Niqihaqut: Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Harvest in Taloyoak

Taloyoak is the northernmost community of the North American continent. North from here, there are only islands. The Boothia Peninsula, “Aqviqtuuq” in Inuktitut, is our main hunting and fishing ground and is a defining pillar of our culture.

“Country foods are the healthiest food for us, caribou, fish, seal, we simply catch and eat it fresh, it has no additives in it. It is the reason why we are here. Country food is still a big deal here not only for Elders but for youth too.”
– Tad Tulurialik, Local Youth

Climate change is impacting access to country food as the land, lakes, and ice become more hazardous, and as the wildlife becomes scarcer and more remote. In Taloyoak, as elsewhere in Nunavut, many hunters have started to sell country food through social media to make some income to afford equipment and gas. The selling of country foods as a commodity challenges traditional principles embedded in Inuit Knowledge, also known as “Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit” or IQ, resulting in less country food being distributed to people and families. Sadly, it has become a reality for Taloyoak. As a community, the priority is to adapt to the modern reality of climate change by developing new ways to improve country food access for all, especially low-income families, while supporting our hunters.

“Climate change is now impacting our water, our land, our sea, and it is a matter of time before it impacts our wildlife. For example, the caribou is migrating North almost one month late in the spring. It is because the snow is melting, the rivers are flowing earlier than before which delays their migration. We have also started to see muskox early in the 1990s yet our Elders had never ever seen them in Aviqtuuq. Seems like the muskox are overpopulated these days and they are scaring away the caribou.”
– David Nanook, Community Elder

Here is a short film about hunting muskox in Aqviqtuuq, a species that is relatively new to the area.

Our priority is to develop a country food-based economy, a project called “Niqihaqut”. Niqihaqut addresses the problem of country food access that is being dampened by climate change. We will build capacity to develop new country food services, such as the cut and wrap of raw country foods (ground, steaks, ribs, filets, etc.), improving food access for all. We will hire local harvesters to supply the cut and wrap facility and create jobs in the facility.

To ensure our country food access is resilient, we developed an adaptive Sustainable Harvest Plan (SHP) to guide the local harvesters hired for Niqihaqut. The SHP is based on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and its hunting guiding principles. It is also informed by our wildlife monitoring program addressing populations of caribou, muskox, fish and marine mammals in the context of climate change. Field monitoring is conducted by the local Guardians program who uses field tablets, trail cameras, and marine monitoring protocols. As part of their duty as stewards of the environment, the local Guardians collect day-to-day information on the land and out on the sea about climate change. The program also provides training opportunities in the community for youth guardians and high school students.

Here is a short film about the Guardians of Aqviqtuuq, a team of trained individuals who serve as the eyes and ears on the land for the community.

The Sustainable Harvest Plan will help the local decision-makers to sustainably manage the local harvest of wildlife as part of Niqihaqut. Decisions on the harvest of muskox and quotas are underway given their negative impacts on caribou and their potential to become a prominent meat supply for the cut and wrap facility. Climate change is a huge topic being addressed under the development of the Sustainable Harvest Plan because it is a driving factor of change for the species.