Taamusi Qumaq

Who was Taamusi Qumaq?

Taamusi Qumaq, CM CQ was an Inuit elder from Canada who contributed to the preservation of Inuit language and traditional culture. Despite lacking any formal schooling, Qumaq published two seminal works to the Inuit culture: a 30,000-word comprehensive Inuktitut dictionary and an encyclopedia on Inuit traditional customs and knowledge. He was fluent in Inuktitut only.

He understood Canadian and Quebec institutions and worked for their integration into Inuit lifestyle for the betterment of his community. He was a founding member of the first non-governmental coop in the Canadian Arctic, in 1956 in Puvirnituq. After spending some time to the establishment of Rankin Inlet in the Northwest Territories, he returned to Puvirnituq in 1960 and founded its first village council and acted as its chair from 1962 to 1968.

From 1972 to 1977, he was a vocal opponent of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the leader of Inuit Tungavingat Nunamini, a movement opposing the signature of the land claims settlement by the Northern Quebec Inuit Association. In 1983 he took part to the Quebec commissions on Aboriginal rights and on Nouveau-Québec’s self-government.