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The Utkuhiksalingmiut ''Ukukhalingmiut'', ''Utkukhalingmiut'' —the people of the place where there is
soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in sub ...
—is one of 48 groups of Inuit in what is now
Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...
, Canada. Their traditional land was around
Chantrey Inlet Chantrey Inlet (''Tariunnuaq'') is a bay on the Arctic coast of Canada. It marks the southeast "corner" where the generally east–west coast turns sharply north. To the west is the Adelaide Peninsula and to the east is mainland. King William Is ...
(''Tariunnuaq'') area, near the estuary of the Back River in, what was then called, the
Keewatin District The District of Keewatin was a territory of Canada and later an administrative district of the Northwest Territories. It was created in 1876 by the ''Keewatin Act'', and originally it covered a large area west of Hudson Bay. In 1905, it became ...
of the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
. The Utkuhiksalingmiut followed the traditional hunter-nomadic life moving from fishing the camp near the mouth of the Back River on Chantrey Inlet to their caribou hunting camp in the
Garry Lake Garry Lake (variant: Garry Lakes; Inuktitut: , meaning "sideways", or "crooked") is a lake in sub-Arctic Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. As a portion of the Back River waterway, Garry Lake originates directly east of Lake Pelly and drains to ...
area, living in winter snow houses (
igloo An igloo (Inuit languages: , Inuktitut syllabics (plural: )), also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of suitable snow. Although igloos are often associated with all Inuit, they were traditionally used only by the ...
s) and caribou skin tents in the summer. They subsisted mainly on trout (
lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...
and
Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...
), whitefish, and
barren-ground caribou The barren-ground caribou (''Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest ...
. In his 1888 ''Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology'' to the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
, which was based on his trip to
Cumberland Sound Cumberland Sound (; Inuit: ''Kangiqtualuk'') is an Arctic waterway in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is a western arm of the Labrador Sea located between Baffin Island's Hall Peninsula and the Cumberland Peninsula. It is approxima ...
and
Davis Strait The Davis Strait (Danish language, Danish: ''Davisstrædet'') is a southern arm of the Arctic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The ...
and on "extracts from the reports of other travelers", the anthropologist
Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the mov ...
listed three Inuit groups—the Netchillirmiut, Ugjulirmiut, and Ukusiksalirmiut as the Boothia Felix and Back River Inuit, calling them tribes of the "Central Eskimo", terms that are no longer in use.Boas identified the Baffin Land Inuit groups as Sikosuilarmiut, Akuliarmiut, Qaumauangmiut, Nugumiut, Oqomiut, Padlimiut, Akudnirmiut, Aggomiut, Iglulirmiut, Pilingmiut, and Sagdlirmiut. He identified the Inuit groups on the western shore of Hudson Bay as Aivillirmiut, and Kinipetu or Agutit, the Sagdlirmiut of Southampton Island, Sinimiut; the Inuit groups of Boothia Felix and Back River were identified as the Netchillirmiut, Ugjulirmiut, and Ukusiksalirmiut; the Inuit groups of Smith Sound were identified as Ellesmere Land and the North Greenlanders. The current names of the 48 groups of Nunavutmiut can be found on the map on page 340 of the 2008 publication, ''Uqalurait''. The 2008 publication ''Uqalurait'', an "authoritative and comprehensive compilation of the traditional knowledge of Inuit elders", lists the 48 Nunavutmiut groups and uses the spelling Utkuhiksalingmiut. During his Fifth Thule Expedition, the Danish explorer,
Knud Rasmussen Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (; 7 June 1879 – 21 December 1933) was a Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" (now often known as Inuit Studies or Greenlandic and Arctic Studies) ...
, visited a Utkuhikhalingmiut camp. This represented the first time the Utkuhikhalingmiut made contact with non-Inuit. Rasmussen, whose mother was Inuk, traversed the Arctic region from
Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...
to the
Bering Strait The Bering Strait ( , ; ) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia–United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' ...
in dogsled from 1921 to 1924. In the 1980s, CBC radio aired a segment in which
Jessie Oonark Jessie Oonark, ( ᔨᐊᓯ ᐅᓈᖅ; 2 March 1906 – 7 March 1985) was a prolific and influential Inuk artist of the Utkuhiksalingmiut ''Utkuhiksalingmiut'' whose wall hangings, prints and drawings are in major collections including the Nati ...
, (March 2, 1906 – March 7, 1985)—a prolific and influential artist—described that encounter in the
Utkuhiksalik Utkuhiksalik, also known as Utkuhikhalik, Utkuhikhaliq, Utkuhiksalingmiutitut, Utkuhiksalingmiutut,Briggs, J. L. (1970), Never in anger. Portrait of an Eskimo family. Harvard University Press. Utkuhiksalingmiut Inuktitut, Utku,, or the Gjoa Haven ...
language, which Oonark spoke fluently. Oonark was one of three Inuit artists—along with Marion Tuu'luq (1910–2002) and Luke Anguhadluq (1895–1982)—the Utkuhikhalingmiut camp leader—whose artworks reflect Utkuhiksalingmiut oral history and legends. By 1949,
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
mission post had been established in an island in
Garry Lake Garry Lake (variant: Garry Lakes; Inuktitut: , meaning "sideways", or "crooked") is a lake in sub-Arctic Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. As a portion of the Back River waterway, Garry Lake originates directly east of Lake Pelly and drains to ...
''Hanningajuq'', an outflow of the Back River. In the late 1950s, there was a shift in the migratory patterns of the Beverly herd of the
barren-ground caribou The barren-ground caribou (''Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest ...
upon which the Utkuhikhalingmiut depended, causing a famine. During the winter months of 1957–1958, of the Utkuhikhalingmiut at Garry Lake—the Hanningajurmiut—58 people died before the federal government intervened. The Canadian armed forces airlifted 31 survivors to Baker Lake. Most never returned to Garry Lake on a permanent basis. During a brief visit to the area in 2009 by one of survivors of the Garry Lake starvation, a bag and some small items that were still fresh, were found in the old Catholic mission that had been manned by Father Joseph Buliard. In Baker Lake, the Utkuhikhalingmiut were forced to change their nomadic lifestyle. They became a small minority in the hamlet where they were known as the Back River people. In 2015,
Nunavut Arctic College Nunavut Arctic College (, , Inuinnaqtun: ''Nunavunmi Inirnirit Iliharviat'') is a public community college in the territory of Nunavut, Canada. The college has several campuses throughout the territory and operates as a public agency (Crown co ...
published Jean L. Briggs 700-page dictionary of the rare Utkuhiksalingmiut dialect, a multi-year, collaborative process. Rosie Kigeak, who became Briggs' mentor in the early 1960s when she came to live with a family camp to understand to the Utkuhiksalingmiut culture, became Brigg's "most trusted collaborator on the dictionary".


Notable people

* William Noah * Luke Anguhadluq *
Jessie Oonark Jessie Oonark, ( ᔨᐊᓯ ᐅᓈᖅ; 2 March 1906 – 7 March 1985) was a prolific and influential Inuk artist of the Utkuhiksalingmiut ''Utkuhiksalingmiut'' whose wall hangings, prints and drawings are in major collections including the Nati ...
* Marion Tuu'luq


Notes


References

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