Inuvialuit in Yellowknife celebrate 40 years of final agreement

Yellowknifers gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement on Wednesday afternoon.

The document finalized the first comprehensive land claims agreement north of the 60th parallel and the second-ever signed in Canada. The original agreement was signed on June 5, 1984 in Tuktoyaktuk after 10 years of negotiations between the Inuvialuit people and the governments of Canada, the NWT and Yukon.

Aurora Kotokak, who attended Wednesday’s event, said the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation had asked her family to conduct Arctic sports demonstrations for the occasion.

“All of us are excited to demonstrate our tradition of the northern games, just passing on what we learnt from our family and friends and Elders back home,” she told Cabin Radio.

Kotokak said she and her husband have been instructors for the Aboriginal Sports Circle for more than a decade.

“I am really excited that it has been 40 years since the Final Agreement was signed. I know in Inuvik and the [Inuvialuit Settlement Region] there are big celebrations. I am happy that they included Yellowknife to do it outside of the ISR,” she said.

“There is a lot of Inuvialuit here. When we did it at City Hall park, it was a big turnout and I am expecting another big turnout. It should be a lot of fun.”

Although Kotokak’s children were at school and not able to join on Wednesday, she said her oldest child has competed in Arctic sports for the past two years and took part in the Northern Games in Tuktoyaktuk last summer.

Charlie Kudlak, the host of Wednesday’s event, said family and friends had prepared muktuk for attendees the night before. The food, he said, was all “gone within seconds.”

Kudlak works for an Inuit organization in the city as well as the territorial government. He said he knows of a lot of people who took the day off to be present at the gathering.

“It’s amazing. It’s a great day to be Inuvialuit,” he said.

“I came from Ulukhaktok maybe 40 years ago. I left for a bit and came back [to Yellowknife] in 1988. My wife is from the Philippines but she helps me with everything at the Inuit organization. We just make it happen,” he said.

For Annie Steen, the highlight of the event was the rich traditional food that Kudlak’s family prepared. In Tuktoyaktuk, she said, the norm is to also eat what she called eskimo donuts – made with seven holes instead of one – during special events.

“I like to hear the music and I love the food. It’s good to have some muktuk and some dry fish … Very special meaning to us for our diet. It’s got all the right vitamins in there to make us healthy and strong,” she said.

Steen works with Saliqmiut, meaning people from the coast, a project that aims to establish a culture and heritage facility in the hamlet. Work on the centre was paused during Covid-19 but Steen expects the facility to open in the near future.

Following fiddle music by Daniel Rogers and Tyren Kisoun, Tanya Snow took the stage for a throat-singing performance with the help of a demo track by Yellowknife-based Zimbabwean musician Munya Mataruse.

Snow is Inuk, originally from Rankin Inlet, and has been throat-singing for almost 15 years. She wants to see more Inuvialuit people give the skill a try.

“Throat-singing does not happen a lot in the Inuvialuit region, but it could if people are interested … There is a huge Inuvialuit population here, and for that group to be more self-identified would be really good,” she said.

Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Denny Rodgers worked with the IRC for 12 years prior to becoming a territorial politician.

“Normally I’d be in Inuvik right now, flipping hamburgers, working the grill or setting up tables,” he said of Inuvialuit Day celebrations.

“I couldn’t be in Inuvik this week, so I had an hour free to sneak out and say hi to folks I hadn’t seen in a while. There’s quite a few Inuvialuit that live in Yellowknife and make it their home, so it’s nice to see some faces I recognize.”

Premier RJ Simpson and a few cabinet ministers paid a brief visit. The event was facilitated by Event Rentals Yellowknife with support from Copperhouse and Tundra Transfer.

Besides Yellowknife, the IRC is hosting several days of celebration in Inuvik and separate events in Edmonton and Whitehorse.