We Don't Live in Igloos: Inuvik Youth Speak Out

Janet Ip
19 minutes • 2005

While the media too often focuses on Inuit youth struggling with solvent abuse and suicide, We Don't Live in Igloos goes beyond the stereotypes to ask teens in the Canadian North about their real experience.

Created by filmmaker-physician Janet Ip during her rural medical training in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, the documentary sprang from a photography project—she gave cameras to a group of Inuvik teens so they could capture images of what mattered to them.

Stereotypes are shattered by four exceptional youth: an aspiring rock star, a beauty pageant contestant, an anti-smoking activist and a cadets sergeant major. Their photos, combined with frank interviews, provide insight into the issues that really concern Inuvik youth.

Subject(s): Canada–Northern, Indigenous people–Inuit, Youth