc.inuvialuit.com/about-irc/culture/language/ |title=Inuvialuktun Dialects |access-date=9 April 2025 |publisher=Inuvialuit Regional Corporation}}</ref><ref>[http://www.languagegeek.com/inu/inuvialuktun.html Iñuvialuktun/Inuvialuktun/Inuinnaqtun / ᐃᓄᐃᓐᓇᖅᑐᓐ]</ref>

==Culture==
{{Indigenous Peoples of Canada}}
[[Kitigaaryuit]] is a former Inuvialuit settlement. It was the traditional territory of the [[Kitigaaryungmiut]]. The site, which is situated near the junction of the [[Mackenzie River]]'s East Channel and [[Kugmallit Bay]], encompasses the villages of Kitigaaryuk and Tchenerark, which are located on a small island, and the adjacent village of Kuugaatchiaq, located on the mainland to the west of the island.<ref name="CE">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Hart |first1=Elisa |title=Kitigaaryuit (Kittigazuit) |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kitigaaryuit-kittigazuit |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=2015 |access-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129065853/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kitigaaryuit-kittigazuit |archive-date=29 November 2021|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Friesen2004">{{cite journal|title=Kitigaaryuit: A Portrait of the Mackenzie Inuit in the 1890s, Based on the Journals of Isaac O. Stringer |last1=Friesen |first1=T. Max |date=2004 |journal=Arctic Anthropology |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=222–237 |doi=10.1353/arc.2011.0050 |jstor=40316630|s2cid=163091888 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40316630|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[Herschel Island]], which is uninhabited, is part of the ISR although in [[Yukon]] and was traditionally occupied and used by the Inuvialuit.<ref name="Qikiqtaruk"/> The island is an important part of [[Inuit culture|Inuvialuit culture]] and the people sill visit the island to hunt and fish.<ref name="Qikiqtaruk"/> 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.<ref name="Qikiqtaruk">{{cite web|url=https://emrlibrary.gov.yk.ca/Tourism/archaeology%2520and%2520palaeontology%2520booklets/qikiqtaruk_herschel_island_1998.pdf |title=Qikiqtaruk: Inuvialuit Archaeology on Herschel Island |p=2, 7, 19 |first1=Max |last1=Friesen |access-date=9 April 2025 |publisher=[[Government of Yukon]] - Heritage Branch |date=1998 |isbn=1550188046}}</ref>

[[Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area|Tarium Niryutait]], is a [[Marine Protected Areas of Canada|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 [[beluga whale]]s and the biodiversity of other bird and fish species and their habitats.<ref name=mpapage>{{cite web |title=Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area (TN MPA) |url=https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/mpa-zpm/tarium-niryutait/index-eng.html |website=www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca |publisher=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |access-date=2 June 2023|date=23 September 2019}}</ref>

Year-round, Inuvialuit hunt [[Reindeer|caribou]] from the Cape Bathurst and Bluenose herds, and have also shared the [[Porcupine caribou|Porcupine herd]] with the [[Gwichʼin]]. There has been some tension between the Inuvialuit and the Gwichʼin over caribou hunting.<ref>{{cite news| title =Gwich'in step up measures to protect Porcupine herd| url =https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/gwich-in-step-up-measures-to-protect-porcupine-herd-1.578187|access-date = 2007-07-23| publisher =[[CBC.ca]]| date=2006-09-13}}</ref> Other activities are seasonal:<ref>Inuvialuit Settlement Report (2006), p. 62</ref>
* Spring: fishing, geese hunting, grizzly hunting
* Summer: whaling, fishing, gathering berries, roots and medicinal plants
* Autumn: fishing, sealing, geese hunting, and plant gathering
* Winter: fishing, sealing, polar bear hunting

Traditional [[Arctic sports|Inuit games]] include:<ref>Inuvialuit Settlement Report (2006), p. 60</ref>
* ''akimuq'': high kick game
* ''ayahaaq'': string game
* ''iglukisaaq'': juggling rocks
* ''mak'': played by trying to make a person laugh
* ''napataak'': darts; played with a wooden handle and sharp nail

==Communities==
[[File:Inuvialiut communities -3.png|thumb|left|Principal Inuvialuit communities]]
[[Inuvik]], located on the East Channel of the Mackenzie Delta, approximately {{cvt|100|km}} from the [[Arctic Ocean]], is the region's administrative centre, home to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. The only other inland community, [[Aklavik]], is located on the Peel Channel.

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",<ref name="Port"/> 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.
{{clear}}
{{Inuvialuit population}}

The area covered by the [[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]] is {{cvt|435,000|km}}, including {{cvt|90650|km2}} of land and {{cvt|12,980|km2}} of subsurface [[mineral rights]].<ref name="Government">{{cite web|url=https://www.eia.gov.nt.ca/en/priorities/concluding-and-implementing-land-claim-and-self-government-agreements/inuvialuit|title=Concluding and Implementing Land Claim and Self-Government Agreements|publisher=Government of Northwest Territories|access-date=2 March 2018}}</ref> 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]].<ref>[http://www.gwichin.nt.ca/ Gwich’in Tribal Council]</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* [http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/archeo/nogap/plinuva.shtml The Inuvialuit]
* [http://www.idc.inuvialuit.com/ Inuvialuit Development Corporation]
* {{cite web |last=Morrison |first=David |title=Retracing an Archaeological Expedition. The Inuvialuit |publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation |url=http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/inuvial/indexe.shtml}}

{{Aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Inuvialuit| ]]
[[Category:Copper Inuit]]