A young Inuk woman visits her homeland and reconnects with her cultural identity.

WORDS, IMAGES, AND VIDEO Katie Pootoogook Manomie

Me at the Indigenous Pop-Up Market in Victoria, BC, selling my sealskin creations.

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This short video is a glimpse into my trip to Iqaluit, Nunavut, where I met my Inuit family for the second time ever in my life and spent three weeks with them in August 2023. I had first traveled to the North to meet my biological relatives in 2018, but the high cost of travel to Nunavut prevented me from visiting again sooner.

I am an Inuk woman who was born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost territory. My biological family is the Pootoogooks who reside mostly in Cape Dorset. I was adopted at birth by a non-Inuk woman and an Inuk man, named Suzanne and Enook Manomie. I moved from Nunavut to British Columbia with my non-Inuk mother when I was three years old. Because of that, my adoption is considered part of the Sixties Scoop, Canada’s large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their home territories, culture, and families.

My adoption is considered part of the Sixties Scoop, Canada’s large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their home territories, culture, and families.

This trip to Iqaluit was meaningful to me because I was raised without knowing this part of my family and the ways of living in the North or of being out on the tundra land in Nunavut. I had the amazing opportunity to learn from my family about the traditional foods that the land provides for Inuit. I took part in food sovereignty by making piitii [a process of preserving char fish] and witnessed my family members hunt and process caribou and seal.

Char fish that I made into piitii, which is a process of preserving char fish.

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My great-niece and nephew taught me invaluable lessons without even speaking to me, and I will cherish those moments for the rest of my life. My sister Sarah also taught me how to make traditional footwear called kamiks, which are boots made of sealskin. The skills I learned from creating the kamiks have helped me in my creative process at home while I make sealskin jewelry and sealskin art because I do not have any mentors to teach me in person. I feel I hold these skills of designing art out of seal skin because I come from a long line of Inuit artists in my family. I feel that my ancestors are guiding me while I construct my art, and this is why I feel this is blood memory.

My ancestors are guiding me while I construct my art . . . this is blood memory.

“Nattiq,” a sealskin box that I created in 2023.

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Me creating my kamik (sealskin) boots.

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A physical reminder of who I am and where I come from remains on my face. During my trip, I received traditional Inuit women’s markings called tunniit, and these are everyday reminders of who I am and where I come from. I learned so much about my Inuit cultural identity on this trip back to my homeland, and I am forever grateful to my family for showing me the Inuit ways of living in Nunavut.

Nakurmiik,
Thank you.

Video. Watch Blood Memory, a glimpse into Katie’s trip to Iqaluit, Nunavut. Video: Katie Pootoogook Manomie

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Katie Pootoogook Manomie is an Inuk woman who was born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, and was removed from her family at birth. She is reconnecting with her Inuit roots through art and forming relationships with her biological family in the North. Katie’s goal is to enter the Indigenous Law Program at the University of Victoria to advocate for Indigenous children in the foster care system.