Where the Inuit live affects the government, economy, and religion, and how it is organized.
Where the Inuit live, the Arctic, affects how the government is organized.The Inuit depend on the immense population (35,944), to congregate a working government. The citizens elect 19 people who choose government leaders and ministers. The Prime Minister leads the Territory. The Commons House is a community elected by society. They debate on laws. The Senate, which is associated with citizens “...appointed by the governor-general under advice of the prime Minister…” (online.culturegrams.com) either approves, changes, or rejects the laws from the Commons House. A law will be appointed if the Commons House, the Senate, and the governor-general approve. This arrangement works because of the immense population.
Where the Inuit live affects the economy. The Inuit depend on shipments that transport resources. According to page 563 in the ‘Geography Alive!’ book, Nunavut
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The Inuit are polytheistic, meaning they believe in many gods. According to www.athropolis.com, “Traditional Inuit beliefs are a form of animism, according to which all objects and living things or beings have a spirit.” A Shamen, or an Angakok, is a religious leader of the Inuit. They believed that when a spirit died, it continued living in a different world, which was the spirit world. If the Inuit lived in an environment with sufficient resources, then they probably wouldn’t respect the spirit of each animal. According to firstpeoplesofcanada.com, “They had to pay a deep respect to the spirit of the animals that they hunted, so that the spirit reappeared in another animal that could sacrifice its life again. If they did not pay their respects to the spirit, the spirit would reappear as a demon.” This explains that the Inuit respected each animal, so if they lived in an environment with sufficient resources, they probably wouldn’t respect the spirit of each
Inuit Odyssey, by CBC’s: The Nature of Things covers the long and eventful journey of the Inuit people. Canadian anthropologist, Dr. Niobe Thompson searched for the answers to questions about who the modern day Inuit are, where did they come from, how did they survive and who did they conquer along the way? Thompson explored the direct lineage between modern day Inuit and the Thule people, and their interactions with the Dorset and Norse Vikings in their search for iron. Thompson is ultimately concerned with how the current warming climate will affect the Inuit people therefore, he decides to retrace the creation of the Inuit culture, starting his journey in the original homeland of the Thule people.
The Eskimo hold an annual Bladder Ceremony which demonstrates all of these things previously mentioned. To explain the complete meaning and symbolism behind this Bladder Ceremony in its entirety, is very difficult because every act that goes into this ceremony is meaningful and of concepts not easily understood. In the Eskimo society, the Kwakiutl men go hunting. To go and kill an animal is to kill the fleshed body of an ancestor's soul that is temporarily occupying it. So it is clear that this source of food (hunting of animals) connect the people to the ancestors or spirits of their pray. Therefore, extra care needs to exist in the approach and killing of the animal because each animal has the soul of an ancestor. The ideology of animals having souls runs much deeper. In fact, these souls are powerful forces in the Eskimo's lives and they determine the future's prosperous gain of game or the lack there of. For that reason, the hunters of Eskimo treat the physical body of these animals with the up most respect in order to keep harmony. The bladder of each hunted animal is hung in the Men's house because it is believed that the souls of these powerful forces are held within them (Gill, Native American Religion, p.122). During the ceremony, the men must become purified.
Demographic characteristics affect communities in Northern Canada. In Northern Canada there is mostly Inuits. At the time when they came, all the southern land was taken by other Indians, so the had to settle in the north of Canada. The Inuits have been living there for thousands of years, which is why they are still, there today. They've adapted to the cold weather and have gotten used to their lifestyle.
While watching a video entitled “Eskimo: Fight for Life” about the daily life of an Eskimo and what they do to survive; I was very surprised to see what the living conditions were. For starters, the weather that they live in on average is about thirty- fifty degrees below zero. Although many people living in New York today may think these are extreme weather conditions, and it may be impossible for us to phantom the idea of living there; the Inuit found a method to live life blissfully when they were together while enduring the Artic environment through the outrageous temperatures. A couple of things the Eskimos did to help them survive was, build igloos to stay and sleep together under animal fur to stay warm, the men and women had their individual roles to provide for the family, and lastly they entertain themselves
The Native American people have great respect and reverence for nature, in fact the animal spirits and other elemental spirits represent important roles in their daily life (Taylor). They view the world as an interconnected fabric of harmonious and inharmonious interaction between people and nature. One tribe in particular, the Miwok, consider the Coyote as an ancestor and creator of man; additionally, they consider Coyote as a trickster god (Godchecker). A Miwok myth recount a story from long ago in which animals were like people. In this tale, the Coyote and Falcon decided to create man. Coyote pretended to be dead, and permitted the buzzards and crows to eat his posterior (Bastian and Mitchell). As they dug in, he trapped them inside, and
In conclusion, There are many differences and a few similarities between the Inuit, Haida and Iroquois. All three tribes live in a part of Canada and they have similarities like their continent location, utilizing resources in the region they live, having spiritual beliefs and the art they create. However they also have many differences based on their natural resources around the areas they call home, their languages, the beliefs and the art they create. All three tribes call areas of Canada home, so why are their myths and ways of life different? What if the tribes never came across the other religions or
When the Europeans came to North America and saw the spiritual practices, ceremonies, and rituals being performed, they thought of the Native Americans as barbarians and their practices pagan, and that’s when the fight to keep their spiritual practices alive began. The Europeans sought to “Christianize the Indians” and sought to suppress indigenous spirituality (Doak).
