ULLUMI

For most of us, it’s hard to comprehend what it’s like to live up North. Ullumi, meaning “today” in Inuktitut, is a film made by the Inuit people about life up in Quebec’s Arctic town of Nunavik aims to change this.

“I really believe that what you capture on camera is very powerful,” said director Evie Mark, “If you are going to make an aboriginal film, it should be through an aboriginal eye.”

The film’s four co-directors Qajaaq Ellsworth, Lena Ellsworth, Evie Mark and Tunu Napartuk document many of the social issues facing the Inuit people. Suicide rates are seven times higher among the Inuit than in the rest of Quebec. Problems in the community also include alcoholism and drug abuse.

While many know these facts, few know the reasons behind them. At the heart of the problem there is the question of identity. Ullumi explores what it means to be Inuit. Dependency on government for employment, lack of schooling in their native language and boredom are but some of the causes of the malaise for a people whose identity was taken away from them.

“When you lose your language, you lose your culture, when you lose your culture you lose your identity,” said Mark.

The high cost of living in the North forces Inuits to school themselves in English so that they may obtain the well paying jobs offered by the government. While doing this they are forced to abandon their native traditions and conflicts arise as to which direction they should take.

“I live in the city because I want my daughter to grow up with options,” said Mark.

“But at the same time I know that I have to sacrifice our culture and way of living from living here. I would love to live up North, but at my grandmother’s there are 16 people living in a four bedroom house.”

Over 90 per cent of employment comes from the government yet the Inuit still suffer from a housing crisis and malnutrition. With a population that will double in the next 20 years, the Inuit are facing unparalleled challenges simply to survive.

Mark compares the situation of the Inuit to that of a neglected animal.

“Let’s say an animal gets abandoned; it starts to get frail, skinny. But no matter what, it will take food from the person who abandons it. It is the same with us and the government. They are the ones who feed us. Our elders are still suffering from hunger, and yet our Inuit leaders are still taking money and food from the government.”

Ullumi is not only a film, it is a Web Site as well, www.ullumi.tv. This site offers viewers a virtual tour of life in the Inuit town of Nunavik. The documentary will be shown on Tele-Quebec on March 4 at 7 p.m.