Ahiarmiut

The Ahiarmiut ᐃᓴᓪᒥᐅᑦ [ihalmiˈut] or Ihalmiut ("People from Beyond") or ("the Out-of-the-Way Dwellers")[1][2][3] are a group of inland Inuit who lived along the banks of the Kazan River, Ennadai Lake,[4] and Little Dubawnt Lake (renamed Kamilikuak), as well as north of Thlewiaza River ("Big River"),[5] in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region ("Barren Lands") of present-day Nunavut.[6]

Through three decades of research by David Serkoak, an Ahiarmiut elder, who was a child when his family was repeatedly relocated from Ennadai Lake by the federal government under then-prime ministers Louis St. Laurent and John Diefenbaker, the story of the Ahiarmiut and their search for justice has been shared.[7] For ten years, starting in 1949, as part of a northern policy regarding Inuit communities, the Ahiarmiut were relocated to Nueltin Lake, then Henik Lake, and Whale Cove, among other places. In 2018, the Ahiarmiut and the Canadian government came to a settlement agreement of $5 million for forced relocations.[8]

  1. ^ Betty Kobayashi Issenman (1997). Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing. UBC Press. ISBN 978-0774805964. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  2. ^ "To Improve the Lives of Aboriginal People". Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. 30 April 2003. Archived from the original on 26 June 2003.
  3. ^ The Ahiarmiut Relocations Archived May 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Remembering Kikkik". nunatsiaq.com. 21 June 2002. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  5. ^ Bill Layman. "Nu-thel-tin-tu-eh and the Thlewiaza River. The Land of the Caribou Inuit and The Barren Ground Caribou Dene". churchillrivercanoe.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  6. ^ B Trerice (18 March 2006). "Re: excellent response to seal hunt". nunatsiaq. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  7. ^ Duhamel, Karine; Bernauer, Warren (2018). "Ahiarmiut relocations and the search for justice: he life and work of David Serkoak" (PDF). Northern Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  8. ^ Malbeuf, Jamie (27 August 2018). "Ahiarmiut and federal gov't reach $5M settlement for relocations". CBC. Retrieved 3 February 2019.