Selected Quotes

"I’ve really been reflecting a lot recently about ideas of trajectory, more specifically the machinations of how we end up where we do. How we as a society, community, or individuals somehow set upon paths guided by forces larger than ourselves."

"In Northern communities today, there’s a common understanding that the traditional ecosystem of the Innuiait culture is not a thing of the past, but an enduring cultural state that requires active engagement and maintenance. The growing distance between Inuinnait and their ancestral language and life ways is not envisioned in terms of loss but rather dormancy, with foundational cultural knowledge said to be sleeping, waiting for new generations to revive it."

“There’s no really questioning the significance of Stefansson’s writings. His writing respected and honored ingenuity and traditions, but he ultimately saw them as belonging to the past, something bound to be replaced. The initiatives being led by the Kitikmeot Heritage Society make a strong case for the future of Inuit knowledge. In working with the Stefansson collections, or not only returning the information to communities, but reawakening it, they’re bringing it back into daily life and using it as a foundation to innovate new ways of living in the Arctic. Ways that are more aligned to the environment, the people, and their priorities."