Iam an Inuk living in Nunavut, Northern of Canada AMA!

I was up in Nunavut about 5 years ago and I lost my glove while skiidooing. Did you happen to see it by chance?

Haha, I can't find anything that's isolated and cant find land for a next 20 miles of snow.

What's your average day like?

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Living in a small place, a community filled with only 800 to 2000 people is pretty fine, but it gets boring day on day. Nothing really happens and just another regular day.

I think I want to go a collage, but there's a thing, it's Nunavut Sivuniksavut. It's a program about preparing for collage because there's no any collage or university, because Nunavut has very low population.

Here's what Pond Inlet looks like if everyone's been wandering

http://imgur.com/a/IQ0b7

Unfortunately one thing that gets reported on is the high suicide rate among young people. Has this affected your community?

Also, is there government support for turning traditional arts into an income?

It does get very serious, so we make a parade and celebrate our lives and have lots of activities around communities.

Traditional arts are sold and make incomes from the stores in the community.

How about a website to sell your things? I've been looking at the beautiful clothing and traditional art made by the Inuit (because of this AMA) and you might do a little better that way than just selling at the local shops.

*edited because I should have said Inuit, not Inuktitut. Sorry!

There's no really a website for selling arts and jewelry, because of people here having no clue of shipping and buying stuff online.

and plural for Inuk is Inuit ;)

What do you get in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables?

They ship those but right after they arrive they die instantly and doesn't get removed from the selves until people starts complaining. The employees doesn't take their work seriously? Any reason asking that?

How much do the cost? How much is a loaf of bread? Do you get compensation for living north? Because the cost of shipping fresh produce is do high.

The groceries get very high often, but sometimes they lower it now and then when they are about to get bad. Comparing foods up here, a loaf of bread would be 10 dollars, a shirt would cost 40 dollar. things here get pretty high prices, I think it's not fair.

Curious about how often and how fast shipping gets up there, and perishable items provide a good example. I think I've read elsewhere that the prices are ridiculously high.

The shipping happened very often and comes up there fast but it's very expensive, in summer there's a shipping through ships that are likely very cheap but it gets very limited often.

What kind of food is there besides $10 loafs of bread? Like local stuff

Dairy products cost about 5 to 20 dollars up here, Meat is about 15 to 30 dollars. alot here are kinda expensive more than they are not suppose to be.

hello my relation! a Metis from Manitoba, here! :) what's your favourite traditional, and nontraditional food?

My favorite traditional food is seal stew, it's really great! And I like spicy foods. What's yours?

how does seal stew taste? i've never had seal

I can't really explain the taste, just like describing how water tastes like.

Did you grow up speaking Inuktitut or English? I'm very curious since I've read that many Inuit grow up speaking their native language. Also, I'm very interested in indigenous American languages.

On a different note: how do you guys combat the cold, especially in smaller towns that isolated?

I do speak both language fluently, but part of Nunavut are losing the ability to speak Inuktitut, so they started a program to help and learn and practice speaking their language.

To keep away from freezing, we use clothing made out of animals skins that we hunt. But the stereotype about us only skinning the animals is totally bull, we just don't leave all the parts away to leave it to rot, we eat the parts of it too, it's a taboo to rot an animal

Is it really warm enough for things to rot? How long would it take for an animal to rot up there?

Here in southern California, I wouldn't eat an animal that sat out for more than an hour or two.

If people not caring about the dead animal and not being to thrown away, I guess about 2 weeks to rot.

How many people own personal cars there? There is a "monument" in Alliance Nebraska called Carhenge ( http://carhenge.com ) , and their visitor center has license plates from all the US states and territories and almost all of the Canadians, save for yours.

I snapped this pic Monday: http://imgur.com/5ePnqaC

Would it be possible to send an expired plate to them?

I think they order cars through a catalog and get shipped though summer.

Hey!

Which community do you live in? I lived in Coral Harbour for a year and a bit! Cheers!

