The Inuit make up a very large part of Canadian history and culture of the modern day.  They have sacrificed and made difficult decisions and choices that have led to our beneficial future.  The Inuit and other Aboriginal tribes are an important part of what makes us who we are, which is why it’s crucial to understand our Canadian heritage and past.The Inuit way of life ( food, shelter, technology, culture, and transportation ) is very different from our lifestyles today and the hardships they faced were an enormous amount larger than the problems we encounter with today.  The Inuit were the very first to arrive upon Canada and have shaped it into the the beautiful and gorgeous country we are lucky enough to call home.Approximately  5,000 years ago Inuit ancestors had traveled to Canada by crossing over the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia to Alaska.  Over the time of many centuries they came to Northern Canada and Greenland while following the Arctic coast ( Baffin Island Expedition, 2008. para. 4 ).  Approximately 1000 years ago, the early Inuit had began to migrate east and into Arctic Canada.  Practically,  a few 100 years later they replaced the other inhabitants of the region before them called the Tunit.  The Inuit migration did not take place all at once, but took trips of 20 – 30 people moving east one group at a time.  At the time there was an abundance of whales near the Baffin and Somerset islands, so they copied the way the whaling villages lived life.  Whereas, other groups settled in coastal areas where they lived in small villages ( Centre de santé Inuulitsivik, 2011. para. 3).  Moreover, when the Inuit people arrived from the Alaskan region, numerous masses of them settled in areas we now call the Northwest Territories, Northern Quebec, and Northern Ontario.  Also, the Thule Inuit ( one of the oldest inuit tribes ) migrated into to Arctic Canada and Greenland and stayed for most probably 4,000 years.  This particular journey or immigration occurred at the end of the Medieval Warm Period which is 800 – 1200 CE ( CE means common era ) ( McGhee, 1984. Para 1).   Furthermore, the group that archaeologists seem to have named that were in Canada prior to the Inuit arrival are part of the Dorset culture.  It has been said that the Dorset culture left about the same time the inuit appeared.The Inuit history is very interesting and informative.  It always surprise me how they managed to live independently, self – governed, in the harsh climate and weather of the Arctic.  The Inuit were one of the earliest First Nations tribes that lived in Canada for over thousands of years before the first explorers arrived from various countries such as France, England, and Icelandic Vikings ( Cairo and Soncin, 2015. Pg. 82. Para. 2 ).  Additionally, the families of today’s Inuit have thought to have migrated from their Northwestern Alaskan home roughly 800 – 1000 years ago.  First, the Saqqaq paleo – Inuit arrived in 2500 – 800 BCE, then the Dorset culture happened in 800 – 1300 CE, and then after that the vikings came along in 985 – 1450 CE ( Jakobsen, 2016. Para. 5 ).  At Last, this old Inuit culture that had appeared is called the “Thule”, pronounced “Tooley” and they replaced all of the old natives that lived in the Arctic when they arrived at around 1200 CE.  Plus, the ancestors of the Inuit of today were most presumably the first Arctic inhabitants that learned to professionally hunt large sea mammals such as large whales and seals or walruses ( Jakobsen, 2016. Para. 4 ).The Inuit lived in jarring and severe areas of the planet when they first reached here in Canada after traveling from the Bering Sea Land Bridge from Siberia to Alaska.  These group of aboriginal people live in the northern regions of Canada ( Freeman, 2015. Para 1 ).  The Inuit tribes are distributed evenly across the upper half of the North American continent.  They were living in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland which is divided into four main regions: Nunatsiavut ( Northern coastal Labrador ), Nunavik ( Northern Quebec ), the Nunavut territory, and the Inuvialuit region in the Northwest Territories ( Bonesteel, 2006. Para. 8 ).  Many Inuits also inhabit some parts of eastern Russia which is also known as Siberia.  In Russia they can be called Inupiat and Yupik ( Gardiner, 2007. Para. 2 ).  Also, the Inuit that are found in the western Arctic are called the Inuvialuit.  Furthermore, where the Inuit dwell has advantages and disadvantages. The one substantial dilemma is the climate and weather.  Near the coasts in Alaska, Iceland, Northern Russia, and Scandinavia the climate is fierce and disturbing winter seasons, but a rural and mild summer season.  The winter is composed of wet and violent stormy weather and summers near the coast are calm and cloudy.  The precipitation ( falling products of condensation in the air like snow and rain ) measure reaches 60 – 125 cm each year.  The average approximate temperature for the summer is 10 degrees celsius.  Near the interior regions, the Arctic lands have dry weather and an inferior amount of snow during inter compared to the coastal areas.  The chilling glacial weather during the cold season is usually continually below freezing.  Some districts in Siberia, the regular January temperature consists of minus 40 degrees celsius.  However, the regular summer temperature is above and positive 10 degrees celsius, identical to the coastal areas.  These warm conditions melt away the permafrost ( perennially frozen subsoil ).  Rarely, some heated climates are above 20 degrees celsius ( National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ) Serreze, 2017. Para 7 and 8 ).The Inuit are a self – governed group of people, which means they don’t follow a democracy, monarchy, or dictatorship of any kind.  