Elisapee Ootoova facts for kids

Elisapee Ootoova (born January 6, 1931 – died May 2021) was an important Inuit elder. She worked hard to keep and share the traditional knowledge and wisdom of her people.

Early Life and Learning

Elisapee Ootoova was born on January 6, 1931. Her birth name was Qiliqti. She was born near Lancaster Sound on Devon Island in Canada. Her father was a member of the RCMP, and her mother was an Inuk woman named Ataguttiaq. However, Qiliqti was raised by her adoptive father, Qamaniq, who was a hunter.

When Qiliqti was about one year old, her family moved back to the Mittimatalik/Pond Inlet area. This was where her mother was from. She grew up living in her family's hunting camps. Her father was a skilled hunter who caught whales, seals, and birds. Qiliqti had four siblings.

Learning and Faith

When Qiliqti was five or six, she learned to read and write in the Inuktitut language. Her mother taught her using an Inuktitut Bible. Her parents became Anglican Christians when she was five. After this, they were told to sing hymns instead of traditional Inuit songs called ajaajaa. Because of this, Qiliqti did not learn the ajaajaa songs until she was an adult.

Qiliqti was baptized at age 11 and was given the name Elisapee. After her community became Christian, they would gather to pray on Sundays. If there was no minister, the wisest person would give a sermon. The Christian minister asked the Inuit not to work on Sundays and to be kind to each other.

At that time, there were no medical workers in Mittimatalik until Elisapee Ootoova was an adult. All healthcare was based on traditional Inuit knowledge. Radios also did not exist there until the 1960s.

Adult Years

Elisapee Ootoova married a relative when she was 16. This marriage had been planned since she was a baby. She did not have an official church wedding, but she felt married when she started living with him. She said, "God can see what's happening and He was already our witness." Even though she was unsure at first, she grew to love her husband and they stayed together for many decades.

Elisapee Ootoova had 11 children. Her first nine children were born with the help of her mother, mother-in-law, or a midwife. These births were similar to traditional Inuit childbirths. However, by then, Inuit women no longer gave birth alone in an igloo; they had support from their relatives. Her last two children were born in a hospital. Some of her children were adopted by elders right after birth. This was a tradition where elders would adopt children to help couples who could not have children, or if a mother already had many children.

In 1963, a school opened in her community. This school taught her children English and about the ways of white people. However, it did not teach them the Inuktitut language or how to survive in the North. This caused some cultural conflict within Elisapee's family. When Ootoova was 31, she traveled south for treatment for tuberculosis.

Later Life and Contributions

Elisapee Ootoova made many important contributions to preserving Inuit culture. She wrote "Uqausiit Tukingit," which is a dictionary of the traditional Tununirmiut language from north Baffin Island. In the 1990s, she worked with Martha Kyak, another person from Pond Inlet, to create teaching materials for Inuktitut. She also helped write an encyclopedia about traditional Inuit knowledge. She was a consultant for many books and films about Inuit history and knowledge.

She played a key role in saving much of the Inuit heritage. This includes the popular song "Quviasuliqpunga." Her grandfather wrote this song about the sun returning after winter. It is a pisiq, which is a drum dance song.

Public Recognition

In 1999, Elisapee Ootoova was invited to the founding ceremonies for the territory of Nunavut. There, she tended a qulliq (a traditional Inuit lamp) and gave a speech. She asked her audience to take care of their environment. In 2000, she spoke before the Qikiqtani Truth Commission. She shared her experiences, including how four of her husband's sled dogs were shot by the RCMP.

Elisapee Ootoova received several awards for her work:

• In 2002, she was given the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal.
• Also in 2002, she received the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case.
• In 2003, she became a member of the Order of Canada.

In 2015, a story from her childhood was made into a French film called "Nallua: duty of memory." In 2017, she lit the qulliq at the official announcement of the Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area.

Death

Elisapee Ootoova passed away in May 2021. On May 25, 2021, her death was announced. MLA David Qamaniq honored Ootoova on May 27 in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut.