Too many so-called Inuksuit

The Inuksuk is fast becoming the most popular symbol of Inuit culture.

Like anything that becomes popular, it runs the risk of being bent out of shape to give tourists and others what they would like to see. I am concerned that too many innunguat (and these are not Inuksuit) are being built all over the place.

These so-called Inuksuit have heads, arms and legs. Inuit never built Inuksuit with heads, arms and legs. Inuksuk means, “rocks that can act in the place of a person”. It’s like a spirit called “Tarriasuk” — “like a shadowy person.” Like the Inuksuk, “Tarriasuk” is not a person, but is a symbol of what it means to be a person — a glimpse into the spirit world.

Our ancestors, for thousands of years, built Inuksuit as “nalunaipkutait” — rock objects that are used for communication and for survival.

This is what Inuksuit were. They were not people. They were the voices of people — symbolic ways of saying things to us. Inuksuit, voiceless rocks piled on top of each other, are built along the good hunting places, good fishing places and to indicate good seal hunting areas.

They were built to indicate where there was a caribou cache. Every Inuksuk was built for a reason, to be noticed and to give a message — to be the voices of our ancestors — for those of us traveling on our land.

Building an Inuksuk is like raising a baby. You want to build it to have a great deal of meaning. You want to give it a strong, wise voice, so that it will be remembered and respected by people who are journeying on the land, hunting or fishing.

When I am out on the land, I am never scared because I know that my ancestors have lived or walked through areas, where there are Inuksuit. Inuksuit are land markers, like the highway signs in the south. They communicate to you as a traveler. They help you to survive. Just like signs lining the highways in the South, they provide information about where to eat, sleep and rest. We use the Inuksuk on our Nunavut flag to indicate our patience, and as a symbol of the importance of Inuit culture to our survival.

Inuksuk is also used as a proper name by Inuit in Nunavut. There is an ancient Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit law that stops Inuit from damaging or destroying Inuksuit. This is the message that I received from my mother’s teachings a long ago.

More recently, when I was talking about Inuksuit to my elder relative in Kugaaruk (Pelly Bay), he told me the same thing. He told me that if you knock down Inuksuit, you could shorten your life.

Some people may think that this kind of thinking has no place in a modern world. But it is part of our way of life and respecting Inuksuit is one way of reminding ourselves about who we are, the wisdom of our elders and ancestors and of our relationship with and respect for our land.

It is our responsibility to pass this understanding on to future generations of Inuit. This law does not apply to Inunnguat, as these are being built under the cultural influence of Qablunaaq (southern Canadians or Europeans). There is good reason for preserving real Inuit Inuksuit. In them — and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit traditional knowledge) — we can find what it means to be Inuk.

Peter Irniq
Iqaluit