The Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq / Kitikmeot Heritage Society is a nonprofit Inuit heritage organization that operates out of the May Hakongak Community Library & Cultural Centre in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. We address projects of critical importance to the revival of Inuit culture, language and history. We focus on the needs of Inuinnait—a distinct regional group of Inuit living in the Central Canadian Arctic. 

 

Our reality is that the Inuinnaqtun language—the foundation of Inuinnait culture—has less than 600 fluent speakers remaining. By most estimates, it is a language that will be extinct in less than two generations. Our language is an archive containing the vast knowledge of thousands of generations. It holds our whole being, our identity, the history of our ancestors, and their knowledge, traditions, memories and experiences. 

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Guided by a finely-honed plan, we are working to renew our language and culture to ensure its continuity for the next generations. 

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