What can you say about the Inuit (Eskimo) influence in Canadian culture?

Question

I am an american student writing a project on canada.

Answer 1

Probably not a great deal. There are a few words like igloo, kayak and the like which have been taken into the English language in Canada and elsewhere. There was a toy called an Ookpik (which means snowy owl in an Inuit-related language) that was popular in the Canadian Centennial year of 1967. There is a famous early documentary film "Nanook of the North" which has some historical importance. Inuit Art especially from Cape Dorset is popular among collectors and cheap mass produced versions as souvenirs. Inuit or generically "northern" images are used in marketing to suggest Canadianess. The inukshuk has become a popular and widely recognized symbol, so much so that a version is used as the logo for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Answer 2

"Canadian culture has historically been heavily influenced by British, French, and Aboriginal cultures and traditions, and over time has been greatly influenced by American culture. Many forms of American media and entertainment are popular, if not dominant in Canada; conversely, many Canadian cultural products and entertainers are successful in the US and worldwide.[1]

There were, and are, many distinct Aboriginal peoples across Canada, each with its own culture, beliefs, values, language, and history. Much of this legacy remains celebrated artistically, and in other ways, in Canada to this day. Part of the emblem of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is an inukshuk, a stack of rocks in human form that is a part of Inuit culture."

Canadian Inuit have heavily influenced Canadan culture through different mediae, e.g., art, music, transportation, movies, etc. The art of the Inuit through soapstone, ivory, paintings, photography and such are widespread throughout Canada and the whole world, in fact.

Candian Inuit, through traditional and contemporary music, have influence Canadian culture heavily, e.g., Susan Aglukark, Charlie Panagoniak, different Inuit culture dances, etc. In transportation the modern kayak is derived from the Inuit "qayaq" and used all over Canada and , in fact, all over the world. Movies about and made by Canadaian Inuit are "The Fast Runner", "The Snow Walker", "The White Dawn" , the early Netsilik series and many more. Books written about Canadian Inuit by Peter Freuchen, Farley Mowat and others have shown Canada the Inuit close up.

The Inuit, in fact, have heavily influenced Canadan culture and government by forming Nunavut, that redistributed Canadian boundaries and monies.