By Stacy Lee Kong

Like many of us, Taalrumiq Christina King decided to check out TikTok during the pandemic. The difference between her and me, though, is that I mostly use the app to find pop culture-related videos to share with Friday Things readers and spam my friends and family with cute dog videos, while she has built an audience of more than 103,000 followers by sharing her Inuvialuit culture. (The Inuvialuit are the Inuit of the western Arctic, not to be confused with the Nunatsiavut of northern coastal Labrador or the Nunavik of northern Quebec.) A popular member of Indigenous TikTok, King regularly shares TikToks about traditional art, clothing and food, as well as slice-of-life videos from her home in Tuktuuyaqtuuq, a hamlet in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories. I chatted with her about the appeal of TikTok as a platform and what she hopes her audience will take away from her content.

What drew you to TikTok in the first place? Do you remember if there was a specific moment or thing that inspired you to make your first video?

During the early months of the pandemic, I noticed my teenager was on the platform a lot, so I had to see what it was about. I quickly found Native TikTok, Inuit TikTok and Indigenous TikTok, and I loved them. Never before had I seen such amazing content featuring Indigenous people [and our] clothing, food, song, dance, traditions and humour. Prior to this, I used to create funny videos and pics on Snapchat for my family and close friends, so it was a natural evolution to begin creating intentional Inuvialuit content on TikTok. I noticed a lack of Inuvialuit representation and thought, ‘I can share

What do you think makes TikTok such an attractive space for Indigenous creators?

TikTok gives us an opportunity to reach a global audience. It allows us to express our creativity, educate, inform and share our culture with authentic voices, from our point of view. Historically, Indigenous voices have been erased, silenced and ignored. Now, we have an opportunity to share who we are from our point of view and correct misinformation and what’s been villainized and /or romanticized about our people and cultures.

I also appreciate the support from TikTok Canada; they have hosted online events and continue to highlight Indigenous creators. I was part of the very first Tiktok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators in partnership with the National Screen Institute of Canada in 2021 and I was recently featured on their Creator Spotlight for Indigenous Peoples History Month. I've never experienced this kind of support on any platform before, so it was a wonderful thing to see TikTok Canada actively support and uplift Indigenous creators.

Why is it important for you to share Inuvialuit culture?

It’s important for my children and [all] Inuvialuit youth to see and feel representation on the platform. When the world thinks of Inuit, they typically think only of Alaska or Nunavut. It feels like we are often forgotten, left out or never even heard of. Inuvialuit are the Inuit of the Western Canadian Arctic. We have relatives and many similarities with Inuit from Alaska and east into Nunavut and Nunavik and Nunatsiavut. Our traditional land includes part of the Northwest Territories, Yukon and into the Beaufort Sea/Arctic Ocean. We settled a land claim agreement with the Canadian Government in 1984, and we are a small population. 

Over half our population died due to factors like disease (flu, smallpox, tuberculosis), and then our family, community and knowledge transfer systems and traditional way of life were disrupted and damaged during the residential school era. My parents are both residential school survivors and as infants they were separated from their families when their mothers were hospitalized and isolated due to tuberculosis. My brother and I and our friends and community members attended Grollier Hall, one of the last residential schools to close in Canada. It closed in 1996, so it’s really not that long ago. To know our history and what Inuvialuit lived through and that many didn’t make it, I feel fortunate that I am here today. We are still working to reclaim lost practices and aspects of our culture, language and identity. We all have talents, gifts, humour and stories to share, and I encourage other Inuvialuit and Indigenous people to create content. The more representation, the better!

When you're thinking about the kinds of videos you want to make, how do you decide what you want to document or what you want to tell people?

I get inspired by trends and have fun Inuvialuit-izing trends as I know my community will understand the humour. Other times I get spur of the moment ideas or I plan out my videos with original concepts I want to develop. It depends on how much time and energy I have. I also consider what my children, Inuvialuit and Indigenous youth and Elders might think watching me, so I try to keep my content suitable for all ages. Some videos that I have done well are ones where I correct misinformation. For example my community name is actually pronounced ‘Dook-duu-yaq-dooq’ and not ‘Tuk-tee-yuk-tuk.’ I know it's fun to say, but it's incorrect. It's been anglicized to Tuktoyaktuk from its original Inuvialuktun name Tuktuuyaqtuuq. I try to keep my videos short, sweet, informative and a glimpse into of daily life of a contemporary Inuvialuk. I always love sharing my art and fashion, however my content has evolved to include many other aspects—including humour. Inuit are known for our sense of humour!  

