Nunavut — ‘a place where we cook caribou outside’

With Nunavut Day coming up, Nunatsiaq News asked readers to share what makes their corner of the territory special to them.

Nunavut, a vast newest territory where all seasons bloom, winter, spring, fall and summer.

Eva Alikut Ulayok (submitted photo)

This is the place where Inuit ancestors tagjaq, where they hunt, went to go trade by walking and dog team, where our parents and grandparents were born in igloos and caribou tents, fished in their rivers and lakes, where they hunt whales in their kayaks, and survived up here in the North for thousands of years.

Nunavut is a place where a lot of Inuit have survived for a long time, this is our home, our place, our pride. This is the place where our children and grandchildren will grow and play, this is where the best place where NHL players evolved playing in the ice roads in the communities, where songwriters wrote their first lyrics, where nurses practise becoming nurses, and lawyers, teachers, politicians, pilots and more started their first seeds of their career.

Nunavut is a place where a lot of people come to work and play, where they settle down and build their million-dollar view cabins, where we dry nipku and pipis, a place where we cook caribou outside.

I love Nunavut because it’s free and vast and the cold air crisp we breathe, where it is bright from the white snow and where polar bears live, a place where we can go ice fishing and go hiking and biking.

I love Nunavut, because it is where the heart is.

I love Nunavut, because it is my home.

Eva Alikut Ulayok lives in Arviat.