People

Caribou have long been vital to the survival of Indigenous peoples in the north; the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. There is archaeological evidence linking people and caribou in Yukon as early as 25,000 years ago. That connection is not just historical, but something that continues to the present day. The caribou have particular meaning to the Indigenous cultures of northern Canada. Caribou contribute food, clothing, tools, and more. When caribou were plentiful, people did well. When they were scarce, people starved. There are people alive today who remember starvation events caused by a scarcity of caribou. The relationship with caribou is deeply embedded in the cultural practices of many northern peoples, and there is a deep spiritual connection also. Several traditional stories talk about caribou that transformed into people. The Gwich’in say a lack of caribou meat has been known to change people’s behaviour, and put them in a bad mood. As one Indigenous knowledge report puts it, “people are caribou and caribou are people”.

The importance of caribou to people can be partly gauged by the many traditional place-names across the north that refer to caribou directly. Many other place names refer to caribou indirectly, for instance indicating places to fish and travel while people were out in pursuit of caribou.

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge in this site that there is a wealth of information on Caribou held by Indigenous peoples of northern Canada, much of it deeply embedded in their own languages. We do not have the capacity on this site to adequately represent it, and also acknowledge issues of ownership of that information that mean it is not always supposed to be shared, especially outside of its original context. The information here is intended as an introduction to the knowledge of caribou held by northern Indigenous peoples.
 Indigenous names for caribou

• Ekwe (North Slavey)
• Vadzaih (Teetł’it Gwich’in)
• Etthën (Denesọłiné)
• לekwö (Tłį Chọ)
• Atihk (Cree)
• Tuktuit [plural] (Inuktitut)
• Tuktu (Inuvialuitun)
• Qinianaq or Tuktuinal (Innuinaqtun [spoken in Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven, and Ulukhaktok] for Peary Caribou)
• Tuktuaraaluit (Siglitun [spoken in Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, and Tuktoyaktuk] for Peary caribou)
• Tuttunguluurat (Ummarmiutun [spoken in Inuvik and Aklavik] for Peary caribou

In Aboriginal languages, there is detailed terminology for all stages of the lifecycle. For example, there are distinct names for bulls and cows during the first, second, third and fourth years (which may correspond to size – translation unknown) as well as for mature and immature bulls and cows (e.g. young bulls, breeding bulls, young cow, pregnant cows, cows with calf).

From Traditional Knowledge: Barren-ground Caribou in the Northwest Territories

Subsistence

Many of the Indigenous peoples who traditionally subsisted on caribou are finding the current scarcity of caribou very difficult. In most cases, food bought from the shop is very expensive and incomes are typically quite low, especially in the smaller communities. For instance, statistics show the median income of Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat (the four Inuit regions: Inuvialuit; Nunatsiavut; Nunavik; and Nunavut) was $23,485 in 2015. For that same year, the median income for non-Indigenous Canadians was $34,604. Already high rates of food insecurity in the north are made worse by the absence of caribou, either because of hunting restrictions, or because there are simply no local caribou to hunt. Quantifying the value of the caribou harvest to people in economic terms is difficult, but has been done for some herds. For instance, a study for the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board put the annual net economic value of the caribou harvest from both herds at more than $20 million, based on the estimated harvest for 2005-2006. The social and cultural implications of an absence of caribou are deeply felt. People worry about their ability to pass on elements of their culture to other generations, in terms of caribou hunting and handling traditions, and associated activities. Bonds within families and communities that were once centred on the sharing of caribou must find new expressions, or wither away.

Hunting methods have changed significantly. The original methods involving spearing the caribou, or hunting them with bows and arrows. Caribou would sometimes be herded into corrals, using wood fences or rock piles to guide them in. Water crossings were often a favourite place to hunt, as the water bunched up and slowed the caribou. Sometimes people would hunt on the water, using canoes or kayaks and spears.

For many northern peoples, the best caribou hunting period is late summer to fall. This is when the caribou have the most fat, and their hides are at their best for making clothing. However, bulls are usually avoided during the fall rut (breeding period) as hormones make the meat taste less pleasant. Caribou is eaten in a variety of ways, stewed, dried, roasted, fried, raw and frozen. It provides a wide range of nutrients if all of the parts are eaten. The only essential nutrient that is not found in caribou is vitamin D. 

Drying meat was often used as a method of preserving the meat through long northern winters. Sometimes the meat was smoked as well as dried. In the past, dried meat was often made into pemmican, a nutritious storable food. The meat would be pounded until it was fine, then mixed with fat and berries. Dry meat is still popular, but now people mostly use freezers to keep their meat.

Some Indigenous people say they have noticed changes in the consistency and taste of the caribou, changes that they attribute to changes in the environment.

Culture

In addition to their often central place as a food resource, caribou contributed and continue to contribute much more to the material culture of Indigenous peoples. Caribou tents provided shelter. Clothing is often made from their skins, and the skins are also used for bedding. It has been estimated that a Netsilik Inuit family living on the Arctic coast west of Hudson Bay needed about 30 caribou to supply all of the clothing and bedding requirements for a year. A book of Gwich’in knowledge about caribou lists 17 different uses for caribou hides, noting that this represents just a fraction of the traditional uses for the hides. Amongst other things, they could be used for sails, for drums, for dog whips, and for dolls.

Peoples who live with the caribou have several rules regarding how caribou should be treated, both before and after death. The sale of caribou meat has long been a divisive subject. Some people believe caribou meat should never be sold, only shared. Others argue that they need to sell the meat to cover the increasing costs of hunting, such as buying gas for snowmobiles or other vehicles, ammunition, and other hunting supplies.