I owe thanks to a great many people. This of course includes all those authors of books and articles, filmmakers, webmasters, public speakers, friends, and storytellers upon whose work so much of my own depends. I have not met all the Inuit elders on whose words I rely in this book, and some I will never meet, as they have passed away, but without their willingness to share their stories, much of what I have learned about the Arctic would have been lost, not only to me but to everyone. In particular I would like to acknowledge Inooki Uqigjuaqsi Adamie, John Amagoalik, Leah Aqpik, Simionie Aqpik, Kenojuaq Ashevak, Mariano Aupilaarjuk, Udjualuk Etidloi, Emile Imaruittuq, Piita Irniq, Madeleine Ivalu, Akisu Joamie, Alice Joamie, Mark Kalluak, George Agiaq Kappianaq, Teresa Kimmaliadjuk, Jose Kusugak, Jamesie Mike, Qaunaq Mikkigak, Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Cornelius Nutaraq, Mary Qulitalik, Sarah Takolik, Marie Tulimaaq, and Lucien Ukaliannuk. Ukaliannuk was the elder-in-residence for both the Akitsiraq Law School and the Nunavut Department of Justice, among many other things. It was from him that I learned most of what little I know about Inuit culture and language.
I would also like to thank all those people with whom I have worked in Nunavut, including Naullaq Arnaqaq, Simon Awa, Beverley Browne, Michael Byers, Anne Crawford, Gary Crowe, Heather Daley, Kelly-Ann Fenney, Lalena Flaherty, Steven Foulds, previous northern director Kelly Gallagher-McKay, Susan Hardy, Gwen Healey, former commander of “V” Division John Henderson, Liina Ivic, Leslie Kemp, Alexina Kublu, Cindy Kudloo, Judge Earl Johnson, Shirley Johnson, Elisapee Karetak, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Suzanne Lalonde, Brian Lanman, Bernie and Maria Lodge, Marion Love, Mick Mallon, Cam and Cathy McGregor, Brian McLeod, Stephanie McTaggart, Joan Mercredi, Richard Meredith, John Merritt, Meeka Mike, former premier of Nunavut Paul Okalik, Judith Paradis-Pastori, Marcelo Parungao, Garry Pon, Mireille Provost, Leonie Qaumariaq, Nigel Qaumariaq, Anthony Saez, Nora Sanders, Neil Sharkey, Mary Simon, Susan Switch, Nanci Tagalik, Lorraine Thomas, Tom Thompson, Bonnie Tulloch, John Walsh, Siila Watt-Cloutier, Rebekah Uqi Williams, and Mary Wilman, as well as southern directors Don Galloway and Kim Hart, Dean (now President) Andrew Petter of Simon Fraser University, everyone at the University of Victoria, and all those professors of law, judges, and lawyers who came north to teach at the Akitsiraq Law School, especially Catherine Bell, John Borrows, Justice Constance Hunt, Justice James Igloliorte, John McLaren, and Heather Raven.
I owe special thanks to the first northern director, Andrejs Berzins, and to Lorraine Berzins, who together introduced me to the North and were always there when I needed them. Thank you to Matthew Swan, Cedar Bradley-Swan, everyone at Adventure Canada, and all the wonderful elders, experts, and visitors who shared our travels, including Ann and Nigel Way (William Edward Parry’s great grandson) for sharing an early edition of the North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle with me. Without the Akitsiraq Law School and Adventure Canada, I would never have seen much of the Arctic that appears in these pages. And finally, many thanks to Symatuk “Sam” Itorcheak, with whom I worked and shared an office for two and a half years. She was unfailingly helpful and a good friend. She passed away a few years ago, much too young.
Thank you to the 2005 graduates of the Akitsiraq Law School and their families for teaching me more about life in the Arctic than I could ever have imagined. They are (by the names they used as students) Lillian Aglukark, Siobhan Arnatsiaq-Murphy, Henry Coman, Susan Enuaraq, Sandra Inutiq, Connie Merkosak, Sandra Omik, Aaju Peter, Madeleine Redfern, Qajaq Robinson, and Naomi Wilman.
I also wish to thank all those who took the time to read all or part of this manuscript at various stages in its development, including Liz Attebury, Jon Dudley, Piita Irniq, Elisapee Karetak, Suzanne Lalonde, Ken McGoogan, Sandra Omik, Chris Scotnicki, Siila Watt-Cloutier, and Rob Wright. Thanks also to John Amagoalik, Martha Flaherty, Piita Irniq, Elisapee Karetak, Zacharias Kunuk, Mukshowya Niviaqsi, and Sam and Sandra Omik for allowing me to share part of their stories. Finally I would like to thank Silaqqi Ashevak (on behalf of her late mother Kenojuaq Ashevak), the estate of Richard Harrington and the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto, Norman Cohn, Susan Enuaraq, David Gladders, Kim Hart, Gwen Healey, Carol Heppenstall, Piita Irniq, Elisapee Karetak, Jayson Kunnuk, Zacharias Kunuk, Library and Archives Canada, Lillian Lundrigan, Connie Merkosak, Meeka Mike, Qaunaq Mikkigak, the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Earth System Research Laboratory Sciences Division), Matthew Nuqingaq, Sandra Omik, Leesee Papatsie, Aaju Peter, Dave Sheehan, Karla Jensen Williamson, and the United States Navy for allowing me to use their photographs, images, words, charts, and graphs. Thanks also to Batty Levely for the maps.
I worked in several libraries while writing this book. I am especially grateful to Library and Archives Canada both in Ottawa and online as well as libraries at the University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, and Nunavut Arctic College. Thanks to the Powell River Public Library and Breakwater Books and Cafe for free WiFi and to Nancy’s Bakery in Lund, British Columbia, for the great food during the final edit of this book. I would also like to thank my family and friends for putting up with authorship woes for a very long time. And finally I have to thank all the folks at McGill-Queen’s University Press, especially Jacqueline Mason, for making publication of this book possible.
The information contained in this book is current up to 31 October 2013. To obtain further information about the book and the topics it covers (including updates), as well as more colour illustrations and photographs, links to helpful websites (including McGill-Queen’s), contacts, questions, and discussions, please see http://www.sikuvut.ca.
Short edited portions of this book were included in the article “Inuit Perspectives on Governance in the Canadian Arctic,” in Polar Oceans Governance in an Era of Environmental Change, edited by Tim Stephens and David L. VanderZwaag (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2014) 189–212.