What is an Inuk?

 

Does an Inuk have to have dark skin and dark hair? Does an Inuk have to look  Inuit? If you judge a book by it's cover maybe they do, but no. Looks are more than what defines an Inuk.

I am a member of NunatuKavut. I have white skin. But so do many beneficiaries of Nunatsiavut. I know many people from my community who look more “Inuit” than some people from the north coast. I look at pictures of Mik’mak of Conne River and I see a lot of white skin, yet they are accepted as a First Nation, as indigenous. The Sami people of Scandinavia are an indigenous group. They have white skin and light hair. Early Europeans had very dark skin and blue eyes. The Innu are absolutely opposed to the existence of NunatuKavut, at least politically. They see white skin and they think we are just a “settler organisation”. Probably the biggest obstacle to NunatuKavut is not land claims but acceptance as an indigenous organisation/people. I've been on the receiving end of discrimination before, by someone from one of the other indigenous groups in Labrador because I had white skin and despite my ancestry. So does the colour of your skin really matter? It shouldn't.

From Among The Deep Sea Fishers Vol 31 Issue 1

John Curl family, Spotted Island, Eva Luther collection

So what makes us unique besides our ancestry? We don't speak Inuktitut anymore but it was spoken up until about the 1970’s. We still use some Inuit words. We still hunt and gather for subsistence purposes. We still make traditional clothes and crafts that are unique to our culture. We have an accent that is unique. Some of the foods we harvest and the way we harvest /utilise them are unique to Inuit. Up until modern rifles and knives became readily available we still used tools like ulu's and harpoons. Our concept of sharing food and respect for our elders is different than what you would find on the island portion of the province. There is probably a lot of other stuff that makes us unique but I can't remember all of them.

Robyn Dyson/Lona Williams family origin Cartwright/Seal Islands

Back in the 1700’s, 1800’s there were many Inuit in the south of Labrador. Their presence is documented as far back as the year 1500 at least. When Europeans came over there were very few European women. So many European men took Inuit wives. Some people say there were no Inuit south of Rigolet, no year round residents. The archaeological record disproves that. Many of our people still have dark skin, dark eyes and dark hair, if that matters. There are many families where some children born to parents have dark hair, eyes and skin, and the other siblings have light skin, hair and eyes. My mother in law’s family is a good example. I'm talking about physical characteristics by the way.

My Great Grandfather James Holwell

In the 1740’s when George Cartwright was here he described in his journals a village of Inuit on Spotted Island, my ancestral home. The Onomastics of Inuit/Iberian Names in Southern Labrador in the Historic Past by Greg Mitchell and Ihintza Marguirault mentions the marriage of "John Holwell to Joanah Pennyhook on 15 August of that year", which is 1827. John Holwell is an ancestor of mine and Pennyhooks Cove is next to Spotted Island. And there are several other marriages mentioned including that of Sara Penni-Ook.

In fact George Cartwright's journals document the presence of Inuit as far south as Chateau Bay, Labrador. It wasn’t until the Moravians arrived that many Inuit moved to settlements on the North Coast. But there still remained many “Inuit” on the south coast. After the containment of the Inuit north of Hamilton Inlet following a decree by Governor Palliser and an arrangement he had with the Moravians that "Numbers of Inuit continued to appear in southern Labrador and were never stopped altogether", Marianne P Stopp. In the 1950’s when there was a radar site on Spotted Island, the Americans who manned it called the villagers on Spotted Island "Eskimo’s". Why would they call us that? We still use several Anglicised Inuit surnames(I say Anglicised because before Europeans came here Inuit only used one name) such as Toomashie, Kippenhuck or Paulo. There are photos of people in St. Lewis and Spotted Island that I have seen and they are clearly Inuit. And there are records of them in  nearby Battle Harbour from 1798. The English trading firm Slade's account books list a person named Pompey in it's ledgers along with at least 40 other names of Inuit origin.

Curls of Spotted Island/Rocky Bay, courtesy Nancy Curl

Phil Curl of Spotted Island/Rocky Bay, courtesy Shelly Toomashie

Burdett's, family origin Indian Tickle/Sand Hill Bay/Spotted Island, courtesy Brenda/Daryll Burdett

Excavations and archaeological surveys by Lisa Rankin and Marianne P Stopp along the southern Labrador coast document numerous Inuit dwellings at places like Indian Harbour and North River at the mouth of Sandwich Bay, Spotted Island, Frenchman's Island and many other places. So the evidence of Inuit occupation is undeniable. Some people say "Well where did they go?" As Todd Russell, President of NunatuKavut, once put it, "We're still here." Our looks may have changed a bit but we are still Inuk.

This very large sod house at North River was found to have both European and Inuit features.