Hey! I currently live in Pond Inlet! Nice to hear someone was in Nunavut!

Well, I guess this is a pretty serious/heavy topic, but: what's your view on how the Canadian government treats First Nations people?

I think they don't really give a damn about us, right after the Residential School was shut down, they started helping us, but years later it kind of stopped and stared to ignore us and "focusing on more important stuff that our own people"

Hi, thanks for doing this AMA. I've always been curious about the life and culture of people living in Nunavut. My question is during your life time and those of your family has your life and culture changed?

Our lives never have seem to change, but ever since the new era of more people coming up here around 1950's really impacted the lives of Nunavut. Any more questions about the lives up hear?

What do you do for fun

Have you ever been to other parts of Canada?

Do you have any plans to travel?

I like to go hunting, and go fishing with my family. Everything's to pricey to travel, it's hard want to wander around Canada.

Is hockey as big up there as it is in the rest of Canada?

It's pretty big, but they love to watch it with the whole family and friends. With all of Nunavut's communities join in one community and start a tournament, I think it'll be the main activity of the territory.

Do most people root for the same team or are there lots of loyalties? Go Flyers!

They root on the same teams but other families constantly fight against each other who's the best team. I'm with Canucks.

What's your favourite Canucks logo?

I like the older one, I really like the Killer whale logo, the newer one looks like just another weird lettered logo

How cold does it get in the winter, is there a period of time where you have to stay inside because it is too cold?

Do you see the northern lights and if you do, can you describe them?

Hello, on winter it's bone chilling, temperature. The average temperature on winter is around -40c(-49f) to -55c(-67f). You do not have to stay outside for a long time or you'll get terrible frost bites or hypothermia. The northern lights are very lovely, but not really strong and bright, it brings lots of attentions to the people.

How long do you generally stay indoors during the winter without going outside?

As long as we want, we go to places when we want to visit, go shopping, and go hunting, or play outside!

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between an Eskimo and an Inuk? That said, is "Eskimo" derogatory? I live (well south of you) in New York, and many of my peers refer generally to northern Canadians as "Eskimos". I know that isn't right. Can you (or someone else) elaborate? In my opinion, I feel like "First Nations people" is appropriate, but to be honest, I'm talking out of my ass. Can you school us, or at least me, in this?

We prefer 'Inuk'. The word 'Eskimo' comes from another Native culture. When Missionaries were going up North in the early 1030's they asked who the people were up north and the Native people told them they were Eskimos, which means "meat eaters". Inuit only ate meat and meat only to survive because it was the only out there.

Hey, I'm working with an Inuit girl from Iqaluit she says that for the words yes and no that for yes you widen their eyes and face and for no they scrunched up their face. Also is Inuktitut widely spoken?

Haha, widening your eyes is saying yes, scrunching your face is saying no, Inuit uses body language very often, and Inuktitut is widely often spoken

Haha, widening your eyes is yes and scrunching your face is no, Inuit uses body language, it's convenient. And yes, Inuktitut is widely spoken, more than English.

Extremely stereotypical questions to ask but I have to ask them, sorry.

Do you see many polar bears? are they a problem?

What are the main animals you hunt besides seals? have you ever seen a Narwhal?

What is your favourite activity to do around your town?

It's okay. Polar bears can be seen far away from any communities, you have to go very far to see them, Polar bears are not really a problem to Nunavut. We fish, it's a great delicacy, and we hunt for geese, ptarmigan, hares, polar bears, and sea mammals. Narwhals are very big and need very much of people to lift on to the surface. Because of the community is very small, I like to visit friends and family.

Do you eat narwhal?

Yeah, we only eat the skin and the blubber, we throw out the rest to our dogs so they wont starve.

Do Narwhal taste bad?

Also, Is this true? http://imgur.com/k7nhIJL.jpg

Yes, just like a little girl picks up your tooth in the night and gives you a quater

Can you describe what sea mammal tastes like?

I can't really describe it, it's like describing a blind person what a color is. You got to find out for your self.

what's your opinion on Inuits from Greenland? And can you speak inuktitut?

