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The Inuit
Students Worksheet
The Inuit are the aboriginal people of the Canadian Arctic. Inuktitut is the Inuit language.
The word Inuit means the people. You will learn other words in Inuktitut today.
Stop 1 – Inukshuk and Polar Bear
1. Inukshuk is an Inuit word. What does the word mean?
2. How was an inukshuk used? Give one example.
3. How large was the polar bear?
4. What animal has the polar bear hunted for food?
5. Describe the fur of the polar bear and the seal.
6. Why are the furs different colours?
7. Why is the seal’s fur much shorter?
Stop 2 – The Beluga Whale
8. Why is Manitoba called a maritime province?
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9. What large marine animal do you see here?
10. Describe what happened in this scene?
11. How many people could use the kayak?
12. What things did the whale provide?
13. What other kinds of food do you see in the diorama?
Stop 3 – The Tundra
14. The environment where the Inuit live is called the tundra. Describe the tundra?
15. What does the word tundra mean?
Stop 4 – Traditional Culture
Dwellings
16. What is an igloo? Describe what it looks like. What is it made out of?
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17. What three tools do you need to build an igloo?
1.
2.
3.
18. How many people lived in an igloo?
19. What is a tupik? When is it used?
Raw Materials
20. Choose one item from this case. What is it? What is it made of?
Food Resources
21. What did the caribou provide for the Inuit?
22. What other food did the Inuit eat?
The Amautik
23. What does the word amautik mean?
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24. Who wore an amautik?
25. What are the pouches at the knees used for?
Recreation
26. What did the Inuit do to have fun?
27. Why is the ajagaq (ring and pin game) a good game? What skill could practise learn while
you play with it?
Household utensils
28. Name two traditional materials that the Inuit used to make things for their home?
29. What was used to give light in the igloo?
Clothing
30. Why does caribou skin make such good clothing?
We the Dene
31. What has been used to decorate this clothing?
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32. What new trade good is being used for decoration?
33. How have the designs or patterns changed with the new material?
34. The Inuit tools worked very well in their environment. European traders brought new
materials to the Inuit like metal, beads, cloth. The Inuit began to make traditional tools
with new materials. Find an artifact in any case that has a new material in a traditional tool.
Describe how it is made?
Stop 5 - Northern Transitions
35. What important changes happened in the north in the 1900’s.
36. Why was it difficult to build the railway in the north?
37. What city is at the end of the railway line?
Mining
38. What do you think the expression “single industry town” mean?
39. Name a metal that is mined in northern Manitoba?
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Hydroelectric Power
40. Where was hydroelectric power developed in Manitoba?
Conclusion
41. Give three words you can use to describe the traditional culture of the Inuit.
1.
2.
3.
42. How is life different for the Inuit and First Nations people in the north today?