The Tuyurmiat Left the Coast When the Stores Were Closed

Emmanuel Felix talks about the Tuyurmiat and explains that they left the Yukon coast when the stores were closed in the 1930s:

They were always from that country, from Tapqaq (Shingle Point) and Qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island). The Umauq, Old Man Cockney, the Siksigaaluk, those were certainly there from way back when! People from here called them Tuyurmiat, those from long ago at Qikiqtaruk and Tapqaq. The Tuyurmiat [were a] different tribe. They were not Kittigariumiut. […] They were always from over there at Qikiqtaruk! They were not from around here (Tuktoyaktuk). They kept moving little by little, finally there was no one left at Qikiqtaruk. They all moved this way. […] The ships quit coming and the Hudson’s Bay closed so they followed where the store was. (EP91-5A:1-2)

The original people from Herschel Island and Shingle Point. […] Thomas Umauq and Gerard Siksigaaluk, Kaanniq. […] Sitchak. I used to hear he’s from there, never hardly come around here. (EP91-54:7)

Notes

Excerpt from Nagy, Murielle Ida. 1994:27. Yukon North Slope Inuvialuit Oral History. Yukon Tourism, Heritage Branch.

Photo Source: “Herschel Island,” Inuvialuit Cultural Centre Digital Library, accessed April 21, 2020, https://inuvialuitdigitallibrary.ca/items/show/3871.