I think they have similar traditions as us from Nunavut, but little difference. And I definitely can speak Inuktitut.

Also, how can you possibly read this?

The dictionary is talking about tents and tents related.

Hey, fellow Canadian here :).

So my question is, is there an alcohol problem in the Nunavut?

There is, mostly from the history of Residential School System, People with PTSD from neglect and torture from being for who they are, and passing them to their kids. I do have a dad that went R.S. and drinks to kill it away.

Does your dad talk about his residential school experience?

Does your family speak English at home, or Inuktitut?

Do you hunt or fish, and if so what do you hunt and does your family go hunting together?

Do you get seasonal depression?

No, I don't like to talk about it with him, he's too sensitive about the subject. My parents mostly speak Inuktitut, but not really great with English. I do hunt and fish, it's a hobby, we do go hunting with the family. And I don't really complain about the seasons.

Nunavut is also the 'youngest' province in Canada, has some of the highest teenage pregnancy rates and highest rates of smoking.

Nunavut has a VERY high rate of smoking.

What are some common misconceptions you would the rest of the world to know?

That we still live in Igloos and only hunt for our foods. No, we live like the whole world does now, we buy foods, we pay our shelters.

Do you ever get people (non-Inuit) that move into your community to try and become a part of the culture?

Well, All the people in Nunavut would try to welcome that person, even if they don't even know them, we are loving and caring people :)

What kind of ceremonies do you have? I'm Cree and we have walking out ceremonies,sunrise ceremonies,sweat lodges and shaking tents..do you have similar names or different variations of these ceremonies? Have you had any spiritual experiences worth sharing?

I think there's no really ceremonies but Churches. There's a big history of Christianity in Canada, I do think you know that but Nunavut takes Christianity very seriously.

Thanks for doing this AMA, very interesting! What is the warmest it ever gets in the summertime in your area?

I think the hottest it ever happened is around 15c(59f) to 27c(80f) It's not really hot at the summertime compared down there.

That's a lot hotter than I thought it would get to! In my mind, it is always cold there. Is most of the summer spent getting ready for the wintertime? How long do you have and what do you do to prepare for the coming cold weather?

We don't really prepare for winter, winter doesn't happen very suddenly. It takes 2 months for the snow to freeze and harden.

Southern white Canadian guy here. I've worked in a few communities in Nunavut for various environmental surveys for weeks at a time. I noticed there are more people outside at 10pm to 2am when us southern contractors are going to sleep. I'm guessing school, work and store hours prevent much change in schedule. What sleep schedule does the community have when the Sun is up 24 hours and does the schedule change when there is no Sun?

No, the schedule doesn't change, it's always the way it is, the same old time.

No, the schedule doesn't change, the schedule stays the same throughout the year.

Could you describe what you have in terms of healthcare available to you?

How far would you have to travel to a major medical center?

Is a dentist and general practitioner available locally?

Do you or your community practice any traditional medicine?

For a very serious reason, you have to travel to Iqaluit, it's the only city in the territory to have a hospital, all of the other communituies only have Healthcentres. Dentists only go to communities monthly, there isn't a dentists in the communities. We do have practices for traditional medicines, we learn them from our elders.

Could you give a few examples of your traditional medicine?

When you have a serious cut, you'll try to catch a lemming and skin it, wrap the skin around the area and leave it and it'll heal(it's not sanitary though but no infections would occur)

so a lemming skin bandage?

Yeah, I never tried it though, but it is said it heals the wound fast.

How are you online? Seems isolated.

It's isolated but there's a service in our community that connects to the I.S.P in Iqaluit, the connection is pretty slow though.

What kind of internet do you have there? Back in February about 300 of us from Southern Ontario came to visit you guys. We had a blast!! We love your culture and your food. However the lack of internet and cell phone service was a bit different from living in Ontario.

We use broadband internet. The only internet service in Nunavut is in Iqaluit. And it is painfully slow.

