Nunavik’s history is the story of the region’s inhabitants, the Inuit.
Archaeologists believe that paleo-Eskimo, Dorset, Thule and Inuit groups have progressively occupied Nunavik for roughly the last 4500 years. Thule are the direct ancestors of the Inuit. This group arrived in the region around 1000 AD, bringing with them survival techniques well adapted to the cold climate of the Arctic. Thule were chiefly a nomadic, coastal people who were entirely dependent on the their own ingenuity and the region’s wildlife resources for their subsistence.
As with the Thule, the Inuit way of life is closely tied to the natural environment and its resources. Seal, caribou, arctic char and wildfowl remain this people’s main food source. Inuit have a deep understanding of the fragility of the North, and have always been heedful of its protection.
For the Inuit of Nunavik, contact with Euro-Canadians began gradually in the middle of the 19th century, while many Inuit continued to live much as their ancestors well into the 20th century. Missionaries and fur traders were the first wave of southerners to arrive in the North, and they introduced most notably different values, new customs and advanced wildlife harvesting tools. With the onset of government intervention in the North, irreversible transformations occurred, forevermore Inuit passed from a nomadic way of life to life in settlements.
Science and Nature
Nunavik is a unique blend of Arctic climate conditions and natural regions. The bedrock of the region, which is among the oldest in the world, is close to 2.1 billion years old. The origins and evolution of Nunavik are a long and complex story of tectonic events, volcanic activity, erosion, glaciation and deglaciation. This story is revealed in the region’s geographic formations, hydrography and landscapes, including mountains and former mountain ranges, cirques, wide glacial valleys, eskers, perched beaches, and block fields.
Nunavik is characterized by an inhospitable climate, with a growing period of less than three months annually, not to mention widespread permafrost. The region’s vegetation is classified as tundra: from forest tundra in the south (a transition zone between open boreal forest and arctic tundra) to arctic tundra in the north (marked by lichen, low-growing herbaceous plants, and the absence of trees).
Nunavik’s natural regions nurture a limited number of simple ecosystems that are highly vulnerable to environmental stress, although this vulnerability is somewhat offset by the expanse of the ecosystems. Topography, altitude, geological structures and proximity to the sea are all factors that affect the biological environment and support diversity. Among the most widely recognized Northern animal and plant species are caribou, polar bear, arctic char, snowy owl, peregrine falcon, cottongrass and delicate flowering plants.
In addition to offering protection to the region’s unique natural heritage, Nunavik parks stimulate research that is expanding our knowledge about the past and future evolution of our planet.
source: www.nunavikparks.ca
Arriving in Nunavik
As the small twin otter Air Inuit plane flew near the pale mountain cliffs of Salluit my first thought was of missing trees. I was suddenly transported to the then isolated Northern Ontario town of Sudbury where I grew up. As a child, Sudbury was a cold place with a lot of rocks and very little greenery, especially trees. During winters the snowbanks seemed endless. The violent winter blizzards of Salluit today remind me of the cold winters Sudbury used to endure, times were different then. I also grew up hearing countless stories of how astronauts would come to train in Sudbury because the terrain resembled that of the moon. To this day I still don't know if those stories were true or not. The rocky Salluit tundra reminds me of how Sudbury once looked.
Isolation Versus New Learning Experiences
Nunavik's 14 communities are all isolated from each other and from the populated cities of Quebec. In the south, we take simple things for granted, an abundance of greenery, street noise, various cultures etc... In the north things are very different. Students rarely get a chance to experience a variety of learning oppourtunities in part because of isolation. As a teacher I believe it is important that all students have access to as many different learning environments as possible. This is a big challenge in Nunavik because things are very expensive and isolation is all around us. We need to see more school excursions to the south. During our school trip to Ottawa I was amazed to find out that some of the students had never been outside of Nunavik. Some had only seen trees on television because there are no trees in Salluit, we live above the geographical tree line. I was both horrified and excited to see students touching trees with such curiousity for the first time. They all picked up dead leaves to bring home as souvenirs. For a few short days students were able to step out of their world and into an undiscouvered world full of different cultures and identities. Some of our best moments took place from the 14th floor of the hotel balconies. Students were mesmerized by the chaotic city lights that illuminated the night. We all laughed as I listened to the students count the endless cars driving by below.