Inuit women-led expedition help Netsilikmiut share knowledge 

By Emina Ida and Joshua Ostroff 

Known as Netsilikmiut, the people of the ringed seal, Inuit inhabiting Nunavut’s Eastern Kitikmeot region share deep family ties going back generations, long before colonization.

And as work has been advancing on the nearly-90,000 square kilometre Aqviqtuuq Inuit Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) project, interest and support has been growing through meetings and workshops, conducted in Inuktitut, like last winter’s initial community tour and a Knowledge Exchange in Iqaluit. 

Local Inuit Guardians harvesting lake ice on the outskirts of Taloyoak, Nunavut © Emina Ida

Last spring, WWF-Canada staff joined members of Taloyoak Umaruliririgut Association (TUA) — the local hunters and trappers organization (HTO) for the community of Taloyoak — on a return visit to their Eastern Kitikmeot neighbouring communities, Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven. 

This trip updated local representatives on Aqviqtuuq’s progress and held public meetings for residents to ask questions of TUA’s Lena Neeveacheak, Viola Neeveacheak, Elizabeth Aiyout and manager, Jimmy Ullikatalik. 

Taloyoak Umaruliririgut Association information table at the Northern store in Gjoa Haven © Emina Ida

Though spearheaded by the Netsilikmiut of Taloyoak, TUA envisions its IPCA efforts will benefit Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven as well, reflecting these communities’ strong tradition of support, collaboration and resource sharing.  

But travel costs in the territory can be exorbitant, so WWF-Canada has been facilitating these in-person knowledge exchanges to support opportunities for Netsilikmiut to help and learn from one another while initiating Guardians programs and protected area proposals.  

These initiatives are built on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or knowledge that Inuit have always known to be true, which acts as a guide in maintaining relationships with the people and the land.  

While both women and men hold knowledge vital to Inuit culture and tradition, leadership roles in Nunavut are often still held by men. That made it especially impactful for this trip to be led by three Inuit women representing TUA and the Aqviqtuuq IPCA project. 

Women leaders help ensure diverse perspectives in decision-making, enriching and strengthening environmental and cultural initiatives with a broader range of insights and experiences while serving as role models for future generations.  

Afterward, we all sat down to find out more about their thoughts on the knowledge-sharing trip.

Lena Neeveacheak, Viola Neeveacheak, and Elizabeth Aiyout representing Taloyoak Umaruliririgut Association © Elizabeth Aiyout

To start with, can you tell us a little about yourselves? 

Elizabeth Aiyout: I’ve been living in Taloyoak all my life. I love my home, I love my country, I love the animals on the land. I love country food — I grew up on seal meat and fish — but we don’t overhunt. I’ll have any kind of country food that’s served [so] I think we should live in a clean environment. And I like being on the TUA board and working things out — I try to support and help everybody. It’s always nice to keep people happy and be happy.  

Viola Neeveacheak: Hi! I’m treasurer for the Taloyoak Umaruliririgut Association. I started in 2019 being a board member, and treasurer could be quite challenging, but all in the end it goes well. 

Lena Neeveacheak: I’ve lived here all my life and started (at TUA) two years ago. I really enjoy my job and working with everybody. I do administrative work in the office and work with the Guardians — any questions they have, they ask me.

What did you want to accomplish on this trip?  

Kugaaruk HTO meeting © Emina Ida

Viola Neeveacheak: I was interested in going because Taloyoak, Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven are very close neighbouring communities, and I wanted to see what kind of work environment they have and how our HTOs are different or similar.

So just out of curiosity and trying to make things easier and help improve our work, like finding more economic ways to implement Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in a workforce. 

Lena Neeveacheak: I wanted to go and help spread the word about what we’re trying to do with Aqviqtuuq and get people in Gjoa Haven and Kugaaruk interested in starting a project like this too. We’re telling them that it helps the community, helps make more jobs and helps take care of the land.  