I heard from a person who supervises work in Nunavut that the Inuit people are very sensitive to criticism and tend to withdraw instead of defending themselves. What are your thoughts on that assertion?

I do think they are sensitive, because Inuit love for who they are, they don't want people to judge them, like everyone else, they love their beliefs and denies everyone is not going to like every single bit

I feel like this is the most useless question so far, but if you had to rate your area from 1-10 what would it be?

I read about the groceries in the comments which would turn me off. Is the average persons paycheck able to afford food and bills, or is a serious struggle?

I'm rating it 7 out of ten, the scenery is very beautiful and never get tired of it.

I think one paycheck would be enough for two weeks, I think that's reasonable choice, but some people doesnt really have enough and it turns into a bad situation.

When you get older, do you plan to stay in your community or travel to a bigger city?

I'm thinking of going to a collage, then get a job that suits me. But I love staying in my community with my family and friends.

Do you have an opinion on the dump fire in Iqaluit? I don't have first hand experience, but I read on the news that they're telling women of child-bearing age to avoid breathing in the fumes. Sounds pretty nasty, but I've seen some pretty nonchalant attitudes about it on social media from people in the area. I'm curious what it's like for you.

I think they should stop burning and start recycling, seriously, why burn trash right beside your city?

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I think because of peer pressure and trying to be part of popular people in school, and parents not taking care of their kids enough.

Do you still need a hunting license to hunt?

No, you just have to hunt limited, the government forces the people not to hunt animals very much.

The prices in this youtube video going through a Nunavut Grocery store from 4 years ago still accurate today? Or has it gone up? http://youtu.be/Hz0YYkvG_Lg

Yikes, $25 for laundry soap?! $7 for a bag of chips?

The prices are still high, today right now in my local store, a loaf of bread is 15 dollars, a case of pops or soda costs 48 dollars right now. Because the prices are high doesn't mean we're greedy, it's just that the shipping is very expensive now!

Do you have a public library in Pond Inlet? What about other community services like indoor pools or arenas to do something when it is really cold out.

Does the community support the mining that is gearing up near you? Are there going to be jobs reserved for long-term residents?

Will your community ever reclaim the name Mittimatalik officially and drop the European name Pond inlet?

Yes we do have a public library. But my community doesn't have those, it's too expensive to afford, but we have ponds that we can swim in, when it's only a party with your friends. The community does supports mining, it's the Baffin Land Mining Corp. I don't know, but Nunavut is trying to reclaim their original name back.

What wildlife do you often see?

We see ravens (they are freaking everywhere) and marine mammals are common. there are rodents that are only the size of your hand.

Have you ever heard of the Katimavik program? Way back when the gov still funded the program (and when I took part in it!) there was a group located in Iqaluit. Also it's Inuktitut for 'meeting place' right?

I've heard of it. Yes, "katimavik" literally means "meeting place" but it's for important people have meeting.

How different is the language? Do you know it?

Inuktitut is very simple, one word is one thing, add one vowel and the word doesn't change. But English, you add one vowel, the whole word changes.

Have you ever left Nunavut? If so, what were your impression?

No, I never really left Nunavut, It's kinda pricey to travel in Nunavut.

I've always wanted to see a real, ancient inukshuk. What would be the best way to visit and genuinely get to know the locals and see the wilderness? Do you know of any volunteer type programs that let people truly see how you live and learn about your culture and history?

You can find them in places where there is or there was places for animal breeding ground or ponds and lakes for fishing. You can find them around communities, all you have to do is ask an expert and they'll show you the way.

Is it true you touch noses instead of kissing?

I think that's just a cute way of cuddling, we kiss now, like everyone else.

Hey, my questions stems from the point that I was looking to apply for a few jobs up there, currently in London, ON. but how are the living situations such as food/grocery, rent and other things such as phone, internet and so on? Also, how cold does it really get, in your opinion...

