‘Every aspect of the indigenous Inuit culture grows from the land – but the unpredictable seasons are forcing the community to adjust their traditions’ (Mercer, 2018)

The Inuit are a group of indigenous peoples inhabiting areas in Greenland, Alaska, Siberia and especially in the northern regions of Canada. This group is one of the largest groups that still occupies on a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in present day (Freeman, 2010). Thus, the Inuit rely heavily on their environment not only to sustain themselves but it has become largely intertwined with their traditions and cultural practices.

Climate change has brought large changes to the landscape in northern Canada. With sea ice melting at an unprecedented rate, stress is placed on arctic biodiversity as a result of the changes in the sea-ice habitat. Equally, this has a significant effect on communities in polar-regions as availability, accessibility and quality of resources changes. These changes will not only disrupt physical wellbeing of indigenous people in the area but have the ability to create profound social and psychological disturbances.

Through this blog I hope to explore the reciprocal relationship between the physical environment in northern Canada and the indigenous Inuit communities which call this region home.