An inuksuk is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit,
Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found
from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra
biome and has areas with few natural landmarks. The inuksuk may have been used for navigation,
as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps, hunting grounds,
places of veneration, drift fences used in hunting or to mark a food cache. The Inupiat
in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas
for slaughter. Varying in shape and size, the inuksuit have ancient roots in Inuit culture.
Historically, the most common type of inuksuk is a single stone positioned in an upright
manner. There is some debate as to whether the appearance of human- or cross-shaped cairns
developed in the Inuit culture before the arrival of European missionaries and explorers.
The size of some inuksuit suggest that the construction was often a communal effort.
At Enukso Point on Baffin Island, there are over 100 inuksuit. The site was designated
a National Historic Site of Canada in 1969.
Name
The word inuksuk means "something which acts for or performs the function of a person".
The word comes from the morphemes inuk and -suk. It is pronounced inutsuk in Nunavik
and the southern part of Baffin Island. In many of the central Nunavut dialects, it has
the etymologically related name inuksugaq. While the predominant English spelling is
inukshuk, both the Government of Nunavut and the Government of Canada through Aboriginal
Affairs and Northern Development Canada promote the Inuit-preferred spelling inuksuk.
A structure similar to an inuksuk but meant to represent a human figure, called an inunnguaq,
has become widely familiar to non-Inuit. However, it is not the most common type of inuksuk.
It is distinguished from inuksuit in general. The Hammer of Thor, located on the Ungava
Peninsula, Quebec may be an inuksuk. Modern usage
Inuksuit continue to serve as an Inuit cultural symbol. An inuksuk is the centre piece of
the flag and coat of arms of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and the flag of Nunatsiavut.
The Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit is named after the landmark.
Inuksuit—particularly, but not exclusively, of the inunnguaq variety—are also increasingly
serving as a mainstream Canadian national symbol. In 1999 Inukshuk was the name for
the International Arctic Art & Music Project of ARBOS in the Canadian provinces of Québec,
Ontario, Nunavik, and Nunavut; and in Greenland, Austria, Denmark and Norway.
On July 13, 2005, Canadian military personnel erected an inuksuk on Hans Island, along with
a plaque and a Canadian flag, as part of Canada's longstanding dispute with Denmark over the
small Arctic island. The markers have been erected throughout the country, including
a nine-metre-high inuksuk that stands in Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario. Located in
Battery Park, it commemorates the World Youth Day 2002 festival that was held in the city
in July 2002. Artisan Alvin Kanak of Rankin Inlet, Northwest
Territories, created an inuksuk as a gift to the city of Vancouver for Expo 86. The
land has since been donated to the city, and is now a protected site.
An inunnguaq is the basis of the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics designed by Vancouver
artist Elena Rivera MacGregor. Its use in this context has been controversial among
the Inuit, and the First Nations within British Columbia. Although the design has been questioned,
people believe it pays tribute to the inuksuk that stands at Vancouver's English Bay. Friendship
and the welcoming of the world are the meanings of both the English Bay structure and the
2010 Winter Olympics emblem. The Vancouver 2010 logo and the construction
of inuksuit around the world have led to increasing recognition of them. There are five authentic
inuksuit which were donated—wholly or in part—by the government of Canada: in Brisbane,
Australia; Monterrey, Mexico; Oslo, Norway; Washington D.C., United States; and Guatemala
City.
The most recent Canadian-donated inuksuk was built in Monterrey in October 2007 by the
Inuvialuit artist Bill Nasogaluak. The sculpture was presented to the people of the northern
state of Nuevo León as a gift from the Monterrey chapter of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
in Mexico and the Government of Canada, to mark the chamber’s 10th anniversary in the
city. The sculpture stands over the Santa Lucía Riverwalk. Nasogaluak, of Tuktoyaktuk,
personally chose the rocks for the structure from a local quarry near Monterrey. The inuksuk
contains two rocks which the artist took to Mexico from Canada, one from the high Arctic
and another from his home town of Toronto. Together they form the inuksuk’s heart.
The inuksuk was also used as the symbol of the Summit of the Americas, because of its
connotations of "guidance and unity...towards common goals."
Officials in various wilderness parks throughout Canada routinely dismantle inuksuit constructed
by hikers and campers, for fear that they could misdirect park visitors from the cairns
and other markers that indicate hiking trails. The practice of erecting inuksuit in parks
has become so widespread that Killarney Provincial Park, on the north shore of Ontario's Georgian
Bay, issued a notice in 2007 urging visitors to "stop the invasion" of inuksuit.
A large number of inuksuit have been built in some areas along the Trans-Canada Highway,
including Northern Ontario. In 2010, a journalist from Sudbury's Northern Life counted 93 inuksuit
along Highway 69 between Sudbury and Parry Sound. The journalist successfully tracked
down a person who had built two inuksuit along the route; he attributed his action to having
had a "fill the dreams moment where I needed to stop and do it" while driving home from
a family funeral. According to Guinness World Records, the tallest
inuksuk is in Schomberg, Ontario, Canada. Built in 2007, it is 11.377 m tall.
The Canadian rock band Rush featured a lone inuksuk on the cover of their 1996 album Test
for Echo. See also
Monolith Petroform
Rock art References
External links Peter Irniq, "The Ancestral Inuksuk", Naniiliqpita
Magazine, spring 2006, p. 18-19. Places of Power - essay and photographs of
inuksuit Ilanaaq – Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter
Games Emblem CBC News - Vancouver Olympic emblem comes
under fire Canadian Heritage Minute video about the inuksuk
Scott Heyes, "Protecting the authenticity and integrity of inuksuit within the arctic
milieu", ÉtudesStudies, Volume 26, numéro 2, 2002, p. 133-156.
Nelson Graburn, "Inuksuk: Icon of the Inuit of Nunavut" ÉtudesStudies, Volume 28, numéro
1, 2004, p. 69-82 2010 Olympic inuksuk snow sculpture from CTV.ca
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