WELCOME TO SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY’S
“ARCTIC JOURNEY”!

This site is designed to invite you to join us, the participants of Syracuse University’s “Arctic Journey”, on a cultural learning and service program sponsored by Syracuse University’s Native American Studies Program, the College of Arts and Sciences and SU Abroad!

Founded on the Inuit principle of Pijitsirniq, or the belief that one owes service to the community from which one is learning, “Arctic Journey” was designed to introduce students to the Arctic region and the Inuit of Nunavut. Through their service, students earned the opportunity to meet the people who helped shape the new Territory of Nunavut by taking part in the 30 year Inuit movement in Nunavut to gain greater control over their own government and their own lands and environment through the world’s most comprehensive Indigenous land claims agreement thus far.

The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement did more than just provide rights to land and mandate the creation of the Territory of Nunavut; it also created a vehicle by which Inuit could begin to infuse contemporary democratic governance with a values-system based on relationships that have been forged among people, communities, and their environment over the course of several millennia.

Because one of the principles most valued by Inuit and modeled within the Government of Nunavut is Pijitsirniq, this site was begun as a student project by Simon Sjogren to demonstrate the importance of service to one’s community and of transparency to one’s constituency in any endeavor. It has since involved into a site that truly reflects each one of us who participated in this journey and, because of Simon’s vision, will also continue to be a work in progress by facilitating continued dialogue and communication among each of the communities that this site serves (Syracuse University, the People of Nunavut, we, the participants of this program, and all who are interested in Indigenous rights and world-views).

Thank you for sharing our journey!