 |
Fact Sheet |
Across Time and Tundra: The Inuvialuit of the Canadian Arctic
The Publication
The Inuvialuit are the Inuit of the Western Canadian Arctic. Although related to other Inuit across the North American Arctic, they have long maintained their own culture and identity. At one time the largest and most prosperous Inuit group in Canada, the Inuvialuit have a particularly dramatic and difficult history. Their story is one of universal relevance, speaking of continuity, identity and survival during calamitous change.
Raincoast Books and the Canadian Museum of Civilization are pleased to announce the publication of Across Time and Tundra: The Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic. Coinciding with a major exhibition of the same name at the Canadian Museum of Civilization opening on November 6, 2003, Across Time and Tundra is the first definitive, illustrated history of the Inuvialuit, a name which means "the real people."
The Inuvialuit homeland stretches from the Alaskan border, east to Amundsen Gulf and the western edge of the Canadian Arctic Islands. A hundred and fifty years, there were almost 2,500 Inuvialuit, settled and prosperous hunters of caribou and beluga whales. Their communities and culture were almost destroyed by the arrival of American commercial whalers in 1890. The whalers brought with them infectious diseases to which the Inuvialuit had no resistance. By 1910, fewer than 10 per cent of the population remained. During the twentieth century, the Inuvialuit have continued to struggle for survival as they faced the rise and fall of the trapping industry, the boom and bust of frontier resource development, and periods of government neglect and interference. In 1984, the Inuvialuit signed a major land claim treaty with the Canadian government, and for the first time in six generations are once more masters in their own house.
With 120 stunning images, alongside legends and oral histories of life on the land, Across Time and Tundra reveals the struggles and return of a people from the near brink of extinction to the rebuilding and sustaining of a culture and lifestyle. This compelling book showcases the cultural heritage of one of North America's least known native peoples.
The Authors
David Morrison, Ph.D., is Director of Archaeology and History at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, he graduated from Trent University and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. His many works include the best-selling Inuit: Glimpses of an Arctic Past and the CD-ROM Land of the Inuit (Edi-Rom, 1999). Dr. Morrison is joint lead curator of the CMC's new First Peoples Hall, the largest exhibition on Aboriginal culture and history ever mounted in Canada, and sole curator of the exhibition Across Time and Tundra.
Eddie Dean Kolausok is of Inuvialuit and Gwich'in descent. Kolausok was raised in Aklavik and Inuvik. After working in the Beaufort Delta oil fields, he returned to school to complete a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Distinction. In 1997, he took a job in negotiations with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in Yellowknife, later becoming the Senior Advisor to the Regional Director General. Kolausok is the author of Aurora Shining and the editor of Call Me Ishmael, which documents Inuvialuit Elder Ishmael Alunik's stories and legends. He is a director on the board of Frontiers Foundation: Operation Beaver and continues to volunteer and involve himself in community initiatives. He lives in Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Ishmael Alunik is an Inuvialuit Elder who was raised on the land, hunting and trapping with his family. He worked as a CBC radio announcer in the Inuvialuit language for seventeen years. In 1998, ten years after retiring, he wrote his first book, Call Me Ishmael: Memories of an Inuvialuit Elder.
To order, visit the Cyberboutique.
Biography | The Publication | Communiqué
