Explore the vast range of titles available.

Inuit hunting traditions are rich in perceptions, practices and stories relating to animals and human beings. The authors examine key figures such as the raven, an animal that has a central place in Inuit culture as a creator and a trickster, andqupirruit, a category consisting of insects and other small life forms. After these non-social and inedible animals, they discuss the dog, the companion of the hunter, and the fellow hunter, the bear, considered to resemble a human being. A discussion of the renewal of whale hunting accompanies the chapters about animals considered 'prey par excellence': the caribou, the seals and the whale, symbol of the whole. By giving precedence to Inuit categories such as 'inua' (owner) and 'tarniq' (shade) over European concepts such as 'spirit 'and 'soul', the book compares and contrasts human beings and animals to provide a better understanding of human-animal relationships in a hunting society.

Examines Inuit relations with the Canadian state, with a particular focus on regulating Inuit based on government animal counting methods, and the emerging regime of government intervention.

Killer whale (Orcinus orca) sightings are increasing throughout the eastern Canadian Arctic, and residents of Nunavut are concerned about the possible impact of killer whale predation on other marine mammals that are of socio-economic and cultural importance to Inuit. We analyzed the attitudes of Inuit towards killer whales, drawing on 105 semi-directed interviews conducted in 11 eastern Nunavut communities (Kivalliq and Qikiqtaaluk regions) between 2007 and 2010. Information gathered included interviewees' firsthand knowledge, as well as knowledge they had gained through oral history. Interviews provided data on interactions between Inuit and killer whales, physical descriptions and nature of killer whales in this region, overall opinion of interviewees with respect to killer whales, historical use of the animal, opinions regarding research on killer whales and effects of killer whales on other species, particularly the whales and seals harvested for Inuit subsistence. Interviewees described killer whales as their helpers more often than as their competitors, but also as feared and dangerous. Overall, negative opinions were more common than positive opinions, and some interviewees also had a conflicted attitude towards killer whales. More participants viewed killer whales as smart and fast than as beautiful and playful. Inuit attitudes toward killer whales did not vary significantly with sex, age, hunter status, or experience with killer whales, but did vary somewhat across regions. Inuit knowledge and perspectives play a critical role in wildlife management, especially in a changing Arctic. Conservation and management of species that are important to the Inuit subsistence harvest in Nunavut must take into consideration killer whale predation, Inuit knowledge, and Inuit views and attitudes towards killer whales. Les observations d'épaulards (Orcinus orca) augmentent dans l'est de l'Arctique canadien, et les habitants du Nunavut s'inquiètent des effets possibles de la prédation des épaulards à l'égard d'autres mammifères marins qui revêtent une importance socioéconomique et culturelle pour les Inuits. Nous avons analysé les attitudes des Inuits vis-à-vis des épaulards, nous appuyant ainsi sur 105 entrevues semi-dirigées réalisées dans 11 collectivités de l'est du Nunavut (les régions de Kivalliq et de Qikiqtaaluk) entre 2007 et 2010. Les connaissances directes des personnes interviewées font partie des renseignements qui ont été recueillis, de même que les connaissances obtenues par le biais de l'histoire orale. Les entrevues ont ainsi permis d'obtenir des données sur les interactions entre les Inuits et les épaulards, sur les descriptions physiques et sur la nature des épaulards de cette région, en plus de recueillir l'opinion générale des personnes interviewées au sujet des épaulards, l'utilisation historique de cet animal, les opinions en matière de recherche sur les épaulards et les effets des épaulards sur d'autres espèces, plus particulièrement les baleines et les phoques capturés pour la subsistance des Inuits. Selon les personnes interviewées, les épaulards leur viennent davantage en aide au lieu d'entrer en concurrence avec elles, mais cela dit, elles les craignent et les trouvent dangereux. Dans l'ensemble, il y avait plus d'opinions négatives que d'opinions positives, et certaines personnes interviewées avaient même une attitude conflictuelle à l'égard des épaulards. Plus nombreux étaient les participants qui considéraient les épaulards comme intelligents et rapides que comme beaux et enjoués. Les attitudes des Inuits envers les épaulards ne variaient pas beaucoup en fonction du sexe, de l'âge, du type de chasseur ou de l'expérience qu'ils possédaient avec les épaulards, mais ils variaient quelque peu d'une région à l'autre. Les connaissances et les perspectives des Inuits jouent un rôle critique dans la gestion de la faune, surtout dans l'Arctique en pleine évolution. La conservation et la gestion des espèces qui revêtent de l'importance dans les récoltes de subsistance des Inuits au Nunavut doivent tenir compte de la prédation par les épaulards, des connaissances des Inuits de même que des points de vue et des attitudes des Inuits vis-à-vis des épaulards.