However, they have certain leaders who work together to create rules and laws for the community.  The Newfoundland and Labrador area called the Nunatsiavut is self – governed, although the government has authority over specific issues like children’s right to education, culture and language, health services, justice and freedom, and other community matters.  The regional and community government of Nunatsiavut goals are for democracy, equality among all the members and citizens, pursuit of a healthy and stable society, preservation of their native language and culture, a sustainable economy, and an untouched nature preservation of the land, plants, animals, and bodies of water on or upon the ancestral territory ( Anderson, 2017. Para. 4 and 6 ).  Moreover, the Inuit and other Indigenous peoples were not always treated fairly by the Canadian government because when Canada’s Constitution was being developed in the 1980s, aboriginal peoples wanted and campaigned ( a systematic course of aggressive activities for some specific purpose ) to have their rights included the document.  The Constitution Act of 1982 says that they do have certain rights, but does not specify what they are.  Although, of modern age the federal government states that the Indigenous people have the right to self – government which means that they can make their own decisions for their communities (Cairo, Soncin, 2015, Pg. 86, Para. 1 and 2 ).  Also this self – government is entitled to preserve their sacred language.  The aboriginal peoples languages can be divided into 12 language families: Algonquian languages, Inuit languages, Athabaskan languages, Siouan languages, Salish languages, Tsimshian languages, Wakashan languages, Iroquoian languages, Michif, Tlingit, Kutenai and Haida. There are more than 70 Aboriginal languages  ( Statistics Canada, 2017. Para. 4 ).The Inuit People used animals as their main food source to survive.  They ate many creatures like caribou, seals, walruses, polar bears, arctic hares, musk oxen, birds like Inuit people ate animals such as caribou, seals, walruses, polar bears, arctic hares, musk oxen, birds like ptarmigan, and fish like arctic char, salmon, and whitefish.  However there were hardly any edible plants in the winter so they gathered berries and edible plants in the summer and ate the meat they got from hunting in the winter ( Simmons and Rice, 2005. Para. 2 ).  However, the Inuit would not grow vegetation because of the weather and the climate, so there were hardly any edible plants so they gathered berries and plants during the summer season.  Otherwise, they mainly lived upon the meat they received from hunting  ( Simmons and Rice, 2005. Para 3 ).  Their diet was mainly protein, B – vitamins, zinc, and magnesium due to the lack of vegetables and/or fresh fruit.  Still, the animals they hunted were also used for multi purposes like whalebones for tools and seal skin for clothing  (Bhutia, Kuiper, Lotha, Sheetz, Singh, Sampaolo, Tikkanen, and Pauls, 2016. Para. 6).The indigenous people of Canada including the Inuit had invented various items to keep themselves alive and well in Canadian weather such as: parkas ( a traditional dress for men and woman made from furs and skins ), warm winter coats made from animal hides, kamiks ( waterproof boots ), and igaaks ( snow goggles to prevent harm from the glare of sunlight reflecting of the ice and snow ), ( Cairo and Soncin, 2015. Pg. 96. Para. 3 ).  Some animal hides, skins, and furs the Inuit used for clothing were the seal, walrus, beluga whales, and the narwhal.  They used the meat and skin of the seal for food and clothing, ivory/tusks and meat from the walrus for clothing and meat for their dogs, outer skin and blubber from the beluga whale for clothing, and ivory and meat from the narwhal for food and clothing ( Goldi Productions, 2007. Para. 7 ).  The Inuit used thick, layered, and warm clothing from maximum protection against the wind and cold.  The shirts, pants, boots, hats, and coats they used were made from caribou and seal skin.  All of the clothing would be lined with multiple types of furs like foxes or rabbits ( Nelson and Ken, 2016. Para. 3 ).Inuit housing and shelter consisted of tents, sod homes, and igloos.  In the wintertime, the Inuit built sod homes and igloos.  To build a sod ( a section cut or torn from the surface of grassland, containing the matted roots of grass ) home, first they dug a hole in the ground, piled rocks and sod outside of the inner circle to create walls, used several pieces of whalebone as a frame structure for the roof, and covered the roof in sod to finish the home.  Tents were made with driftwood or poles that were covered in animals skins.  Igloos are built with ice blocks and were a temporary shelter that took short period of time to build based on the size.  All of Inuit housing units have raised platforms to sleep on ( Simmons and Rice, 2005. Para. 9 ).  I the modern age, the Inuit use the same style housing we do and finding a durable house is accessible because there are various corporations that have services and beneficial discounts for aboriginal peoples.  For example ottawa.cioc.ca has created a website for Inuit needs.  They have a non – profit housing service for these aboriginal people.  This states that “Rent-geared-to-income housing for Inuit families and singles living in the Ottawa area.  Inuit are given priority on waiting list for 63 units, after which Métis and Status Indian applicants are considered” ( Community Information Centre of Ottawa, 2016. Para. 1 ).Inuit transportations in the past was kayaks, dog sleds, umiaq ( large rowboats ), and by foot.  Kayaks are unique boats that are pea shaped and are originally made from sealskin.  They were used to catch up to animals on land and could be used by paddling with a wooden paddle.  