Somehow the Inuvialuit survived, and with better medical facilities, some very hard-won natural immunities, and a great deal of Nunatamiut and more exotic inter-marriage the population has rebounded to about 3000 people, probably a few more than lived in the area at the time of European contact a hundred and fifty years ago.
Most if not all modern Inuvialuit are of mixed Alaskan and local
descent, although some families and communities identify more with one
heritage than the other. The aboriginal Inuvialuit dialect (Siglitun),
for instance, survives best in the more easterly communities like
Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk, and Sachs Harbour, while the dialect of the Alaskan
newcomers - Uummarmiutun - is spoken primarily in Aklavik and
Inuvik.
Recently these five communities, along with the Central Arctic hamlet
of Holman on Victoria Island, have joined together in a land claim
agreement with the Canadian federal government. Called the
Inuvialuit
Final Agreement, it was signed in 1984 and governs essentially the
entire Western Canadian Arctic. For the first time in this century, the
Inuvialuit once more rule their own land.
[Opening Page |
The Land
| The
People | From
Ancient Times | ...To
1902 | Survival |About
the Researcher]
Created: March 6, 1997. Last update: April 28, 2004 © Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation |
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