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Jessica Shomphe

Geography 120

Professor Jackson

18 October 2019

Indigenous Peoples Essay

Indigenous Peoples: Inuit Peoples

The Inuit people have had a strong respect and appreciation for their land for centuries​.

Inuits live mostly in northern parts of the Canadian province of Quebec​.​ In western culture, we

see this arctic land as barren, cold, and empty​.​ It is not a place for life, a desert​.​ However, the

inuit people take pride in their land, and call it “Nuna”, which means homely and resourceful​.​ In

the first Inuit dictionary nuna is defined as:

“Nuna​.​ Does not move​.​ For a long time, it has been the inhabited land and the place

where humans and animals grow and also where they die​.​ Nuna has plants, food, people

in great numbers and variety; it is full of [different] language groups” (Pongerard, 3)​.

Inuits cherish their diverse land​.​ Sadly, their beloved land is being taken by the Canadian

government​.

To the Inuits, nuna is everything​.​ “Nuna has an exceptional status, for it is one of the only

words common to all languages and dialects within the 14 dialects of Eskimo-Aleut continuum”

(Pongerard, 2)​.​ Even though they speak many different languages this word is always the same,

it is universal​.​ The Inuits love their land and travel through it nomadically​.​ They set up camps
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for winter, and in the summer they follow animal patterns to go hunt​.​ Modern Inuits are less

nomadic, and tend to settle in small villages or camps, but still camp in the summer​.

Nuna is rich in forest and natural resources like iron, copper, and oil, but it is also rich in

life from the Inuit tribe​.​ Despite this, the Quebec government has made efforts starting in the

1970’s to clear this land to develop a hydroelectric power plant​.​ This land will help Quebec

reach its goal of switching to hydroelectric and wind power, so there is less need to import oil​.

Although this form of power will be more sustainable, cheaper, and completely renewable, the

Inuits were still upset about their land being cleared, their rivers being dammed, and their natural

ecosystems being lost​.​ In 2015, the projects were nearly completed and the Inuits were

protesting, but they were quieted by large cash payments by the Canadian government

(Pulsipher, 115)​.

I think that the way that the Canadian government is treating this land is unethical​.​ The

Inuit people protested for an end to the destruction that their lad was enduring, but all the

Canadians did was quiet them with money​.​ It is disrespectful to these people and all of the life in

this land​.​ The only good thing that might come out of the land clearing is renewable or

sustainable energy that could replace some of Canada’s oil imports​.​ The use of wind and

hydroelectric energy could save money and preserve the planet’s natural oil​.​ This project has

already generated enough power that Canada has started being able to sell this electrical power to

parts of the northeastern United States​.​ This is great news for the environment, but at what cost?
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Work Cited

Pongerard, Julien. “Nuna: Naming the Inuit Land, Imagining Indigenous Community.” ​Journal

of Northern Studies,​ vol. 11, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 37–51. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=129353775&site=ehost-live

&scope=site.

Pulsipher, Lydia M., et al. "The Quiet Revolution." ​World Regional Geography​, Seventh ed.,

New York, W. H. Freeman and Company, 2017, p. 115.