Netsilik

[2] The harsh Arctic environment that the Netsilik inhabited yielded little plant life, so they had to rely on hunting to acquire most of the resources they needed to survive.

By 1923, the Netsilik were in possession of firearms, and iron and steel had also begun to replace flint and bone for arrowheads, harpoons, needles, knives and other tools.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, Christian missionaries and the Canadian government became more involved in the lives of the Netsilik, who began trading Arctic fox pelts in order to generate income to purchase imported goods.

The process of acculturation accelerated in the 1960s, with more and more Netsilik converting to Christianity, moving into permanent settlements built from imported materials, taking up wage labour and using government services.

[4] In 1988 excerpts from Knud Rasmussen's Journals of the Fifth Thule Expedition were used by Canadian / American composer Raymond Luedeke to create an orchestral work with narration, Tales of the Netilik.