Kitikmeot Heritage Society

Purpose

Hilap Aulaaniit Qanuq Atayut (The World and its Connections) is an Inuit-driven approach to environmental knowledge production that combines the resources, expertise, and passion of four Inuinnaqtun speaking communities—Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven and Uluhaktok—to build and apply an environmental lexicon for the Inuinnaqtun language. This project will coalesce Inuinnaqtun’s remaining linguistic experts to document detailed Inuinnait knowledge of the natural world, while addressing the reality that Inuinnaqtun—the foundation of Inuinnait culture—has fewer than 600 fluent speakers remaining. Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq/Kitikmeot Heritage Society (PIKHS) will draw on an existing partnership of Inuinnait linguists and researchers to plan, coordinate, execute and evaluate a culturally-embedded approach to Inuinnaqtun environmental knowledge documentation.