The inuits and their relation with Canada.

The inuits and their relation with Canada.

The Inuits, commonly called “eskimos”, are a native tribe that lives in the north of Canada. To the contrary of what most people think, the term “eskimos” is a derogatory term, because in their language (Inuktitut) eskimo means “someone who eats raw flesh” so they preffer to be called “inuit”, that is the correct term to refer to them.

When somebody mention the inuits, it’s normal to imagine a quite short person bundled up in big coats, with dark hair and a tan skin. But this is not true at all, because there are a lot of inuits that are actually blonde, the image that inuits have to the world is not more than a stereotype .

Another interesting fact about the inuits, is that in their native country, they are very respected. The opposite happens in countries like United States or even here in Chile, where the native’s opinion is not very respected. To the contrary, in Canada is really important for their government. This can be seen when some enterprises wants to build on Inuit territory. In this case, the Inuits are who have the last word, because they are asked if they allow the enterprise to build and if they answer no, the enterprise must accept that resolution. But on the contrary, if the answer is yes, the enterprise can build but some of the profits must be given to the inuits.

Also, they live as the rest of the country and not in special territories like what happens with the native people in United States, what in my opinion, maybe is one of the many reasons of why Canada has the image of a friendly country, because to be friendly with the foreigners you must be friendly with your own people first.