PHOTO BY MURRAY ANGUS
May 12, 1998
Sami struggle inspires Inuit students
Inuit students in the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program now have new appreciation of the similarities between Sami and Inuit.
MURRAY ANGUS
Special to Nunatsiaq News
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"Sami culture was integrated into everything - it was very impressive," says Larry Kablutsiak, 20, of Arviat.
At the heart of that culture is the reindeer.
Centuries ago, Sami hunted reindeer in the wild, as Inuit do today. In the 1600's, however, reindeer herding was introduced.
Today, every reindeer is owned by a herder. Of the estimated 20,000 Sami in Sweden today, about 2,500 are full-time herders, travelling with their reindeer from mountain valleys in the winter to the higher alpine meadows in summer.
The highlight of the trip was when students got to feed reindeer by hand. "It was like a fantasy," says Kablutsiak.
The 11 Inuit students were from communities across Nunavut. The trip was the culmination of their eight-month Nunavut Sivuniksavut training program in Ottawa, where they had been studying Inuit social and political history as well as the Nunavut land claims settlement. Part of the program involves the study of other circumpolar peoples.
Students raised funds from individuals and businesses in their home communities, local and regional Inuit associations, as well as from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in Ottawa.
Many similarities
The students were struck by the many similarities between Sami and Inuit.
Just as Inuit are spread across several provincial and territorial jurisdictions, so too are the Sami divided by borders created by others - Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.
Sami also have a unique (and very ancient) language, but like Inuktitut today, it has very distinctive regional dialects.
And just as Inuit were once known to the outside world by a name given to them by others (Eskimos), so too have Sami been known by a name not of their own choosing (Lapps or Laplanders).
Their current insistence on the use of their own name (Sami) is just one example of their efforts to reassert their identity in recent times.
But it was far from the only example that the students encountered.
Preserving old ways
Lennart Pittja is a young Sami man dedicated to preserving the old ways. The son of a reindeer herder, he operates a tourism facility nestled onto the side of a mountain approximately 200 km north of the Swedish Arctic Circle. He maintains a traditional Sami winter hut in the forest, made of birch poles covered with sod, where he educates outsiders about Sami culture.
The Nunavut Sivuniksavut students spent a memorable evening in this hut, sitting around the fire in the dark, eating freshly-cooked reindeer, drinking very strong Swedish coffee and learning about Sami history and culture.
Like many of the encounters, the Sami hosts were touched by their Inuit guests. They found it heartening to meet people who could relate to their struggle to preserve their distinct cultural identity, based on their traditional ties to the land.
In Lennart's case, it was this sense of connection that inspired him to perform a "joik," a traditional Sami song sung without any accompaniment, for the students.
The students, in turn, found the Sami struggle inspiring. "People like Lennart gave me hope that we can do it as well," says Kablutsiak. "I want the culture of my region to stay alive - they showed me what's possible."
Next week: The Sami Parliament: Step forward or step back?
Murray Angus is a freelance writer and currently an instructor in the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program. He accompanied the trainees to Sapmi.