Inuit ancestors known as the Thule settled the Arctic, replacing the previous dominant Dorset culture (Tuniit) over the course of around 200 years.

Displacement of the Tuniit (Inuktitut syllabics; ᑐᓃᑦ), or the Dorset people, and the arrival of the Inuit (whose ancestors are often called Thule) occurred in the 1100–1300s CE.

Coming from Siberia where they split from the Aleut and other related peoples about 4,000 years ago, Inuit had reached Inughuit Nunaat[clarification needed] in western Greenland by about 1300 CE, bringing with them transport dogs and various new technologies.

Martin Frobisher's 1576 expedition to find the Northwest Passage landed on and around Baffin Island, in today's Qikiqtaaluk Region (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ), where three Inuit, a man called Calichough (Kalicho), an unrelated Inuk woman, Egnock (Arnaq), and her child, Nutioc (Nuttaaq), were kidnapped and brought to the Europe, where they all died.

Since European colonizers had little desire to settle much of Inuit Nunangat's territories, the violence experienced by southern First Nations was comparatively minimal in the north.

However, assimilation policies including the wide-scale slaughter of community dogs between 1950 and 1970,[13] the High Arctic relocation[14][15] as well as forced participation within the Canadian Indian residential school system[16] has left Inuit society with language loss and transgenerational trauma.

[20] In a live address shortly after this meeting, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said the policy "recognizes the Inuit homeland as a distinct geographical, cultural and political region," which includes the "land, sea, and ice.

[27] Statistics Canada also lists three settlements, Bathurst Inlet (also recognized by the Government of Nunavut[26]),[28] Nanisivik[29] and Umingmaktok,[30] all with a population of zero.

[35] The government of Canada also lists Bathurst Inlet, Killiniq and Umingmaktuuq (Umingmaktok) as forming part of Inuit Nunangat, giving a total of 53 communities.

And, attested contemporarily only in a few Nunavut communities, Inuit Sign Language (also known as Atgangmuurngniq and Uukturausingit) continues to be passed down through generations regardless of deafness.

Of particular note is Inuit throat singing performed by artists such as Qaunaq Mikkigak, Tudjaat, and Tanya Tagaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᑕᓐᔭ ᑕᒐᖅ).

It was believed that the killings were done in order to force Inuit out of their traditional way of life and assimilate them into southern Canadian society.

[94] Inuit cuisine, also known as "country food,"[95] incorporates a variety of meats (such as walrus, narwhal, bearded seal, caribou, polar bear, Arctic cod, and Arctic char, among others) and gathered plants (including crowberries, cloudberries, fireweed, seaweed, tubers and roots like mousefood, tuberous spring beauty, and sweet vetch)[96] Much of the meat is served frozen, raw, or boiled, much like sushi or sashimi in Japanese cuisine.

Inuvialuit Nunangat in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, Nunavut, and Nunatsiavut in Labrador are all subject to the English common law tradition.

Leaders and Elders did not see themselves as agents of social control or law and order, as each individual contributes to the functioning of the community.

[99] The integration of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (or IQ) and the wider Canadian legal tradition is an ongoing process.