Inuit kayaks are a hunting technology that requires a high degree of developed skill to operate. The practice involves special types of physical fitness, technical ability, social relationships and extensive environmental knowledge. Hunters must be able to work intuitively as a team, to recognize and react instantly to subtle environmental cues, and depend on instinctive physical capabilities that are committed to muscle memory. These requisite abilities can be developed only experientially. Kayak sports were a critical aspect of learning, and they provided simulative environments to practise and develop sub-sets of hunting skills. Through an examination of a weapon-throwing game, commonly represented at Arctic sites by stone features that are arranged to outline a kayak, this paper explores the didactic nature of sports and theorizes their value in the situated learning of skills for hunter-gatherer technologies.

Thousands of quotes from over three hundred Inuit elders about their culture and customs cover all aspects of traditional life, from raising children to hunting, the land, and architecture, to belief systems, cosmology, and the Inuit's remarkable ability to make do with what they had. Given the recent creation of Nunavut and current attention to the Arctic due to climate change, Uqalurait is a timely source of insight from a people whose values of sharing and respect for the environment have helped them to live for centuries at the northern limit of the inhabitable world.

This paper examines the role of Inuit traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in adaptation to climate change in the Canadian Arctic. It focuses on Inuit relationships with the Arctic environment, including hunting knowledge and land skills, and examines their roles in adaptation to biophysical changes that affect subsistence hunting. In several instances, TEK underpins competency in subsistence and adaptations to changing conditions, which inculdes flexibility with regard to seasonal cycles of hunting and resource use, hazard avoidance through detailed knowledge of the environment and understanding of ecosystem processes, and emergency preparedness, e.g., knowing what supplies to take when traveling and how to respond in emergency situations. Despite the documented importance of TEK in adaptation and in maintaining a level of competency in subsistence, the relationships between TEK and adaptation to climate change are not well defined in the scholarly literature. This paper aims to conceptualize the relationships between TEK and adaptation to climate change by drawing on case study research with Inuit in the Canadian Arctic. TEK is considered an element of adaptive capacity (or resilience) that is expressed as adaptation if TEK is drawn upon to adapt to changing conditions. This capacity depends on the development, accumulation, and transmission of TEK within and among generations. Cet article se penche sur le rôle des connaissances écologiques traditionnelles (CET) inuites en matière d'adaptation au changement climatique dans l'Arctique canadien. Il porte plus précisément sur les relations des Inuits avec l'environnement de l'Arctique, notamment en ce qui a trait à leurs connaissances de la chasse et à leurs pratiques ancestrales, puis il examine leur rôle en matière d'adaptation aux changements biophysiques qui exercent une influence sur la chasse de subsistance. Dans plusieurs cas, les CET servent de fondement aux aptitudes de survie et à l'adaptation aux conditions changeantes, ce qui implique de la souplesse vis-à-vis des cycles saisonniers de chasse et d'utilisation des ressources, l'évitement des dangers grâce à une connaissance approfondie de l'environnement et à la compréhension de la dynamique des écosystèmes et l'état de préparation en cas d'urgence, à savoir les vivres et le matériel dont ils doivent se doter lorsqu'ils sont en déplacement et la façon de réagir en situation d'urgence. Malgré l'importance documentée des CET sur l'adaptation et le maintien d'un niveau de compétence en vue de la subsistance, les liens entre les CET et l'adaptation au changement climatique ne sont pas bien définis dans les écrits érudits. Cet article cherche à conceptualiser les liens entre les CET et l'adaptation au changement climatique en s'appuyant sur une recherche d'étude de cas avec les Inuits de l'Arctique canadien. Les CET sont considérées comme un élément de la capacité adaptative (ou de la résilience) exprimée sous forme d'adaptation pourvu qu'elles soient employées pour favoriser l'adaptation aux conditions changeantes. Cette capacité dépend du développement, de l'accumulation et de la transmission des CET au sein des générations et entre elles.

Objective Built on the Inuit determinants approach of health, this study aimed to identify sociocultural factors associated with mental health among Inuit of Nunavik to guide programs and services. Methods The data were collected through the Qanuilirpitaa? 2017, a survey characterized by the involvement of several Inuit representatives. Depressive symptoms (10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale, CES-D), lifetime suicide ideation and attempts, and past-year ideation were self-reported mental health indicators. Sociocultural factors represented four thematic domains: social support, community activities, traditional practices, and cultural identity. Analyses tested whether the sociocultural factors were associated with indicators of mental health using weighted multivariate regressions. Results Among the sociocultural factors considered, family cohesion and weekly hunting/fishing activities were associated with lower depression scores. Community cohesion and lower cultural identity (centrality scale) were associated with a lower likelihood of past-year and lifetime ideation while family cohesion was related to a lower likelihood of lifetime attempts. People with psychological distress (higher CES-D, suicidal ideation or attempts) were more likely to participate in healing and wellness activities. Conclusion Although limited by their cross-sectional character, these analyses, based on the community component of the Qanuilirpitaa? , suggest that strengthening of family and community cohesion, and support of regular hunting and fishing deserve further attention as potential cumulative preventive avenues for Inuit mental health.

