Their Lifestyle and ours
For thousands of years the Inuit people of Canada, made their own clothes, built houses, hunted, fished, and raised their families. They also supplied their own health care, recreation and education, and used dog-teams to travel great distances. But as European settlement became more evident their culture soon became much like ours with very few traditions still left in their culture today.
Traditionally Inuit would move with the animals and the seasons, which is why they had several different types of houses. Today Inuit people live in small communities, and for the most part stay in that community year-round, much like we do.
The Inuit culture has developed greatly through the years, much like our western-style culture has, for example, traditionally Inuit people lived in igloos, while some do now, they are mainly built in Canada for tourism and show.
Diet consisted mainly of meat from various animals like caribou (tuktu), walrus (aiviq), seal (nattiq), and whale (qilaugaq) but now most expensive food is bought at the local supermarket, Northern store, or shipped up from the south. Most Inuit still eat traditional
foods or at the very least eat them on special occasions; they are just caught and hunted differently.
Much like us, Inuit wear clothes bought from stores, while they traditionally wore handmade fur dresses/cloaks. Their range of languages throughout Canada has been reduced to mainly Inuktitut, French, or like us, English.
An element different from our own society is arranged marriage. We don’t generally hear of forced marriage with children and young adults in our society anymore, but in Inuit culture the parents pledge their children to another family’s child whether they like it or not.
Because of the environment in which they live cars are not useful to them like they are to us. Walking, kayaks and snow
mobiles are generally used as their modes of transport and they find those vehicles or way of travelling most efficient for their way of
life.
There is very little that is actually different from our culture to theirs as their culture has developed largely over time, although their beliefs and views on religion are much more legend based and are polytheistic, meaning they believe there are multiple gods.
Traditionally Inuit would move with the animals and the seasons, which is why they had several different types of houses. Today Inuit people live in small communities, and for the most part stay in that community year-round, much like we do.
The Inuit culture has developed greatly through the years, much like our western-style culture has, for example, traditionally Inuit people lived in igloos, while some do now, they are mainly built in Canada for tourism and show.
Diet consisted mainly of meat from various animals like caribou (tuktu), walrus (aiviq), seal (nattiq), and whale (qilaugaq) but now most expensive food is bought at the local supermarket, Northern store, or shipped up from the south. Most Inuit still eat traditional
foods or at the very least eat them on special occasions; they are just caught and hunted differently.
Much like us, Inuit wear clothes bought from stores, while they traditionally wore handmade fur dresses/cloaks. Their range of languages throughout Canada has been reduced to mainly Inuktitut, French, or like us, English.
An element different from our own society is arranged marriage. We don’t generally hear of forced marriage with children and young adults in our society anymore, but in Inuit culture the parents pledge their children to another family’s child whether they like it or not.
Because of the environment in which they live cars are not useful to them like they are to us. Walking, kayaks and snow
mobiles are generally used as their modes of transport and they find those vehicles or way of travelling most efficient for their way of
life.
There is very little that is actually different from our culture to theirs as their culture has developed largely over time, although their beliefs and views on religion are much more legend based and are polytheistic, meaning they believe there are multiple gods.