Kivallirmiut
[4][14][15][21][22] Qaernermiut ("dwellers of the flat land"), or Qairnirmiut ("bedrock people"), or Kinipetu (Franz Boas, 1901), Kenepetu, or Kenipitu, a northern group, were located from the sea coast between Chesterfield Inlet to Rankin Inlet across to their main area around Baker Lake and some even to Beverly Lake.
[2][4] [14][15] Utkuhiksalingmiut ("people who have cooking pots"), were located in the Chantrey Inlet area around the Back River, near Baker Lake.
There are three main theories:[25][26] Kivallirmiut ancestors originally went back and forth between the Barrenlands to hunt the Beverly and the Qamanirjuaq ("Kaminuriak") caribou herds during seasonal migrations; and the Hudson Bay (Tariurjuaq) for whaling and to fish during the winters.
[27] Regular contact between the Kivallirmiut and European explorers and missionaries began around 1717 after the establishment of a permanent settlement in Churchill, Manitoba.
Father Alphonse Gasté, a Christian missionary, made diary notes about peaceful relations between settled Kivallirmiut and migratory Dene that he met along the Kazan River in the late 19th century.
Explorer Joseph Tyrrell estimated the "Caribou Eskimo" numbered nearly 2,000 when he led the Geological Survey of Canada's Barren Lands expeditions of 1893 and 1894.
Eugene Arima classifies the Hauniqtuurmiut, Ha'vaqtuurmiut, Paallirmiut, and Qairnirmiut as Kivallirmiut "southern, latter" bands: through the end of the 19th century, they were primarily coastal saltwater hunters, but with firearm ammunition from commercial whalers, they were able to live inland year-round hunting caribou without augmenting their diet on sea life.
(Arima 1975)[1][3][27] Regular trade dates to the early 20th century and missionaries arrived soon thereafter, developing a written language, challenged by a variety of pronunciations and naming rules.
Some hunting years were better than others as resident caribou and migratory herds grew or declined, but Kivallirmiut populations dwindled through the decades.
During a bleak period in the 1920s, some of the Kivallirmiut made their way to Hudson's Bay Company outposts and small, scattered villages on their own.
[28] This set off an Arctic settlement push by the Canadian government where those Inuit living in the north were encouraged to abandon their traditional way of life and settle in villages and outposts of Northern Canada.
The nomadic nature made the people and their dogs into strong walkers and sledders who carried loads of implements, bedding, and tents.
The hides were used for kamik (footwear) and clothing, including the anorak and amauti, using caribou sinew to piece the articles together, and worn in many layers.
The Kivallirmiut genre lacked typical katajjaq ("throat sounds") but added narration missing amongst other Inuit groups.
Even with federal assistance, adapting to displacement in fewer and larger towns proved difficult, resulting in high unemployment, domestic violence, sexual abuse, substance addiction, suicide, and parental neglect.
