Family Ties

One of the largest learning curves I have experienced during my time in Cape Dorset is understanding the Inuit family trees of my students and colleagues.  The Inuit have a unique adoption and child sharing culture which is extremely different than that of other Canadians.  It is very common for individuals to be raised by other family or community members other than their biological parents.  This 'adoption' of a child is not documented or kept secret.  The adopted individuals grow up knowing who their biological parents are and many have relationships with them and their other biological relatives.

The Inuit language supports these unique family relationships.  For example there are Inuktitut words for biological siblings versus adopted siblings, name siblings (if you have the same name as someone or if you are named after someone - each has their own word), biological parent versus adopted parent, etc.  When individuals use Inuktitut these relationships are understood easily.  However, in english these relationships are much harder to explain and require much more description than one or two words.

Due to the inadequacy of english terminology (brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, etc) for describing Inuit families, it has been quite an experience learning about and listening to my students and colleagues talk about their families.  It is very normal here to refer to both your adopted parents (this could be an aunt/uncle, grandparent, non-relation, etc) and your biological parents as both mom and dad.  When you begin to gather information and layer all of the relationships of the people around you it becomes very apparent just how small the community of Cape Dorset is, and actually Nunavut as a whole.

I have had some great conversations with my students, who think it is fascinating that I only have one mom and dad who are still married and two biological brothers that I grew up with.  Since being up here I have learned to ask questions such as "who takes care of you/who lives with you" and "are they your biological parents/siblings", etc.  This may seem strange, but again it is normal for someone you don't know to ask you who your parents are, are they your biological parents, etc.  Down south this sort of inquiry would be seen as rude and 'not appropriate' questioning.

Traditionally child sharing happened for a number of reasons, such as a new family giving their parents their first born to learn how to raise their next children through watching them raise their first; providing individuals who could not have children with the opportunity to have some; being unable to provide for a new child; being instructed by an elder to do so; etc.  Today these reasons for child sharing still hold true, however, there also exists a darker side.  When talking to Inuit colleagues they have expressed concerns that some young women today seem to not take responsibility for the child they are carrying. They fear for the fate of the child they are carrying and its future parents. They see pregnant individuals not taking care of themselves and saying statements such as 'it doesn't matter because it's not my baby' or posting adds on social media forums asking if anyone would like their babies.  It is very sad to witness, however, this is not an isolated problem.  These sorts of situations occur throughout Canada and the world.

Daily I feel fortunate for the knowledge that I gained from my northern teaching course.  These cultural nuances are so much easier to understand, respect and apply when you have a base knowledge to draw upon.  It is so easy to make quick and uneducated judgments.  Thank you Nick.  

Amanda wearing an Amauti - woman's jacket