Tuktut Nogait Nurrait

We invested a lot of time at the outset of the negotiations in finding common purposes—and ultimately unique purposes—for this national park. We discussed a name for the park. We were looking for a single image that could convey the essential purpose(s) of the park. I remember the negotiation session in question. We could find nowhere else to meet, so we agreed to try the second floor of the old Mission Church in Paulatuuq. It’s a very old place, with a sense of history, time, single-paned windows, low ceiling, and creaky wooden floorboards, all illuminated by a yellow light bulb hanging from the ceiling—a good place to meet, negotiate and choose a name. We discussed the image we wanted to convey for this place. We wanted an image that could live in peoples’ imaginations. We agreed on the image of caribou calves, dropped by their mothers on the tundra, still wet from birth, and on uncertain legs. We asked Edward Ruben, the Elder who sat with us diligently throughout the negotiations, what words he would use to convey this image. He thought and spoke carefully, as he always did. Edward told us that there is a phrase in Inuvialuktun, for caribou calves, from the first moment of their birth to one year of age: tuktut nurrait Everyone immediately agreed on this name. Paulatuuq later confirmed the name and ultimately the Tuktut Nogait Agreement as a whole, in door-to-door meetings carried out— twice—by Peter Green, Noel Green, and Albert Ruben Sr., three of the members of the Paulatuuq negotiating team. The other members of the negotiating team were Nelson Green, Tony Green, Edward Ruben and Pat Ruben, and later, Markus Ruben.

My only regret about our name, then and now, is that we accepted a translator’s assertion that we had to spell the name “Tuktut Nogait”, which doesn’t—in English—sound at all like the phrase in Inuvialuktun. I protested but had to give way to the translator’s authority. My concern, then and now, is that unless we are able to change the spelling to “Tuktut Nurrait”, we will all have lost the opportunity to hear and speak the term as Edward Ruben and other Inuvialuit Elders do: “nurrait”. This includes young Inuvialuit, who want to connect with their language and the land. It’s a beautiful word and language, spoken in the back of the throat, with a strongly rolling r's. “Tuktut Nogait” means nothing in Inuvialuktun.

—TOM NESBITT, CHAIR OF TUKTUT NOGAIT

The Park is named after the Bluenose-West caribou herd that migrates within the park to their calving grounds where baby caribou are born. —BRIANNA

WOLKI

The name itself says exactly why we named it. The area is for protection, because you got newborns all over the place and especially one area north of the park. The worst thing would be any kind of human developments that would take away from the freedom that they have in that area. We know by satellite and collars where the sites are and where they are concentrating on their calving. The park is not primarily for tourism, it’s not for any other wildlife—it’s specific to caribou and its young. —RAY

RUBEN SR.

It was named by Elders. Tuktut nurrait means "young caribou calves" and the community of Paulatuuq decided on the national park status because they wanted the most stringent park with a Co-Management Board. The community has a say in the operation of Tuktut Nogait through the representation on the Board; it’s by consensus and we have our say in what we want and the future.

—MUFFA KUDLAK

When they were trying to negotiate the park with Canada, they came up with the name Tuktut Nurrait, meaning “caribou calves”. My late uncle Edward Ruben and Tony Green were really fluent in their own language and was able to pick that up right away. Being fluent with Inuvialuktun and English, they said: “One thing we need to do is protect our caribous.” And of course, they would say, caribous! That’s just one of the things that happen when you try to translate tuktu versus tuktut meaning plural; nurrait meaning young calves. One caribou, or more caribou? Tuktut means more than one. It’s really good that Edward and Tony as negotiators have given what is now known as "Tuktut Nogait" a meaningful name. —RUBEN

GREEN

It was the Elders that we sought direction from when it came to naming that park. We had some Elders in the committee: Edward Ruben, my grandfather, my dad Garett Ruben, Tony Green, and Marcus Ruben. We asked someone to come up with a name. They knew why we were negotiating that park: for the caribou calving ground. So, to them: tuktut nurrait means newborn caribou. We thought: “We’ll name it after the purpose that we negotiated for the park: to protect new caribou and their calving grounds."

—ALBERT RUBEN