Besides descriptions of nature and life in the Arctic, Mowat's book tells the sad story of how a once prosperous and widely dispersed people slowly dwindled to the brink of extinction due to unscrupulous economic interest and lack of understanding.

[1] Mowat was derided as a liar by Jean Lesage (then Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources) and the existence of the Ihalmiut was questioned.

"[4] Of the controversy surrounding Mowat's epic, Margaret Atwood is quoted as saying: “People of the Deer was to the support for increased autonomy among northern peoples as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was to the environmental movement: a wake-up call, the spark that struck the tinder that ignited the fire from which many subsequent generations of writers and activists have lit their torches, often ignorant of where that spark came from in the first place.

[5]According to Tim Querengesser in an article about the conflicting attitudes toward Mowat, People of the Deer and his later books, fueled increasing interest in the North.

[7] The Beaver was quite hostile in its first review, and the Hudson's Bay Company threatened to sue Mowat for allegedly criticizing its trading policies that were detrimental to peoples of the Keewatin Region.