Qikiqtaryuk Was Not Always Separated from the Mainland

As Jean Tardiff was told be her stepfather Saȓuaq:

He would tell stories [about] when he was small. He said that Qikiqtaryuk was part of Nunaluk. This is how they hunt caribou by walking all the way up all the time. (J190-16A:6)

While there was a connection from the island to mainland, they called them Nuvuraqmiut (“people of the Point”). They called them that when the island was part of mainland and Nunaluk. And after it became an island, they called it Qikiqtaqryuk. Then, the Siglit called them Qikiqtaryuk (people of the Island”). Saȓuaq always told us stories about them. (T190-16A:9)

Notes

Excerpt from Nagy, Murielle Ida. 1994:29. Yukon North Slope Inuvialuit Oral History. Yukon Tourism, Heritage Branch.

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