Climate change driven food insecurity has emerged as a topic of special concern in the Canadian Arctic. Inuit communities in this region rely heavily on subsistence; however, access to traditional food sources may have been compromised due to climate change. Drawing from a total of 25 interviews among Inuit elders and experienced hunters from Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk in Nunavut, Canada, this research examines how climate change is impacting food sovereignty and health. Our results show that reports of food insecurity were more pronounced in Kugluktuk than Cambridge Bay. Participants in Kugluktuk consistently noted declining availability of preferred fish and game species (e.g., caribou, Arctic char), a decline in participation of sharing networks, and overall increased difficulty accessing traditional foods. Respondents in both communities presented a consistent picture of climate change compounding existing socio-economic (e.g., poverty, disconnect between elders and youth) and health stressors affecting multiple aspects of food sovereignty. This article presents a situated understanding of how climate change as well as other sociocultural factors are eroding food sovereignty at the community-scale in the Arctic. We argue that a communal focus is required to address resilience and adaptation at the local level through programs that protect the local cultural knowledge, traditional ways of life, and indigenous sovereignty to reduce the severities of food insecurity in the Arctic stemming from climate change.

The 2008 United States (US) listing of the polar bear as a threatened species prohibits the importation of polar bear trophies into the US, significantly decreasing the number of Americans paying for guided polar bear hunts in Canada. We examined the numbers and composition of the harvest in three polar bear subpopulations—Northern Beaufort Sea, Southern Beaufort Sea, and Viscount Melville Sound—located in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the western Canadian Arctic in order to identify what happens when support for guided hunting is withdrawn. We find that there was no significant change in the number of polar bears harvested or in the sex composition of the harvest in the three subpopulations after the US listing. Over the 12-year study period, harvests in each subpopulation were always within the quota. The number of guided hunts decreased after the US listing, and the number of subsistence hunts increased in each subpopulation during this time. The number of bears harvested as a percentage of tags (hunting licenses to harvest one polar bear, the sum of which equals the annual quota) used was significantly higher in the Northern Beaufort Sea after the listing. This is because a tag issued for a guided hunt is considered used even if the hunt is unsuccessful, which is often the case, as hunters seek large male bears, whereas a tag issued for subsistence is re-issued until a successful harvest. We conclude that while the US listing and rapid decline in guided hunts did not affect the number of polar bears harvested, it did disrupt the Inuit cultural economy. En 2008, les États-Unis ont placé l’ours polaire sur la liste des espèces menacées, ce qui s’est traduit par l’interdiction d’importer des « trophées » d’ours polaires aux États-Unis et a eu pour effet de diminuer considérablement le nombre d’Américains retenant des services de chasse guidée d’ours polaires au Canada. Nous avons examiné le nombre et la composition des récoltes parmi les trois sous-populations d’ours polaires (nord de la mer de Beaufort, sud de la mer de Beaufort et détroit du Vicomte de Melville) situées dans la région désignée des Inuvialuit dans l’ouest de l’Arctique canadien afin de déterminer ce qui se passe quand le soutien aux services de chasse guidée est retiré. Après l’entrée de l’ours polaire sur la liste américaine, nous constatons que le nombre d’ours polaires récoltés ou que la composition des récoltes des trois sous-populations en fonction du sexe a peu changé. Au cours de l’étude échelonnée sur 12 ans, les récoltes de chaque sous-population se trouvaient toujours dans les limites des contingents. Le nombre de chasses guidées a diminué après l’entrée de l’ours polaire sur la liste américaine et pendant ce temps, le nombre de chasses de subsistance a augmenté pour chacune des sous-populations. Après l’entrée sur la liste, le nombre d’ours polaires récoltés en fonction du pourcentage de permis (permis de chasse pour récolter un seul ours polaire, dont la somme correspond au contingent annuel) était considérablement plus élevé dans le nord de la mer de Beaufort. Cela s’explique du fait qu’un permis délivré pour une chasse guidée est considéré comme « utilisé » même si la chasse ne porte pas fruit, ce qui est souvent le cas parce que les chasseurs sont souvent à la recherche de gros ours mâles, tandis que lorsqu’un permis est délivré pour la chasse de subsistance, il est délivré de nouveau tant que la récolte n’a pas été fructueuse. Nous en concluons que même si l’entrée de l’ours polaire sur la liste des espèces menacées aux États-Unis et la chute rapide du nombre de chasses guidées n’ont pas eu d’effet sur le nombre d’ours polaires récoltés, elle a tout de même nui à l’économie culturelle inuite.