This article was originally published in Up Here Magazine. By Tim Edwards A letter from Senator Nick Sibbeston used to sit above the coffee machine at the Yellowknifer newspaper offices, congratulating publisher Jack “Sig” Sigvaldason on a lifetime achievement award and cryptically mentioning a 1980’s session of the territorial council, precursor to the legislative assembly, and

By Terry Audla  Access to affordable and nutritious food across Canada’s Inuit communities is a longstanding problem. Traditional foods, once the backbone of Inuit nutrition and cultural cohesion associated with hunting and sharing, are increasingly impacted by numerous factors not limited to climate change and  contamination of local food sources as a result of pollutants

This article was originally published in Inukitut Magazine.  For two weeks during September and October 2014, Nunatsiavut elder Johannes Lampe retraced the footsteps of a group of Labrador Inuit who died more than 100 years earlier in Europe. He navigated the Elbe River to better understand what those men and women first saw when they landed

By Will Becker In 1990, Isuma Igloolik Productions was founded by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn in Nunavut, Canada—shortly before Nunavut became an officially recognized Canadian territory predominantly inhabited by the Inuit. The company created a legacy with 2001’s, “Atanjurat: The Fast Runner,” winner of a Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It was

By Nikki Wiart In a culture that thrives on oral history, there are some stories that are never told. Inuit youth are dying by suicide at an alarming rate in northern Canada — over the past 20 years, Inuit suicide rates have been about 10 times 110 deaths per 100,000 people the Canadian average, or

By Heather Nicol In the spring of 2015, the United States assumed chairmanship of the Arctic Council for a two-year term. The chair was handed over by Canada, who in turn had assumed it from the Swedish chairmanship in 2013. Canada’s chairmanship had been quite different from that of its Swedish predecessor, focusing its efforts

By Will Becker On Tuesday June 23, World Policy Institute and the Government of Québec held a private breakfast and discussion featuring the Premier of Québec, Philippe Couillard. The event was part of the Arctic Deeply Roundtables initiative, which seeks to engage leading experts and investors on the most pressing issues of our time, including sustainable development

By Brian Kingston Food insecurity rates in Nunavut are among the highest in the world for an indigenous population living in a developed country. In fact, over two-thirds of people in Nunavut have trouble finding enough affordable, nutritious food.  This is not acceptable, and Canada must act. Food is a basic human need, a part

This article was originally published in the Wellesley Magazine. Deborah Cramer is the author of The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey. By Deborah Cramer Illustrations by Christiane Engel It is June, but it doesn’t feel like summer. Instead of kayaking through the salt marshes near my home in

By Shauna Morgan It is often said that resource extraction is the “cornerstone“ of northern Canadian economies. The gritty pursuit of minerals, oil, and gas shaped a ‘frontier’ culture, and in the modern era is said to be the only way northerners—particularly indigenous people—can make a decent living, despite the environmental trade-offs. Indeed, perhaps more