Taguk Curley
“Nunavut means ‘our land’ you can claim it if you want to, but it’s our land.”
Taguk Curley, the first president of the Inuit Tapirisat – an organisation which represents the Inuit and is dedicated to preserving their culture – and now Minister of Health and Social Services for Nunavut, gave a fascinating talk on life in the Arctic to a packed audience at Canada House. Here he tells us about the place he calls home and his vision for the future of Nunavut.
Have you been surprised by the level of interest in the Arctic in the UK?
I’ve been very surprised by the interest that I’ve experienced in London and very surprised by the number of people who attended my talk. Contact between the Inuit and the British have always been important and partnerships are still important to us today. As one of the smallest nations on the face of the world, the Inuit have to build partnerships to survive. But encounters with the British have not always been pleasant and it’s important to our people to regain our status and reputation. We need to resolve our differences. We have to deal with the aftermath of the aspersions that Charles Dickens cast on our people when he said that the Inuit were responsible for cannibalism following the disappearance of the Arctic explorer John Franklin in 1845. We are not the people depicted by Dickens.
There is also growing media interest in the Arctic and interest from countries around the world due to our natural resources. Our people are caught in the middle – it’s something we have experienced before and we want our voice to be heard and to be included in decisions on the Arctic.
Can you tell us about the tremendous changes you have seen over the last forty years?
I grew in a very secure environment protected by my community and my family who were successful in the fur trade. I was very proud as a young man about my culture. But in the mid 1960s and 1970s, the fur trade collapsed and alcohol was introduced. Our families were very badly affected by this and by the introduction of residential schools for the Inuit. The 1960s and 1970s were very traumatic for us - our culture was shaken up and our economy shattered.
But the political changes over the last forty years have been dramatic. In 1975, I proposed to my people that we should claim as much land as we could and create laws that respected our culture and lifestyle. This small ball started rolling all over Nunavut and it included Canadians too. A bunch of us radicals all got elected in 1979 and started to build institutions to represent our people. They were very exciting times.
Ten years ago Nunavut was created. The Inuit are on the right path and we have the confidence to deal with issues. We’ve made tremendous progress. Fifty years ago we were losing our pride, now it is restored.
We’re never going to be a global power or influence but we want to see our land and people develop to their full potential.
What effects of climate change are you seeing in the Arctic?
We are seeing the earlier break up of the ice each year but the full impact has yet to be seen.
In terms of wildlife and conservation, many animal activists in the UK and the EU say that modern technology has resulted in a decline in the wildlife in the Arctic but my power boat doesn’t use wildlife and neither do my snow mobiles. In the past, to be successful in the fur trade you needed a big dog team - dog teams eat more than me and you. In my small community of 200 to 300 people in the 1960s we needed 400 to 500 walrus each year to feed the dogs. Now what is happening is that we use boats and snowmobiles for transport and we might catch 20 walrus a year because we can only eat so much – all wildlife caught by us is consumed, nothing is wasted.
Is Inuit culture changing as outside interest in the Arctic increases?
Culture is always changing and we are no exception. We are a most adaptable people but our identity is bound up with our language – Inuktitut – and we need to try and strengthen that. Our identity is also based on our traditional diet and our relationship with the land. Nunavut means ‘our land’ - you can claim it if you want to but it’s our land.
