Nunavut Our Land

Our spe­cial guest Marie-Helene Cousineau (left) is the found­ing Coor­di­na­tor of Tar­ri­ak­suk Video Centre estab­lished in 1991. Cousineau formed the col­lec­tive Arnait Ika­jur­tigi­it (Women’s Video Work­shop), and is its coordinator/trainer … read more

Igloo­lik, Summer 1946. The dis­tant sound of the atooka­tooka­took, the first gas engine to arrive in Igloo­lik, brings a sur­prise vis­i­tor to Qaisut, island of the walrus hunters. The Priest … read more

Aban­doned by her father Vivi Kunuk was adopt­ed by the Inuk family of her mother who raised her as a boy. This is but one remark­able chap­ter in her life. … read more

Work­ing and train­ing togeth­er over the course of two sum­mers, a group of stu­dents from 15 Mon­tre­al’s Nation­al Circus School and local Inuit youth from Igloo­lik pro­duce a unique circus … read more

Igloo­lik, Spring 1946. It is the season of never-ending days. Two dog teams search­ing the spring ice, men and boys hunt­ing day and night. Seals are every­where: at the breath­ing … read more

Tales of hunt­ing one of the most feared and respect­ed ani­mals in the Arctic: the polar bear, or nanuq. An Igloo­lik elder, Abra­ham Ulayu­ru­luk, recounts sto­ries about hunt­ing polar bears … read more

Rapid change from tra­di­tion­al to modern life in Nunavut, like many post-colo­nial soci­eties, has con­cen­trat­ed power, wealth and infor­ma­tion in a few hands. NIPI exam­ines fun­da­men­tal ques­tions of democ­ra­cy, power and change in Nunavut and indi­rect­ly in Canada itself: in edu­ca­tion, reli­gion, gender, lifestyle, the dis­tri­b­u­tion of eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment and the make-up and inner struc­ture of the new lead­er­ship class. NIPI lis­tens to Inuit lead­ers and elders, in their own voices, talk­ing about lead­er­ship in the old way of life, and in the new. 

A late-winter Inuit camp in the 1930’s. Four fam­i­lies build a qaggiq, a large com­mu­nal igloo, to cel­e­brate the coming of spring with games, singing and drum danc­ing. A young … read more

Women of the Video Work­shop reen­act a tra­di­tion­al wom­en’s activ­i­ty: the use of the qulliq. The qulliq is the seal oil lamp and stove of the old days, the only … read more

Igloo­lik, Fall 1945. Even here, news of the ter­ri­ble world war raging out­side makes people fright­ened and uneasy. They talk of the danger of the unknown future, of shaman­is­tic inter­ven­tion … read more