What were your personal highlights from the trip? 

Elizabeth Aiyout: I was kind of nervous for the month, I guess, and then I got excited the last few days and couldn’t wait to go because I have relatives over there. Kugaaruk people were very interested — when we were talking, they kept quiet a lot and then wrote things down. We also told them that we’re not stopping them from hunting where our boundary is.

It’s just to protect our land from mining and keep our land and water clean. In Gjoa Haven, they kept quiet and listened also, and were very interested. They had some questions that we couldn’t answer, but we told them where they can get help from other places. 

Viola Neeveacheak explaining TUA’s efforts to create the Aqviqtuuq Inuit Protected and Conserved Area © Emina Ida

Viola Neeveacheak: My highlight of the trip was going out to the HTO and the hamlet, and doing a booth in Gjoa Haven at the Northern store, getting feedback from community members. Some would tell us that their grandparents, or great-grandparents, treasured and adored the land of Aqviqtuuq cause that’s where they grew up.

So, it was nice to see their smiles and tell them all that my grandpa lived here, he talked about it, he loved the land. It was nice to hear old stories like that. 

Why is it important for your three communities to work together on these conservation goals? 

Viola Neeveacheak: It’s important to me because it goes back to our forefathers, generations back, and how they grew up before colonization, before the church, before Hudson’s Bay, before the RCMP. It goes back to how we used to live, before colonization, and the traditional way of life without being interrupted. It should still continue that way. 

Elizabeth Aiyout: I was thinking before I went there that they wouldn’t support us. But they want to follow our trail and do the same thing. They were very interested about our Guardians and the way they work for the community and for the HTO and for Aqviqtuuq. That made me feel really good, and I think we should try and help and support and encourage them.  

In Kugaaruk, the elderly people were talking about where their ancestors used to camp up north from Taloyoak, where Aqviqtuuq is. It was very exciting to hear them talk about where their ancestors did seal hunting and fishing. 

What will the Aqviqtuuq IPCA mean to you and your community when it’s finalized? 

Rock Ptarmigan foraging in the snow in Gjoa Haven © Emina Ida

Elizabeth Aiyout: We don’t want mining or exploration, so we have to keep trying and do our best in building our future. I think people will be excited and happy when they’re going fishing and camping to catch animals and that for the meat plant [Niqihaqut], and there will be more jobs created.

Lena Neeveacheak: It means protecting our land from mining or the animals are not going to want to come around anymore and we’d lose our animals and our land all at once. We should protect this land for our kids and the next generation, so they can come on our land, our hunting ground. 

Viola Neeveacheak: Our community doesn’t have a lot of open jobs, so there’s a lot of unemployment and a lot of community members don’t have transportation to catch country food. The cost of food prices and living here up north is extremely high. 

So once Aqviqtuuq is up and running, the community members are going to benefit by eating country food and having access to meals and winter clothing. In many ways, it will benefit everyone in the community. 

A large room full of people on chairs with presenters in the front at a long table
Community public meeting in Kugaaruk hosted and presented by TUA Board members © Emina Ida

Since this trip was female-led, I was wondering how you see women contributing to Aqviqtuuq’s success overall? 

Viola Neeveacheak: You can’t leave women out! They find some ways to fill in the gaps of what things are needed. It’s not a gender thing, but it’s that more heads are better than one.

Elizabeth Aiyout: We held a meeting for the community, and a lot of ladies were excited and asking questions about how their ancestors used to work on skins and the meat and that it should be taught more to the younger people.

There’s not a whole lot of people left that know the very traditional ways of cutting and sewing the pieces together.  

We are capable of a lot of things — a lot of us are hunters and we do a lot of butchering — so it’s important for the ladies also, not just for the guys. Maybe in the future, we can have some female Guardians. I know some young girls and ladies are interested in being Guardians too. 

READ MORE:

Setting sun in Gjoa Haven © Emina Ida