A much larger boat than the kayak is the umiaq that is a large rowboat that is used to catch whales and other aquatic prey.  Although, the main source of transportation is the dogsled.  The Inuit traveled on a sled that was being pulled by a trained dog team.  They could travel long distances upon any kind of terrain that way.  Now that we have more modern technology the dogsled is not used much anymore, except for racing and is now replaced by the snowmobile.  Today, many Inuit people use ATVs to get around in the summer because of the rough and bumpy landscape.  They also use snowmobiles, motorboats, and many times air travel to travel around from one region to another.Some tools and technology that the Inuit used were stone tools, salvaged animal parts that are recycled to serve a different purpose, bones, ivory, teeth, horns, and antlers from animals.  The weapons that the Inuit carved or created were harpoons, clubs, spears, harpoons, Kakivak ( pronged fishing spear ), ulu ( an all purpose knife used by the woman in the family ), fishing lines and nets, three pronged spears, and stone markers used for navigation called inuksuit.  When the Inuit were fishing they used harpoon heads made from the ivory of the walrus tusks or whalebone.  To obtain fish they used fishing lines, nets, and three pronged spears.  When the Inuit were hunting individual animals they used complex stone traps that they had plated  ( Goldi Productions, 2007. Para. 7 ).The education of the Inuit was learned through observing, practicing, family and group talkings, oral communication, and participation in community ceremonies performed by their elders.  The adults that taught the children were the parents, grandparents, other relatives, and elders of the tribe/community.  Boys when became of age, got training on how to hunt and use specific tools and weapons.  They were taught many survival methods they would need when they were older and more mature.  The Inuit girls, however got training on household chores like preparing skins and pelts for sewing the clothing, cooking meals, and how to take care of a child, all by the elder women of the community.  The woman were responsible for the cooking, harvesting, clothing, sewing, taking care of the children, crafts, and chores.  The men were responsible for hunting, making tools like spears and harpoons for hunting, and fighting other men who threatened their tribe or some other matter.  There were also jobs like spiritual leaders, shamans, and woman/ men healers ( Nelson, 2018. Para. 2 and 3 ).  Children also got educated during ceremonies by apprehending the knowledge of the spirits, herbal medication, beliefs, and other oral histories.  As of now many indigenous tribes like the Inuit continue with these techniques but formally refer to the European classroom way of teaching. ( Mccue and Harvey, 2011. Para. 1, 2, 3, 4 ).The Inuit had many traditions, cultural beliefs, customs, and ancient legends. Spirits were also a big part of their religion.  Some rules that they had to follow to please the spirits were for example, after they killed a seal, melted snow had to be dripped inside the seals mouth to quench the thirst of the spirit. Also, the Inuit had to keep the bladder of the animal that they had just hunted because they believed the spirit was still inside.  When relative or a member of the tribe was dead they believed the name and soul lived on.  So, to honour them in the present life babies were given names of the passed to preserve their soul ( Bremer et al., 2007. Para. 2 ).  The Inuit have lots of recreational activities lie games that prepared the for the cold and harsh weather outside the comfort of their homes.  The Inuit had many games to prepare them for their adulthood.  But, there were also many games like arctic hunt that are just for recreation and fun.  Arctic hunt is a game which is a very interesting variation of the original game of Tic tac Toe.  They also had a game called blanket toss, usually played at celebrations or gatherings where they used a blanket made from walrus and seal skin, they throw a person high up into the air where that person throws gifts into the crowd, and once he/she loses their balance it is another person’s turn  ( CHIN – Canadian Heritage Information Network, 2009. Para. 4 ).  Did you know that earlier than the 11th century the Norse Seamen such as, Leif Ericson had a large impact on the Inuit.  The arrival of the various explorers, whalers, traders, missionaries, and scientists had made some cultural changes towards the Inuit People.  Such as, traditional weapons changed, because of the new arrival of advanced technology and new materials.  The explorers helped the Inuit by providing them with a steady supply of new items like cutlery and navigation tools, while the Inuit helped the explorers by teaching them how to survive the cold weather and live comfortably.  The Inuit helped the new arrivals out by acting as their guides, traders, and aiding them through survival methods ( Freeman, Minnie, 2010. Para. 8 ).The one main thing that makes the Inuit unique is that they are the only aboriginal people who can be found all around the world.  They aren’t related to any other aboriginal groups, but are actually their own people who arrived in the North, many many years ago.  The Inuit population of the modern age is very small, because the median is fourteen people, 14!  Of the 1,172,790 people who identified themselves as an Aboriginal person in the 2006 Census, about 4%, or 50,485, reported that they were Inuit  ( Government of Canada, 2008. Para. 1 ).  They have contributed the heritage and identity of Canada a lot.  They are a symbol of who we are by representing and preserving the ancestral traditions and culture.  Point being, the Inuit are an important tribe in Canada that we need to acknowledge, because of their decisions and choices we are who we are today.