Who's your audience? I'm curious if you have a lot of non-Indigenous followers and if that impacts how you approach content creation.

According to my analytics, my audience is mainly American, Canadian and female; however, I have people from all over the world who follow as well as good support from the Indigenous community. I believe my followers who are non-Indigenous appreciate learning about my community and culture from my perspective, the way I deliver information and that I grew up in the culture. I am challenging negative stereotypes that people learned or thought about Indigenous People. I even have teachers say they show my videos in their classrooms!  I try to explain things thinking that the viewer may have never heard of Inuit or Inuvialuit before.  

I can see some parallels between Black Twitter and Indigenous TikTok, especially the way both of these online communities call attention to issues that impact their communities and advocate for real-life change. How do you approach talking about racism and the effects of colonization?

I use my platform to dispel myths or correct misinformation about Inuit from an Inuvialuit perspective. I explain why we may not always match the stereotype of what people expect Inuit should look like, how we should act or how we live in 2022. I myself get challenged for not looking ‘Inuit enough.’ (I am both Inuvialuit and Gwich'in First Nations and many of my features present more as Gwich'in. I also have fur trader grandfathers and great-grandfathers in my bloodline.) But, I use this as an opportunity to educate, and using myself as a classic example of how our communities change and grow over time, especially since we have been colonized so long in comparison to other Inuit groups and many Inuvialuit families have mixed ancestry.

I educate about using correct terminology when referring to us, for example: Inuvialuk = a real person (singular) and Inuvialuit= the real people (plural). I also explain some of our lifestyle choices and why we do what we do, like why Inuit use cardboard to cut up muktuk (beluga whale skin and blubber) or quaq (frozen raw caribou meat or fish). (It’s because it is easily accessible, soaks up excess oil, and is disposable and biodegradable.) Also, why we use animal fur: it's readily available in our environment, provides food and clothing, it's far superior to any man-made faux fur and absolutely necessary for extreme winter conditions in the Arctic. Our dramatic amaruq sunburst fur ruff [is made from] wolf and wolverine fur and has been scientifically studied and proven to divert cold Arctic air away from your face, which could freeze in a matter of seconds. This is one thing that Inuit knew all along, hence the design and functionality. I've created many videos demonstrating real fur vs. fake fur in real-time blizzard conditions.  

I'm often challenged for using modern technology (like electricity, cell phones, a modern home, TikTok...) or that because my ulu is metal and not stone or bone that it is not ‘traditional.’ It feels like some people expect that if we are in fact ‘real’ or ‘traditional’ Inuit that we shouldn’t adapt or use any sort of technology to suit our needs. This is another opportunity to educate. Technology is not exclusive or limited only to certain groups of people, but is in fact for all humans to enjoy a more comfortable existence.

Who are your favourite follows on TikTok?

Some of my favorite content creators are other Indigenous creators who are sharing their experience and culture from their part of Turtle Island. Vanessa Brousseau (@resilientinuk) advocates for and educates about Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. Jocelyn Joe-Strack (@auntyjocey) shares Indigenous worldviews and indigenizes education in the context of western education systems. @topkaruk makes Inupiatun language videos, which I love because it's very similar to our Inuvialuktun language.

What's next for you?

As a mother of five, I am busy raising my children. My family plans to divide our time south, where my husband is from, and back home in Tuktuuyaqtuuq, our traditional and ancestral homeland. I'm going to continue sewing; I’m working on my first full Taalrumiq Inuviauit couture fashion line and my goal is to see my collections on international runways! I have some fine art commissions to work and I'm busy setting up my website (taalrumiq.com) as a one-stop shop to see my work, learn about Inuvialuit and purchase Taalrumiq couture accessories.  I am currently in the semi-finals of the 2022 Pow Wow Pitch, where I pitched my Inuvialuit fine art and couture fashion business, Taalrumiq, to win the grand prize of $25,000 to help me grow my business. I have some other exciting projects that I'm not yet able to share, but as soon as I can, I’ll probably share it first on TikTok!  And somewhere in between, I want to keep making Inuviakuit TikTok videos because it's fun, I enjoy it and I appreciate the positive response from the Inuvialuit & Gwich'in communities and beyond.

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