Hello, Foods and groceries are a little problems up here, everything up here is pretty expensive because we're so up high and things are getting expensive everyday. A solution for that is you get paid more because of everything here is expensive. Internet here is very slow compared down there because there's only one internet service in Iqaluit. The coldness gets really cold in winter, a proper clothing will do but a little pricey.

I fish Reindeer Lake (SK) every year just south of Nunavut with the help of some Cree friends. Where is the best fishing in Nunavut for a rod and reel angler?

I think Iqaluit. "Iqaluk" means fish and Iqaluit is placed near a river and that's why its called "Iqaluit" which means literally lots of fishes

What is the strangest thing a Canadian has done or said?

Nothing every really happens up here, just same old things repeating everyday.

I bet doing an AMA on reddit is something new :)

Yes it is, haha.

Heya! Ontarion here, god you guys have it rough up there. </3 I had read that they're hoping to set up some greenhouses up there, so grocery prices can go down, there are more jobs, etc. Heard anything about that locally? (How do you pronounce Inuk, by the way?)

No I didn't about those, sounds like a great idea though. You pronounce Inuk like i-pea nuk-took, ee-nuhk Inuk. Hope you understand.

I once heard there was a relatively high rape-rate in Nunavut and the other territories, especially among Natives. Is this true?

Also, have you ever been to a big city, and what were your thoughts upon arrival if so?

I don't think the rate isn't really high and doesn't happen very often.

and no, flight up here is kind of too expensive, so save some cash and travel later.

Is there any place you would like to travel to and see?

I want to go Japan, it looks so interesting.

Have you ever traveled to other parts of Canada? What are your views or what do you know of us other provinces?

I never really traveled, but I'd love to though. I think all of the provinces are the friendliest people I know :)

I never really traveled, I want to though but it's quite expensive. I think all of the provinces are the friendliest. :)

Thank you for such a great AMA!

Do you watch many movies? If so how do you get to see them? DVDs? Movie theaters? Is the internet too slow there for streaming movies?

Going by your username, what kind of music do you listen to?

Thanks again for such an interesting AMA!

I do watch movies, there's a local dvd store, and it is too slow for streaming movies. And I do listen to rock and metal genres. And your welcome :)

Thanks for doing this AMA. It's really interesting!

Have you ever seen a UFO or any kind of strange phenomenon you can't explain?

Also, what local folk legend do you find most interesting?

There's a legend where a kid is playing around the beach unsupervised, they'll be captured by a sea-creature who abducts kids.

are you in Iqaluit? is The Snack still open?

I'm sorry but I'm from Pond Inlet.

whats your internet connection like?

The download speed up here is 100-230 kbs. It's pretty slow.

Are there any metaphysical, philosophical, spiritual or political views unique to you or your community that you'd like to share?

Pond Inlet is mostly religious and they take it very seriously.

Do you have a religion?

I do have a religion, because Nunavut is very common with Christianity, and Christianity has big history with Nunavut.

Do you speak English as your second language?

Yes, I do, right now.

Do y'all have an oral histories about Martin Frobisher? If so what do they say?

Yes we do, Iqaluit(our capital city) is used to be Frobisher Bay before it used to be Iqaluit.

Have you ever read the newsletter with the trading post and terrible jokes, trivia and the "find the polar bear"? Damn, I cant remember the name...

Those are pretty cheap jokes.

What kind of vehicles do you have in your town, Is there many trucks/cars or is it mostly just atv's and snowmobiles? Also, how much do you pay for basic services and goods in your area. One last question, what is the main source of income for the people in your area, how many people have an actual job?

There are cars and trucks here, ATVs are very common in summer, Snowmobiles her the most common vehicles in Nunavut. We have to pay for good services up here, prices high though. Bit all of people here get income, mostly from Child Tax.

Are you an Eskimo?

Well, the word "Eskimo" is from another Native culture, which means "meat eaters" that was the truth about us, we only ate meats, that's how we were named, years later we prefer being called 'Inuit' because Inuit can name ourselves and not other group but ourselves.