Cree Indians from prairie regions are known to be the Plain Crees. In Canada, there are about 135 different bands of Cree Indians. The Cree indians have their own political system, schools, government, police, etc. All the members that choose to stay on the reservations must abide by their
The Inuit believed in the legend of Sedna the Sea goddess. The legend of Sedna was a very popular myth that was told by the Inuit for entertainment. Sedna went through many horrifying experiences before she became a sea goddess. The Inuit in many ways worshipped Sedna since she allowed them to hunt marine animals for food. Sedna also had many punishments for those who disobeyed her commands. Sedna will truly reamin as a magnificent myth in the Inuit culture.
The Netsilik Inuit (also referred to as Netsilingmiut) are one of several groups who lived on the arctic coast of Canada (west of Hudson Bay). The Netsilik Inuit were hunters that lived in small family groups that had a simple social organization. They didn’t really have a formal government. The type of food they hunted (since they lived in the Arctic coast) were seals, caribou, muskoxen, and (when possible) polar bear. They also fished salmon, trout, and char when possible. They spoke in a dialect called Inuktitut (which is spoken by Inuit from northern Alaska to eastern Greenland). They tend to travel (mainly to the Hudson Bay and Thelon River) and obtained wood for sledges, knives, needles, and kayaks.
These Indigenous people realized that the only way to heal the poverty, dysfunction, addiction, and violence that has plagued them since the ‘assimilation’ efforts was to turn back to their traditional spiritual practices and teach them to the young people (Robbins). Often, the return to Native traditions has meant taking on environmental concerns, opposing development activities, and becoming politically active to protect the nature that is so closely tied to indigenous spiritual practices. This is what makes indigenous spirituality different and hard to define and protect, it is closely tied to the land and environment, which is very different from religion (Fisher). The United Nations defines the situation perfectly in “The State of the World’s Indigenous People: Chapter 2”: “…spirituality defines the relationships of indigenous peoples with their environment as custodians of the land; it helps construct social relationships, gives meaning, purpose and hope to life.” (Kipuri,
The Territorial North consists on the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, all which rank the lowest in population and population density, however, Nunavut ranks the highest in the percent of population growth in Canada. Part of the reason is that the majority of the population in these territories are of Aboriginal descent. The growth rate might seem high in percentage, but the actual numbers are similar to Nova Scotia, has the lowest positive population growth among the provinces. The population density is highest near the Hudson’s Bay, in the city of Iqaluit. Although Statistics Canada did not mention the reason for the population growth, a probable reason could be due to the higher wages and good job markets for skilled labourers
Canada has a central government designed to deal with the country as a whole. Things like national defense, banking, currency, and commerce are controlled by the central government. All other matters are left to the provinces to deal with. Such as education, hospitals, and civil rights are responsibilities of the states. The Canadian Parliament consists of two houses. Their Senate is made up of 104 members who serve until the age of seventy-five.
I felt it was a good idea to ask my next question when I did because of the interest I got in Native Americans in a previous question. “Do you know anything about the religious beliefs of Native Americans?” For this question, I felt everyone had the same general idea about Native American beliefs. Many of them believed the Native Americans worshiped nature and had a deep respect for it. Lynne had said “I know they believed things had a spirit, everything is alive and that everything worships God. What I loved about them when I was younger was that if for example, if they were to hunt and kill something they would thank it for feeding them.” Very similarly Frank said, “They would thank nature, like if they had to kill an animal for food they would thank it for its services.” Marie had said “I think they believe in the sun and the seasons, I
The United States of America is an Arctic nation because Alaska has territory north of the Arctic Circle. For people residing in Alaska’s Arctic, place is not a curiosity, nor is it an untouched wilderness. It is our home. Globally, four million people live in the Arctic today. I AM INUIT seeks to connect the world with Alaskan Inuit, and the Arctic, through common humanity.