In the Inuktitut language, the word "Inuit" (the people) hearkens back to a time when the inhabitants of the Arctic thought they were the only people on Earth. The Inuit of Quebec inhabit 14 villages across the immensity of the far north. Their lifestyle and their art - sculpting in particular - are world-renowned.

 

Inuktitut is one of the four major dialect groups of the Inuit language and part of the Eskimo-Aleut language family.

 

Inuktitut is spoken by more than 40,000 people in the eastern Canadian Arctic, in Quebec (in Nunavik), on Baffin Island and in Nunavut, and it is featured on bilingual road signs. Primarily and traditionally used in spoken form, this language has the distinction of being written starting from the nineteenth century in a syllabic writing system.

 

The Inuktitut language has been the subject of sustained conservation and preservation work since the mid-1980s. Today, over 80% speak Inuktitut. Inuktitut is the second most prevalent Indigenous language in Canada after Cree.