“It’s a magical thing when participants begin finishing their pieces. Not only is it a goal accomplished, but it’s an act of reclamation, of ourselves and our culture.” – Kitikmeot Heritage Society
Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq (also known as Kitikmeot Heritage Society) is an Inuit-led charitable organization that focuses on the priorities of Inuinnait—a distinct regional group of Inuit living in the Central Canadian Arctic. Their work centers reclamation of cultural identity, ensuring the survival of Inuinnaqtun language, and connecting new generations to their ancestors and traditional knowledge. MakeWay is thrilled to support Kitikmeot Heritage Society’s recent project, “Creating a Cross Community Network to Revitalize Inuinnaqtun and Inuinnait Culture”, which ran successfully from the fall of 2020 into the winter of 2021.
The initiative was created to address issues around Inuinnait cultural and language reclamation. The first area, Living Language, accelerated the language revitalization efforts the organization was already facilitating. They were able to hire a fluent Inuinnaqtun-speaking Executive Director, Emily Angulalik, and created the new, dedicated position of Inuinnaqtun Revitalization Coordinator. Resources like Inuinnaujunga Curriculum, Inuinnaujugut Podcast, and an online learning portal were created to make learning Inuinnaqtun language more accessible. The May Hakongak Centre, a local library and cultural centre, became an Inuinnaqtun language nest that offered immersive language sessions to community.
They also did a lot of language documentation: recording specific terminology associated with the environment and Inuinnait knowledge of the natural world. “As we face the effects of a changing climate, capturing and sharing these words and this knowledge is critically important to our community, and to the world at large,” project staff reflected.
Their second priority area, Inuinnait Lens, used interactive, skill-building workshops to teach and document Inuinnait knowledge and experiences. Two virtual filmmaking workshops were ran in collaboration with MakeWay Shared Platform project, Reel Youth, where youth participants were encouraged to build skills and get creative in telling their own stories and creating digital records of Inuinnait knowledge. There were also workshops teaching things like delta braiding, Kakivak (fish spear) making, and parka making.
These workshops not only taught participants useful skills, they also facilitated personal and creative journeys. As Tracy, a parka-making workshop participant, put it, “I finally picked up the needle and have made some beautiful creations along the way for some family and friends. This is just a start, I’m not finished here, I have a long road to catch up on. Just thought I would share my journey with sewing.”
The Inuinnait Knowledge Bank was another priority area that developed over the year. The content management and mobilization platform was designed to facilitate Inuit access to, and engagement with, their digital heritage. It is populated with heritage documents relating to Inuinnait culture and history (photos, texts, audio-visual media) sourced from archives across the world. The focus of 2021’s work was to a build a simple tagging system to categorize, qualify, prioritize and license digital collections in ways that Inuit communities see fit. The Knowledge Bank meets the need for interactive digital heritage tools that are easy to use, but can convey complex cultural understandings of heritage collections.
Although this phase of the project came to a close last year, Kitikmeot Heritage Society will work with consultants and community members to create a strategy for the project’s future. One idea that’s quickly becoming reality is building a new cultural workspace in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
This 1,200 square foot building is set to start construction this fall, and will act as a secondary facility as a place for hands-on applied cultural programs.
You can learn more about Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq/Kitikmeot Heritage Society here, or support them via their donation page. Learn more about the Northern Program at MakeWay.
