Saying hi to fellow Nunavummiut

We just wanted to say “hi” to our fellow Nunavummiut from the beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia.

We are here, of all places, to do some research on documents relating to Inuit from early as the late 1800s up until now. We have been finding some interesting and also shocking information about government and Inuit affairs. Such examples are the books written by Qallunaat in the 1950’s called “The Eskimo Book of Knowledge” and “Book of Wisdom” that were supposed to train Inuit to live in the modern world at the time. It is both funny and disturbing to hear, but these are the kinds of stuff people, mostly Inuit, should know and learn from.

We are privileged to have been invited by a UBC professor to look at the documents and feel that other Inuit should have access to this kind of information. It is amazing what we don’t know about our own history as Inuit and how we have been treated over those years by outsiders. We are hoping to bring this to life, and we are hoping that generations ahead of us will know without having to do some intensive research. We just felt that we needed let people know what we are doing.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us through e-mail.

Tommy Akulukjuk (takulukjuk@yahoo.ca)
David Joanasie (d_joanasie@yahoo.ca)
Vancouver