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 | | The power of knowledge
and the coming together of communities
The loss of language and the rapid advancement of technology has created gaps between generations and prevented us from coming together to share our values, worldview, history, and traditions like we used to.
Today, our programs are working to repair these relationships and reconnect Inuinnait.
Knowledge is passed on by watching and learning from each other. It's a natural and social process, with each generation working together to prepare the next generations for stages of our lives. We're working to restore this process, by bringing people together and exploring the power that knowledge transfer once had, and will have again.
Earlier this month, we witnessed it firsthand when we travelled to Ulukhaktok to learn from some of the last remaining Elders to hold the knowledge of how to make atikaluuk—a special crimped sealskin shoe.
| | |  | First, a little bit of perspective... For any of our readers who might be unfamiliar with Arctic geography, travelling from Cambridge Bay to Ulukhaktok is not a small feat. While both communities are on Victoria Island, we are separated by a territorial border. Cambridge Bay is in Nunavut, while Ulukhaktok is in the Northwest Territories. There are no direct flights linking us. It took our team 24 hours and two layovers—one in Yellowknife and one in Kugluktuk—to get to Ulukhaktok! | | | |
Reconnecting to our ancestors' knowledge
From Ulukhaktok to Iqaluktuuttiaq
Atikaluuk for Kiluhiktuurmiut (as it is known in Cambridge Bay) or Tuaturallak for Kangirjuarmiut (as it is known in Ulukhaktok) are crimped dress shoes that Inuinnait wear with the rest of their best drum dance clothing. Sometimes, they were worn inside the iglu as slippers. Made from sealskin, they have a small trim of caribou fur around the opening. In the photo below on the left, the difference in colour between the yellowish skin and dark brown V-shaped insert is due to the way in which the seal skin was processed. The lighter skin has had the dark top layer of skin removed (typically done through sun-bleaching and immersing in hot water and scraping), while the darker skin is not prepared in the same way.
A pair of atikaluuk first spoke to us almost a decade ago. In 2012, the British Museum’s North American Collection hosted a delegation of Inuinnait from the Central Arctic, organized by the NWT Literacy Council. We spent five days interacting with the museum’s collection of Inuinnait material, collecting memories and knowledge that the objects triggered to share context around them. Of the objects the delegation reconnected with, Emily Kudlak was struck by a pair of crimped shoes. She reminisced that only a few Elders in Ulukhaktok still held the knowledge of how to make them—one of them being her mother. It's worth watching this fantastic video to see footage from the visit (the particular scene we're referencing can be found at 17:20).
In 2019, we worked with the Canadian Museum of History to bring a number of pairs of shoes home to Cambridge Bay, on long-term loan at the May Hakongak Community Library & Cultural Centre for exhibition purposes. In the photo below on the right, Eileen (left), Julia (centre) and Tammy (right) take an up close look.
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Making atikaluuk / tuaturallak had disappeared from memory and practice in Cambridge Bay. However, inspired by the shoes on exhibit, we began to connect with the Ulukhaktok Elders so that we could reawaken the knowledge among our local seamstresses.
With support from Canada Council for the Arts, our chance to build a bridge between Cambridge Bay and Ulukhaktok for inter-community cultural and artistic revival came earlier this month.... |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | During the first week of December, Tammy Omilgoetok, Eileen Okhina, and Julia Ogina travelled to Ulukhaktok and spent the week with Elders Mary Kudlak, Kate Inuktalik, and Margaret Notaina. They observed and mirrored the artistic process, learning hand stitching techniques and listening to stories. They documented all of the Inuinnaqtun terminology to do with the artistry, manufacture, materials, and use of atikaluuk. Some of the words had been out of use so long that the Elders had to dig way back into their memories to reach them.
These are skills and practices that have been developed, sustained and passed on from generation to generation, over millennia. These are words that have been spoken by women before them, and now, by women after them.
The power of knowledge is in its continuity. The way it transcends and links generations, and brings us together when it is shared.
In 2022, Tammy, Eileen and Julia will host workshops in Cambridge Bay to pass on the art of making atikaluuk to seamstresses in our community. And so the cycle of transmission is reawakened and restored. |  |
"The day Kate Inuktalik taught us the stitch for the tuaturallak she mentioned that our ancestors are watching and must be dancing. The same evening, the northern lights were dancing away."
— Tammy Omilgoetok | | |
Every day, we're working to reconnect Inuinnait through projects like this. With your help, we continue to restore our traditions, our art, and our wellbeing. | | | |  | We're also working to foster opportunities that maximize our impact, like managing a social enterprise coffee company. Kaapittiaq means 'good coffee' in Inuinnaqtun, but our commitment to brewing good in the world is more than creating the perfect cup. We're building Indigenous business networks, empowering local economies, and prioritizing sustainable practices. On top of that, 75% of annual profits support language and culture revitalization in the Arctic.
Shop online. | |  | Reintroduced to Wanuskewin Heritage Park 2019, bison helped unearth 1,000 year old rock carvings earlier this year.
Thirty-three murals have been commissioned by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation as part of the Inuvialuit Mural Project to reinforce community pride and build connections between Inuvialuit of all ages. | |  | In Australia, traditional knowledge is supporting ecological preservation.
We're closing in on our 25th Anniversary campaign goal to reach $250,000 for Inuinnaqtun revitalization.
20 young Yukoners are working to preserve their languages, by learning to speak them. | |  | Library and Archives Canada is providing funding through its Listen, Hear Our Voices initiative to support First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation communities as they digitize their existing documentary heritage related to Indigenous languages and cultures. | |
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Subscribe. | |  | We're a leader for culture and heritage in Nunavut, guided by an Inuinnait Board. We address projects of critical importance to the revival of Inuit culture, language and history. We focus on the critical needs of Inuinnait—a distinct regional group of Inuit living in the Central Canadian Arctic.
Our mission is to preserve and renew Inuinnait knowledge, language and culture for the benefit of all Inuit.
Our vision is to concentrate and connect the resources, expertise and technology critical to Inuinnait cultural and linguistic survival.
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