Contemporary Inuit

Although the harsh Arctic conditions still determine much about Inuit lives, many of their customs have changed. Inuit now have rifles and shotguns instead of harpoons, spears, and bows and arrows; power-driven canvas canoes instead of kayaks; snowmobiles instead of dogsleds; frame houses instead of igloos, hide tents, and wood, stone, and sod huts; electricity, kerosene, or oil as fuel instead of animal fat; factory-made wool, cotton, and synthetic clothes instead of handmade sealskin and caribou ones; and so on.

Nonetheless, since the 1950s, there has been a renaissance in Inuit art, with traditional techniques, materials, and themes, as well as new ones. Inuit sculptures, drawings, and prints are valued the world over by art collectors.

Two other developments are helping to improve the quality of Inuit life in the modern world. In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act protected United States Inuit lands and granted the bands funds for economic growth. The numerous Inuit villages are now organized into six Native corporations, some of which are united with either Aleut or ATHAPASCANS. Hunting and fishing are still central to the Alaskan Inuit economy. Some groups also still practice whaling.

In Canada, on April 1, 1999, the Inuit were granted their own territory—Nunavut—carved out of the eastern and northern parts of the present Northwest Territories, an area about the size of France. The idea to split the Northwest Territories into two new territories had been introduced as a bill in Canada’s House of Commons in 1965. The inhabitants of the Northwest Territories had voted in favor of the division in a 1982 plebiscite. Boundaries had been determined in a second plebiscite in 1992. The final agreement had been ratified by the Canadian Parliament in the Inuit and the Nunavut Act of June 1993. Nunavut is the first territory to enter the federation of Canada since Newfoundland in 1949. All Nunavut citizens—Inuit and non-Inuit alike—are subject to the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and have the same rights. But the population in the new territory is about 85 percent Inuit, giving them the greatest political power. Nunavut’s capital is Iqaluit, the territory’s largest community. Nunavut means “our land.”

The Inuit are facing economic and cultural changes as a result of global warming. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report, released in 2004, is a comprehensive climate and regional assessment based on four years of research, recording and observing the environmental changes in Arctic regions. This project was sponsored by the International Arctic Science Committee and the Arctic Circle, representing not only North American and European countries bordering the Arctic Circle but indigenous peoples as well. The Inuit are pressing to make the Canadian government aware and active in responding to this and other environmental issues.