Inuit Towns The Inuit live in houses in

Inuit Towns The Inuit live in houses, in small communities similar to villages. Each one has shops, churches and schools. Photo courtesy of ezola (@flickr. com) - granted under creative commons licence – attribution

From 1960 onwards the Inuit of this region (the Boothia Peninsula) have lived in town – either in Taloyoak (shown here) or Pelly Bay, in easy reach of a medical station and so children could attend school.

The houses are built with Government assistance and rented out by a housing co-operative. The style of house depends on when it was built, as the Government revises the approved pattern.

Because of frost heaving in the spring and fall there is little point in surfacing the roads. The houses are built in clusters where suitable sites can be found and gravel roads connect them to the town centre.

Inuit houses today are furnished with the same conveniences one finds in modern homes in Southern Canada, with a kitchen stove, sink, fridge and freezer, and in the laundry room a hot water tank, washing machine and (because of winter cold) a clothes drier. .

In the bathroom there is hot and cold running water (from a pressure system), a washbasin, bath, shower and a flush toilet.

In the lounge there's the usual range of furniture plus the obligatory television, with a good supply of family photos, a binocular microscope used in making fine bone carvings, and roses which are artificial (since they do not grow in the Arctic!)

Among the modifications necessitated by the climate are lamps that allow house plants like these to grow during the long dark winter, and special house designs. Experimental upper stories, were not a good idea because, since warm air rises, they can be hot upstairs and cold downstairs; but all houses regardless of size and shape have a porch. It acts as buffer zone between the cold outside and the heated interior. It also provides space for the storage of clothing and equipment at below freezing temperatures. Otherwise in winter the snow will melt on them when you bring them inside and freeze up when you go out.

LO: To describe how communities and societies have changed, within and across periods of time, in the wider world. Task: -Recap traditional Inuit homes -In which ways have Inuit people's homes and communities changed over time? Make notes on the comparison table.